School wonders how to prevent it from happening again

HALIFAX (CUP) — A recent plagiarism outbreak at the University of King’s College has faculty more worried about the reaction than the plagiarism itself.

In early December, seven students in the King’s Foundation Year Program were accused of plagiarizing on an essay due two days after their mid-term evaluations.

Peggy Heller is the director of FYP, a comprehensive program attended by all first-year King’s students. She says she was appalled to hear the comments of students and faculty members who wanted to see the students expelled even before the disciplinary hearings.

Heller said that because word spread so quickly through the media, it made it hard for the university to deal with the situation properly.

“It’s not fair to the students,” she said.

There has been backlash from both the academic community and the media on the way King’s has chosen to deal with the issue. Some students have felt that the university was too lenient on the seven accused students.

However, Heller says that they treated it as any other first plagiarism offence.

“We would never expel someone for a first offence unless maybe they were running a plagiarism ring.”

For both Dalhousie University and King’s, the hearings for first time offences have an educational value to them. Every offence is treated on an individual basis involving the academic integrity officer working closely with the student and instructor.

“The way that Dalhousie and King’s deal with plagiarism is quite unique, innovative and fair,” said Bob Mann, manager of discipline and appeals at Dalhousie. “We see it as an educational opportunity.”

The university’s Senate Discipline Committee Annual Report for 2009-10 showed that the majority of students facing allegations of plagiarism were in their first and second year.

The majority of offences would be described as “reckless plagiarism.” In these cases, students may have cited incorrectly or borrowed segments of their writing. This often occurs because students are in a panic or are ignorant of academic standards.

“We are an educational institute, we’re not police. We are here to educate, not to punish,” said Margaret Clow Bohan, manager of Dalhousie’s writing centre. “People have to remember that these cases are confidential. Nothing is certain yet and I think people really jumped the gun.”

King’s currently does not require students to submit to Turnitin.com, a company that detects plagiarism electronically by comparing student work against their database. Heller says that they are considering using Turnitin.com as a tool in the future.

“I’m sure just having Turnitin.com as an option would discourage students from plagiarism, but the idea of putting students through a security checkpoint is humiliating,” said Heller.

She says that many people were worried about the school’s reputation.

“Every university has problems with plagiarism. The fact that we too experience problems should not be surprising,” she said.

Heller says it is the added pressures of getting into grad schools that may be causing students to resort to plagiarism.

“Nowadays it’s hard to screw-up,” said Heller. “Computers generate a number grade that represents you when you are applying to grad schools, and it seems like that is all they care about.”

Heller says that the way plagiarism cases are dealt with teaches students the boundaries in a far less legalistic setting than in previous years. It recognizes that students make youthful indiscretions and deserve a second chance.

“Here at King’s, we think of the essay as a form of communication between students and the faculty. Why would you be here if you just wanted to plagiarize?”