Appropriate Sanctions for Academic Integrity Violations Making the punishment (sanction) fit the crime (violation) Tom Tomasi, Chair Academic Integrity Council

Question #1 Is cheating an all-or-none offense, or can one do just minor cheating? What about plagiarism? Question #2 Should all acts of cheating be punished in the same way?

Possible Sanctions What sanctions are allowed by our Academic Integrity policy? –minimum? –maximum? Should all incidents of cheating or plagiarism receive the XF?

What if..... If an XF grade was given for any/all violations, where would this lead us? –Positive outcomes ? –Negative outcomes ?

Appropriate Sanctions??? If not all violations of our AI policy deserve the XF grade, then how do we determine the appropriate sanction for a particular violation? Scenarios

National Survey Data 44 colleges & universities were recently surveyed about sanctions used 26 allow students to be suspended at 1 st violation, but this is rarely done. All 44 have grade sanctions Most have a “probation” status Many allow students to petition to have marks removed from their transcripts Many have different policies for students who accept responsibility vs. those held responsible

Typical Trend 1 st offense = lesser sanction, probation, & educational intervention (eg., AI seminar) 2 nd offense = suspension 3 rd offense = dismissal National Survey Data

Scenario One Pattie doesn’t have time to complete her assignment for tomorrow’s class. Her friend Paul is taking the class with her, and Pattie knows he has already completed the assignment. Just before class, she asks to see his answers. She copies his answers and gives it right back. When they get to class, they turn in their assignments. What should Pattie’s sanction be? Has Paul violated the policy? If so, what should his sanction be?

Dr. Pepper has a 10-point pop quiz once each week at the beginning of class. She catches Donnie with a cheat-sheet one week. What should be Donnie’s sanction? At the end of the semester, Dr. Pepper catches Danny with a cheat-sheet during the 250-point final exam. What should Danny’s sanction be? Scenario Two

Tammy works hard on writing a good term paper for her ethics class, but forgot to give a reference for one of the important ideas. Therefore, she is guilty of plagiarism. What should her sanction be? Timmy is in the same class, but blows off his term paper. At the last minute, he buys one from a term-paper mill. What is an appropriate sanction for him? Scenario Three

John’s paper is late, so to avoid the 5% late-penalty, he falsifies the date. What is an appropriate sanction for John? Jessie didn’t do her paper, but when everyone was handing theirs in, she removed someone else’s from the stack. She then crossed out the name and inserted her own before putting it back in the stack. What should her sanction be? Scenario Four

Summary If we have a gradation of sanctions (minor – XF), we should use them all. If we recognize a gradation in severity of offenses, we should “match” the sanction to the violation. Students should expect that a grosser violation is punished with a greater sanction.

We may never agree completely on which violations are more severe that which other ones (a scaling issue) –plagiarizing a few words vs. several pages –plagiarizing a few words vs. copying on a quiz Matching the violation to the sanction –what mathematical relationship? –who decides this? Summary

Qualitative Scaling Model Magnitude of Violation Severity of Sanction

Academic Integrity Class 1-credit (on-line this spring) Undergraduate & Graduate levels Two groups of students –those who have violated our policy –those interested in human behavior Introspection and understanding of why people make the choices they do May be used to reduce a sanction for the 1 st group of students