College to crack down on cheaters through policy changes
Grade fraud and reusing assignments may be included in amendments
Whitney Clark
Issue date: 4/30/08 Section: News
This fall students may be faced with a stricter cheating policy that would prevent them from using one assignment in multiple classes.
In addition, the college is trying to crack down on grade fraud by preventing students from altering transcripts or other grade reports.
The provisions, written by Dean Dr. Ben Partee who oversees the college's disciplinary procedures, include "submitting work previously presented in another course" and "altering or interfering with grading policies."
The Board of Trustees Educational Policies Committee was presented with the revisions last Monday and Academic Senate discussed it at their Wednesday meeting. Many of the board members were confused by the second term and needed clarification, said senate president Ignacio Alarcon.
Alarcon said that before the additions are final the amendments "need to be clarified."
"The wording seems a little vague to me," said David Gilbert, senate member and mathematics instructor.
Partee said the amendments were written because in the last three years there have been numerous complaints from teachers of incidents of students recycling graded assignments and changing their grades.
"With current technology students have the ability to make changes once they print out their transcripts," Partee said.
However some teachers, including Gilbert, think that there is nothing wrong with the current Academic Honesty Policies and that under certain circumstances students should be able to reuse assignments.
"If courses can fulfill different requirements, then why can't the coursework?" Gilbert said.
Associated Student Body President Tom Fitzgerald believes that the stipulations were "pretty ambiguous" and needed to be worked on.
"I've had teachers who think it's OK to turn in [the same] papers for different classes," he said.
The Academic Policy Committee will review the provisions this week and make necessary changes. Alarcon said they are still "up for discussion" and the Academic Senate and Board of Trustees would still need to vote to make the additions final.
In addition, the college is trying to crack down on grade fraud by preventing students from altering transcripts or other grade reports.
The provisions, written by Dean Dr. Ben Partee who oversees the college's disciplinary procedures, include "submitting work previously presented in another course" and "altering or interfering with grading policies."
The Board of Trustees Educational Policies Committee was presented with the revisions last Monday and Academic Senate discussed it at their Wednesday meeting. Many of the board members were confused by the second term and needed clarification, said senate president Ignacio Alarcon.
Alarcon said that before the additions are final the amendments "need to be clarified."
"The wording seems a little vague to me," said David Gilbert, senate member and mathematics instructor.
Partee said the amendments were written because in the last three years there have been numerous complaints from teachers of incidents of students recycling graded assignments and changing their grades.
"With current technology students have the ability to make changes once they print out their transcripts," Partee said.
However some teachers, including Gilbert, think that there is nothing wrong with the current Academic Honesty Policies and that under certain circumstances students should be able to reuse assignments.
"If courses can fulfill different requirements, then why can't the coursework?" Gilbert said.
Associated Student Body President Tom Fitzgerald believes that the stipulations were "pretty ambiguous" and needed to be worked on.
"I've had teachers who think it's OK to turn in [the same] papers for different classes," he said.
The Academic Policy Committee will review the provisions this week and make necessary changes. Alarcon said they are still "up for discussion" and the Academic Senate and Board of Trustees would still need to vote to make the additions final.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
r.l.
posted 4/30/08 @ 9:53 PM PST
This seems like an issue that teachers should be individually deciding on. If the work is a student's own then there is no reason that the school should call their work cheating. (Continued…)
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