Btw, contra the posters above, I don’t think there should be any difference between freshmen and seniors. Don’t they teach students not to plagiarize well before the university level? Haven’t they already had 12 or so years of education before they’re admitted?

/rant

Also, you’re right about there having to be a balance between academic misconduct and how much money the university earns. Indeed, that was a further aspect of the dean’s defense. He said the university wasn’t in “the business of flunking people”, as it hurt their revenue. That’s life, I guess.

@Tom: Oh, I know it’s not a zero sum game. I agree that cheaters ultimately get what they deserve – usually. This is particularly true once they reach the work world. However, I guess I take issue with them benefitting from cheating at all.

The senior I mentioned above was supposed to receive an award upon graduation from our history department, due to his GPA. Ultimately, he didn’t get the award, but based on his GPA, he should have. If he’d not been allowed to drop the course – if he’d taken the F, as he knew he should have to based on the syllabus, which is more or less a contract – he wouldn’t have even been in the running for the award. I’m sure awards and other benefits have been given to many cheaters in the past, and that ruffles my feathers a bit.

And regarding institutional integrity… alas! I think you and Edrei are right. While I’d love for universities to represent something “higher”, I guess when you get down to it, they’re just like McDonalds and Kmart – they’re businesses. They’ve got to have a good image to keep getting students, in order to keep getting money.

Uhhh, that’s what I think anyway .

If I didn’t want others’ opinions, I’d have comments closed.

If cheaters don’t bother learning that cheating only hurts them, they’ll quickly learn in the work world by which point it’ll be too late and they’ll be stuck at some bottom rung job forever because their boss quickly learns they cheat and won’t promote them. The work world is a wonderful equalizer in many ways and a place where dedicated individuals can rise more swiftly than the cheaters.

As for institutional integrity… I think that went by the wayside when universities began selling themselves to the highest bidder in the ’40s and ’50s, at least in North America. Can anyone say Bell and DuPont? To touch on a point made by Edrei, they’re in it for the money. These days school ratings are just as important as actual educational quality. If a school is perceived as throwing students out for everything it could quickly become a place to avoid and hence lose funding and tuition money. Unfortunately, now reputation doesn’t relate to quality but to image.

Uhhh, that’s what I think anyway .

These days though I’m pretty tough on plagiarism. I’ve learnt my lesson, but I also feel that teaching a student not to plagiarise in first year (when some students don’t know better) should be different from say enforcing a full punishment if the student plagiarises in their final year (when students should know better).

At which point you should have certain expectations of what a student should know and is capable of doing.

Of course, these days universities do tend to suck up a lot of money. It’s a balance between academic misconduct and how much money a university can earn. That’s a system that can’t be helped at times.