Promoting Integrity at the Classroom Level:
Although Ryan (1998) was only addressing the issue of plagiarism, the following argument applies to any type of academic dishonesty
- Students have a right to expect fairness in the classroom. When teachers turn a blind eye to plagiarism, it undermines that right and denigrates grades, degrees, and even institutions.
McCabe and Drinan (1999) report that student surveys found that many college students live in environments where "faculty members either don't notice or don't want to notice" that students are cheating. Love and Simmons (1998) cited faculty unwillingness to confront cheaters as a contributing factor "to the possibility of a student cheating or plagiarizing."
Faculty members who want integrity practiced in their classrooms need to confront and report unethical and academically dishonest behavior. They should also use the SCcares form to report incidents of academic dishonesty.
