Ad hoc task force to look at academic integrity, cheating policy in student code
In an effort to allow due process for students whose grades are adjusted on suspicion of cheating, a task force has been formed with ASUSU members, the associate deans, the Office of Student Services and Academic Standards members to write a code.
The nine-member task force was formed last week to allow bodies through which the addition to the student code will have to pass. This way, there is a better chance the code change will pass, said Jeri Brunson, graduate student senate president and task force member. The committee representing ASUSU will include ASUSU President Kevin Abernethy; College of Science Sen. Brittany Woytko; and Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences Senator and Academic Senate Pro-tempore Nick West.
Gary Straquadine, associate dean for the College of Agriculture, will represent the associate deans, and Taggart Student Center Director Eric Olsen will represent the Office of Student Services. Olsen is the OSS vice president.
The Faculty Senate’s three members on the task force from the Academic Standards Committee are Nancy Mesner, associate dean of the College of Natural Resources; Ron Squire, associate registrar; and Scot Allgood, associate professor in the family, consumer and human development department. Allgood will serve as the chair of the task force, with one of the students serving as co-chair.
The goal of this group, West said, is to revise the student code regarding academic integrity to include a procedure for faculty and students to follow when a student’s grade is changed on suspicion or proof of cheating.
There is currently no set appeals process for students whose grades are changed, West said, and when an F is given as a disciplinary action, there must be an appeals opportunity, according to the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Upon looking more into a code change, West, who originally sponsored a bill to change this part of the Academic Integrity Code, and other Academic Senate members discovered there was no part in the current code that set forth or allowed this due process. Though the lack of an appeals process can be construed to go against the Constitution, ASUSU members could find no record of any case concerning the issue at USU, though other schools have had litigation concerning appeals processes.
The process of changing this area of the code has been tried in the past with no success, and the students decided they wanted to take a different approach to ensure it would have a better chance of passing, West said.
USU is the only one of its peer institutions nationally that doesn’t have an appeals process for grade changes as a disciplinary action, Brunson said.
ASUSU members said they want to put this process into place not only to help students, but also to protect faculty members from potential lawsuits for violating the 14th amendment. Faculty members still maintain the right to grade as they see fit, West said, but there also needs to be a set appeals procedure.
“We know what the code doesn’t do, so essentially we know what is has to do,” Brunson said.
The current process usually consists of students who have had a grade change on suspicion of cheating appeal to their department head and dean, West said, but this isn’t set in the student code.
“They are doing this out of the goodness of their hearts,” West said.
Faculty members can still give students a grade change or an F if they are caught cheating. Because the professors have proof, Brunson said they are protected by the law in that area.
West said the task force still wants professors to grade as they normally would.
Many on campus aren’t following the current code of informing the students of grade changes, Brunson said. This leads to the code not working and not having faculty support, she added.
There also isn’t any paperwork completed, which can lead to trouble later on if it’s one person’s word against another, she said. The lack of paper work allows repeat offenders to get away with cheating in different colleges, West said. While this may be a small part of the new code, Brunson said she thinks all the paperwork for this area won’t be involved with their current code addition.
“We are creating an appeals process to prevent an F being used as a disciplinary action and to protect professors,” West said.
The process for adding to the code is a long one, West said, because the proposed changes have to go through numerous organizations. ASUSU task force members are hoping to have the code written by January and have it passed by April, putting it into effect next year.
-alison.baugh@aggiemail.usu.edu