USU looks at integrity
Utah State University, led by Associate Vice President for Research Joyce Kinkead, sought to bring the issue of academic integrity to the forefront this week by holding a number of events on campus.
Workshops on the subject of plagiarism were sponsored by the Writing Center.
Kade Minchey works at the Writing Center and led a workshop called “How to Paraphrase Without Plagiarizing” Thursday. He spoke on the importance of clarifying to students exactly what they need to do to avoid plagiarizing.
“Most of plagiarizing, I hope, is done unintentionally. A lot of people may think that they don’t know the exact rules, so if they plagiarize, they won’t get in trouble. But that’s not the case,” Minchey said. “Even if you paraphrase, you still have to cite the author if you’re using an idea that’s not common knowledge.”
Minchey also said that the Writing Center is a good resource for students who are unsure if they have plagiarized or not.
Wednesday, Jim Stephenson, academics vice president of the Associated Students of USU, moderated a panel discussion called “Integrity Matters: Ethical Issues on Campus.” The discussion featured a number of panelists, each of whom raised a particular ethical question.
Steve Allen, director of the Laboratory Animal Research Center, spoke on the ethical issues involved in research with animal subjects.
Allen said LARC is guided primarily by laws and regulations that govern animal research.
Among other things, he said animals are entitled to “excellent housing and medical care,” and that if they have to be euthanized, LARC must use “the most painless possible method.”
Allen also said an average citizen could kill a skunk at any time since they are considered pests, but once they become laboratory animals, a high standard of care must be observed.
Lynn Meeks, director of the Writing Program at USU and another panelist, spoke on the fact that there are dishonesty cases on campus every semester, despite the fact that many writing teachers cover the basics of plagiarism in their classes.
“Students might be surprised to find out that teachers often compare notes, and we find too often that the same paper has been submitted for two different classes,” Meeks said.
She added that “it would be wonderful to have a student judicial review panel to oversee these grievances.”
Barbara White, chief information officer and dean of Information and Learning Resources, spoke on a host of ethical issues related to the Internet that USU must address.
She noted, as an example, the balance that USU seeks between allowing free inquiry and freedom of expression and monitoring violations of USU computer policy like pornography or commercial use of the USU system.
Joyce Kinkead said she was happy with Integrity Matters Week and the attention it drew to academic integrity.
“We’ve gotten a lot of publicity,” Kinkead said. “Hopefully, this will let students know that we take this issue seriously.”