Staff Editorial: In search of integrity

The University should look for new ways to identify cheaters and punish them accordingly.

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This week is Academic Integrity Week.

Perhaps you knew that already. Erin Brockovich is the week's
featured presenter, after all, and will speak tonight at Irvine
Auditorium about her well-documented experiences fighting a
corrupt California power company.

But aside from Brockovich's appearance, it's quite likely that
Academic Integrity Week, once again, slipped just under your
radar. Annual commemorations rarely drum up much enthusiasm
on Penn's campus, and a celebration of something as amorphous
as "integrity" can understandably leave students looking for
something a little more tangible to cheer.

That's unfortunate, though, because as the midterm season gets
underway, integrity and its many responsibilities should be
prominant in our thoughts and priorities.

For the last several years, the University Honor Council has
worked admirably bringing the issues of integrity to campus -- not
just during a special week in October, but regularly, through
general advocacy on behalf of matters concerning cheating, honor
codes and academic fairness.

What the UHC and the rest of the Penn community have still not
fully addressed, though, is the simple truth that integrity --
academic or otherwise -- is a concept that is rooted far deeper in
the history of our society than the history of academia.

Unfortunately, the world is filled with individuals who think that
cheating is an acceptable way to get ahead. They exist in the "real
world" of work and careers, and they exist right here at Penn. The
trick, though, is not making them aware of the gravity of their
actions -- it's rooting those misdeeds out.

For that reason, Penn and the UHC should begin exploring new
methods for finding potential cheaters within the University
community, and should assign them punishments that send a
clear signal to other students that such actions will not be
tolerated.

Doing so reinforces the idea that cheating -- under any
circumstances -- will not be tolerated. And it would further bolster
and embody the ideals of Academic Integrity Week, so that next
year, Penn students can truly have an event to celebrate.

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