As Ohio University aims to promote discourse about academic dishonesty this fall and officials hope to end the plagiarism investigation in the Russ College of Engineering and Technology, one former OU professor went on the record about his tumultuous experiences with cheating.
In one instance, Eliot Jacobson, an OU professor from 1983-1998, said that when he approached a graduate student who he had caught cheating on an exam, it became apparent that the student's adviser wrote the exam and then coached the student on the answers.
Jacobson, in another situation, served on a Ph.D. committee for a student's final presentation. When Jacobson asked the student to define a technical term on the first page of the dissertation, she didn't know the answer, he said.
These are just a few of the many examples Jacobson said he had personally experienced.
Jacobson recently posted a comment on the Inside Higher Ed Web site, following that publication's story about OU's plagiarism investigation.
I am hardly surprised that this incident occurred at Ohio University
Jacobson wrote of the engineering plagiarism scandal in a July 19 post. I am even less surprised at the trivial consequences to these unethical students and professors.
This was the level of incompetence I was dealing with for 15 years Jacobson said in a recent phone interview. He asked that the department he worked in not be named. Jacobson did not work in the College of Engineering.
But the news is not entirely bad for OU'plagiarism is problematic at many universities across the country and in various departments, Jacobson said. He is currently a lecturer at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Technology, especially the Internet, is making it harder for professors to keep up, and the software used to catch academic misconduct isn't up to the task yet he said, noting that there is no simple solution to academic misconduct.
This is confounded by the fact that many administrators want to take the least intrusive approach to the problem, Jacobson said, noting that they do not want to deal with all the paperwork and problems that would arise with parents of students accused of cheating.
Other professors say their experience has been different.
Professors and OU at large have pretty high standards
said economics professor Richard Vedder, noting that his experiences with graduate students have been fairly favorable and that he did not have the same experiences as Jacobson or any professors in the College of Engineering.
Vedder said he has served on multiple Ph.D. committees, has served as a graduate representative and has been a professor here for about 40 years.
Jacobson said that OU, as well as other universities with similar problems, need to support departments and faculty members with the money and resources needed to deal with the fallout that punishing cheating students will cause. Paperwork and hearings are just two examples of what would likely follow a student's punishment, Jacobson added.
Stricter and more consistent punishments should follow more funding, he said, noting that rewrites as a consequence for the College of Engineering students who cheated is laughable. Students who are already falling behind in academics are tempted by lax punishments for academic misconduct because if they are already failing, they have nothing to lose by cheating.
The OU Office of Legal Affairs recently sent letters to all students facing plagiarism allegations. The letter laid out three consequences for the former graduate students. The option of rewriting has been the most popular from the responses the office has received so far, Director John Burns said recently.
But because the level of plagiarism varies in all of the theses, rewriting may not be an option for all students, said Provost Kathy Krendl.
The consequences each student faces will depend on the seriousness and egregiousness of the plagiarism, Krendl said. Those who choose the rewrite option and are granted that opportunity will be given a new advisor, who will reconsider their thesis. This will be a formal process that will be similar to a thesis defense, she said.
Students will not have to re-defend their thesis before a committee as they and other students do under normal circumstances, which does not follow the recommendations of an independent review done by Hugh Bloemer and Gary Meyer.
Plagiarism is like murder
Jacobson said. It's a capital crime that deserves capital punishment.
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