Making the grade

It's test time, and you're sweating. In addition to extracurricular activities, you had two papers and a problem set this week -- studying for this test simply did not happen. Should you suck it up and do the best you can, skip the test and face the consequences -- or should you cheat?

Whether it is in the exam room, the dorm room, or on a paper, there are students at Tufts -- like any other school -- who give in to the temptation to cheat. According to Assistant Dean of Judicial Affairs Veronica Carter, there are approximately 60 to 75 incidents of academic dishonesty each year. These range in severity from unintentional plagiarism to falsifying GPA's on resumes to stealing someone else's paper and handing it in.

It is difficult to quantify exactly how many students at Tufts cheat: the only numbers recorded are of those students who are caught. Nonetheless, several students estimate that a reasonable number of students do indeed cheat.

"Most of my friends cheat," said an anonymous junior, who admits to plagiarism and creating cheat sheets. She says that cheating is a habit that many people continue from high school. "I think once a cheater, always a cheater for a lot of people," she said. "Either you cheat here, or you have never cheated in your life."

During the Fall 2001 semester, cheating became an issue in one particular class, Astronomy 10. Twelve students were placed on Probation I for not properly citing Internet sources. Now taught by Professor Ken Lang, the 350-student class has taken measure to prevent academic dishonesty, including three differently arranged and color-coded versions of each test.

Even with such preventative measures in place, students find a way to get around professors' wary watch. The cheating methods students employ during exams vary, ranging from the simple (looking at a test over someone's shoulder) to the calculated (a tiny, fact-filled cheat sheet sticking out of a folder in a backpack) to the technological (students text messaging each other answers in large test rooms like Cohen auditorium).

One anonymous senior wrote the answers to a test on a small piece of paper and put it in his sock. During the test he asked to used the bathroom and then read his notes in the stall. "It was probably the reason I passed the class," he said.

Students say they cheat for a number of reasons, including its convenience and the difficulty of a Tufts workload. "I cheat because there is a lot of pressure to do well -- sometimes I am so busy with a million and one things, it's like a safety net," one anonymous student said. "A lot of pressure is on us, especially at Tufts, and the stakes are high. People want to do well."

This student was caught for plagiarism, but says that it was "unintentional" (she sourced incorrectly in her paper) and that she does not always need the extra help. "Sometimes I don't even use the cheat sheets," she said.

She attributes cheating's prevalence to how college is set up: "Students get lazy in college because there is more free time, and since they are smart, they can get by on doing the minimal amount," she said.

However, the consequences involved in cheating can dissuade many from taking the risk. According to the Pachyderm, disciplinary action may include suspension or expulsion, as well as failure in the course. The faculty member determines grading consequences after it is admitted or proven that a student has cheated, and this grade cannot be appealed, nor can the student withdraw from the course once accused.

The punishment a student receives depends largely on his or her intentions. Cases of plagiarism, including incorrect citations in a paper and unauthorized collaboration on homework and take-home exams, are seen most frequently at the Office of Judicial Affairs.

According to Carter, this type of academic dishonesty, especially when acted unintentionally by a first-year student, merits Probation I. Students placed on Probation I must also attend a workshop on using sources at the Academic Resource Center so that they may "learn from their mistakes."

Academic fraud, or intentionally trying to deceive a faculty member, receives a more severe punishment of Probation II, but Carter says this occurs less frequently. Instances which constitute fraud include having another student take an exam for you or stealing someone else's paper and handing it in as you own.

According to the Student Judicial Process Booklet, students placed on Probation II are no longer considered to be in good standing with the University. In addition, the booklet states that any further infractions usually result in suspension or expulsion.

Carter highlights that the difference between academic dishonesty and fraud is in the student's purpose: "Intent is a big word for academic fraud," she said.

However, unlike the one-year disciplinary probation for an alcohol-related offense, a student on probation at any level for academic dishonesty remains on probation for his or her entire time at Tufts. "If you're on disciplinary probation level one for academic dishonesty, it ends at graduation," Carter said."

Lang recalls coming across a serious case of academic dishonesty when two students turned in the same work. "I caught two identical papers out of hundreds," he said. Both students were expelled from the school.

Not all students resort to cheating. Some view it as just that: cheating oneself out of actually learning something. "If I cheated I would feel too guilty that I hadn't really earned the grade I was receiving," senior Allison Cohen said.

To Cohen, cheating does not seem a necessary or realistic approach: "It's a lot easier to go to offices hours and get help from the professors, rather than trying to figure a way to sneak around and try and beat the system," she said.

"You can't keep cheating forever," Cohen added. "You eventually need to get a job and have your boss or whomever trust you, and how can they trust you if you're not honest?"