Academic Integrity in the Spotlight
Keith Collier, MBA '08
Issue date: 4/30/07 Section: Johnson News
The stakes are high at the Johnson School. One second-year TA remarked that he's never seen such rabid competition among first-year students. Though the core is winding down, obsession is still rich in the air. Every assumption is questioned; every reserve book is charged out; every partial-credit point is argued; and no stone is left unturned in the battle for a project that's worth 35% of your grade!
How are you holding up? Or better yet, how far would you go to ensure that even one more "check plus" goes into the books for you? As Johnson School students, we should all be wise enough to realize that compromising our integrity compromises the market value of the degree we pay so dearly for-and stake our future professional success upon. Still, as students talk, questions are raised. How pervasive is academic dishonesty, and what's being done about it?
The year did not get off to a good start when a core marketing "individual" assignment-devolved into a collaborative effort by many. Several students were frustrated, feeling that the lukewarm response set the tone that minor violations were acceptable.
I recently sat down with Associate Dean Cathy Dove to discuss the issue in greater detail and learn about the perception and responses from an administration perspective.
All of us should by now understand the Johnson School Honor Code and the process of its administration. Dove explains, "if there's a suspected violation, the process starts with the faculty member who is responsible for determining what has happened." If the appropriate response cannot be resolved between teacher and student, the matter gets escalated to the Board of Academic Integrity. "Faculty want to be fair. Professors will not penalize someone without appropriate due process and adequate evidence of a violation. ,. On the other hand, faculty deal seriously with demonstrated violations" she adds. A recent faculty meeting was dedicated to the topic of academic integrity. Faculty discussed appropriate levels of penalty for different violations and how to ensure that expectations and norms are clear.
How are you holding up? Or better yet, how far would you go to ensure that even one more "check plus" goes into the books for you? As Johnson School students, we should all be wise enough to realize that compromising our integrity compromises the market value of the degree we pay so dearly for-and stake our future professional success upon. Still, as students talk, questions are raised. How pervasive is academic dishonesty, and what's being done about it?
The year did not get off to a good start when a core marketing "individual" assignment-devolved into a collaborative effort by many. Several students were frustrated, feeling that the lukewarm response set the tone that minor violations were acceptable.
I recently sat down with Associate Dean Cathy Dove to discuss the issue in greater detail and learn about the perception and responses from an administration perspective.
All of us should by now understand the Johnson School Honor Code and the process of its administration. Dove explains, "if there's a suspected violation, the process starts with the faculty member who is responsible for determining what has happened." If the appropriate response cannot be resolved between teacher and student, the matter gets escalated to the Board of Academic Integrity. "Faculty want to be fair. Professors will not penalize someone without appropriate due process and adequate evidence of a violation. ,. On the other hand, faculty deal seriously with demonstrated violations" she adds. A recent faculty meeting was dedicated to the topic of academic integrity. Faculty discussed appropriate levels of penalty for different violations and how to ensure that expectations and norms are clear.
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Nicole Wolf
posted 5/02/07 @ 2:41 PM EST
I think it comes back to the "newspaper test." Do you think Duka MBAs are enjoying reading the paper this week???
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