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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