Cheating cases nearly double over past year

The number of cheating cases handled by the Judicial Inquiry Officer skyrocketed for the second year in a row during the 1989-90 academic year, according to a report released yesterday. The JIO's annual report shows that 51 Academic Integrity Code violations were handled last year, almost doubling last year's 28 reports. Only 10 cases of cheating and plagiarism were handled by the JIO in 1987-88. Of those found guilty of cheating violations, 11 were suspended and one was expelled for "falsifying grades or transcripts," the report states. JIO Constance Goodman yesterday attributed the rise in reports largely to professors' more strict enforcement of Academic Intergrity policies and more frequent reporting of violations. Goodman said it is "very hard to know" whether cheating is becoming more common at the University because there are many more infractions than those reported. She specultated that academic pressures lead most offenders to violate the Academic Integrity Code. "I have heard that students are so determined to do well . . . [that] they're compromising their standards in a very distructive way," she said. Other than the expulsions and suspensions, punishments for cheating last year included warnings, apology letters, failing grades, community service, notations on transcripts and suspended sentences of expulsion -- the harshest punishment in which a student is allowed to stay in school. Of the 51 violations, the most offenses, 16, are catagorized as "use or performance of another's work." Goodman said that 10 of these came from the same class. Last year there were only five offenses of this nature. The second-highest number of violations, 14, came under the "misconduct during exam" catagory. Other offences included plagiarism, submission of false data, falsification of grades or transcripts, misrepresentation of grade point average, submission of work used previously and use of unauthorized material for an exam. The JIO handled a total of 158 cases in 1989-90, with 150 involving undergraduate students and eight involving graduate students. The JIO adjudicated 150 cases in 1988-89 and 156 cases in 1987-88. The most non-cheating cases handled by the JIO fell in the miscellaneous security violations category. Goodman said these are usually minor incidents that occur at residences. Other offences, in order of frequency, included disorderly conduct, harassment, assault and criminal conspiracy. The report also stated that almost 21 percent of all cases the JIO handled were known to involve fraternity members. This is down from over 30 percent last year, but up from 11 percent in 1987-88. The average case that was resolved by agreement lasted almost 12 weeks, according to the report, while the average case that was resolved by a hearing lasted just over 18 weeks. Only four of the 158 cases referred to the JIO were adjudicated by a hearing.

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