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The Daily OrangeGraduate students top list of violators
By Shayna Meliker
Posted: 4/9/08, 10:46 PM EST Section: News
It's typically during first-year classes Syracuse University students receive warnings, instructions and guidelines about academic integrity. But a new report shows graduate students commit more violations than any other grade level.
A report published March 20 by the SU Academic Integrity Office (AIO) stated of all the class levels, graduate students have committed 20 of the 60 violations reported in the 2007 fall semester.
"That's awful," said Ruth Federman Stein, interim director of the AIO. "It's sad to think that so many graduate students violate the policy. If you're a senior or a graduate student, you should know what you're doing."
The report, e-mailed to all SU students last Thursday, showed nine violations from first-year students, nine violations from sophomores, 13 violations from juniors, nine violations from seniors and 20 violations from graduate students.
Patrick Wilcox, president of SU's Graduate Student Organization and a sixth-year history graduate student, said he isn't surprised by the data.
"Graduate students are just as culpable as undergrads," he said. "Graduate students occupy a different place when it comes to plagiarism. Hopefully, once you get to the graduate level, this training has already been in place at the lower institution. That may or not be the case. One of the assumptions is they should know better."
Wilcox served as the graduate representative on the Vice Chancellor and Provost's Committee on Academic Integrity (VPCAI), a precursor organization to the current AIO. The VPCAI was created in fall 2004 to organize research and conduct student, teaching assistant and faculty surveys. It presented its final recommendations to Vice Chancellor and Provost Eric Spina in May 2006.
Research from the VPCAI established the first university-wide academic integrity policy, as well as the AIO, on July 1, 2006. The report published in March is the second report put together by the AIO since its inception.
A report published March 20 by the SU Academic Integrity Office (AIO) stated of all the class levels, graduate students have committed 20 of the 60 violations reported in the 2007 fall semester.
"That's awful," said Ruth Federman Stein, interim director of the AIO. "It's sad to think that so many graduate students violate the policy. If you're a senior or a graduate student, you should know what you're doing."
The report, e-mailed to all SU students last Thursday, showed nine violations from first-year students, nine violations from sophomores, 13 violations from juniors, nine violations from seniors and 20 violations from graduate students.
Patrick Wilcox, president of SU's Graduate Student Organization and a sixth-year history graduate student, said he isn't surprised by the data.
"Graduate students are just as culpable as undergrads," he said. "Graduate students occupy a different place when it comes to plagiarism. Hopefully, once you get to the graduate level, this training has already been in place at the lower institution. That may or not be the case. One of the assumptions is they should know better."
Wilcox served as the graduate representative on the Vice Chancellor and Provost's Committee on Academic Integrity (VPCAI), a precursor organization to the current AIO. The VPCAI was created in fall 2004 to organize research and conduct student, teaching assistant and faculty surveys. It presented its final recommendations to Vice Chancellor and Provost Eric Spina in May 2006.
Research from the VPCAI established the first university-wide academic integrity policy, as well as the AIO, on July 1, 2006. The report published in March is the second report put together by the AIO since its inception.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
ginkgo
Losing Weight
posted 4/10/08 @ 6:30 AM EST
It sounds like they need to be stressing the importance of following the rules to the graduate students and making sure the international students also understand it. (Continued…)
Catherine Burke-Plumadore
posted 4/10/08 @ 10:30 AM EST
As a grad student, I am appalled at the statistics quoted above. I do not think, however, that the problem lies in grad students not understanding the policies or what constitutes plagiarism. (Continued…)
Michelle Bersani
posted 4/11/08 @ 6:42 PM EST
I find it interesting that one third of the reported violations involved graduate students, but we can't assume graduate students actually commit more violations over all. (Continued…)
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