Issue date: 10/25/04 Section: Aggielife

By Ryan Hunten

A student walks into her crammed classroom. She finds the perfect seat - one against a wall. The teacher has the seating arrangement so that tests given to the students differentiate from Form A to Form B, each form with different questions and answers. The student makes sure her seat sits at exactly an angle which allows her to see a test in front of her that is identical to hers. Every once in a while, she glances to her front neighbor's test to compare her answers, calculating her peeks to coincide with when the teacher looks away.

This student, who wished to remain anonymous, likes to think of herself as an "opportunity cheater." She said she cheats to check her answers.

"I don't rely on cheating to get me through school, but I will do it if the teacher makes it too easy or if the opportunity is there," she said.

After cheating through high school, this student continues to do so today. She said she was never pressured to cheat by anyone but herself.

  "I knew that in high school, if I hadn't cheated, I wouldn't have done really well on my daily assignments," she said. "I didn't cheat on exams.  Here, there aren't any daily grades, so it's more important to do well on exams." 

A growing dilemma that this student and her fellow Aggie cheaters may face is the growing harshness of Texas A&M's punishments against cheating on assignments. The University has adopted stricter policies to discourage academic dishonesty, which includes cheating or plagiarism.

The Aggie Code of Honor states, "An Aggie does not lie, cheat or steal, or tolerate those who do." But last year, a survey tested the truth behind that claim and found that at least 80 percent of A&M students have admitted to some form of academic dishonesty.

In the spring of 2003, the Academic Integrity Task Force was implemented to review the previous system of punishment for academic dishonesty and tried to find ways to improve the system.

Dr. Marty Loudder, accounting professor and chair of the Academic Integrity Task Force, said that in the past specific consequences were decided individually by each teacher. This resulted in inconsistencies and some punishments seemingly amounted to nothing more than a slap on the wrist. For students who cheated, teachers were able to lower grades as deemed necessary. No records of the punishments were kept by the University, resulting in many incidents left unreported.

Continued...

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