Christina Domenico | No special treatment

"Give credit where credit is due," the saying goes.

We hear it in a number of arenas but for college students, it usually comes to mind when working on a paper.

A dishonest education system benefits no one. We place mutual trust in each other not to copy, cheat or lie.

In a human world, however, plagiarism happens. And institutions are set in place to deal with it. At Penn, it's the Office of Student Conduct.

OSC hears all the facts of the incident and considers many factors - such as past cases, the context of the incident and the student's honesty throughout the investigation - before determining the punishment, according to OSC director Susan Herron and associate director Ed Rentezelas. And in most cases, the punishment fits the crime.

But what if it doesn't?

Last week, Columbia's Teachers College professor Madonna Constantine was sanctioned for plagiarizing 36 passages off of a colleague and two students after a year-and-a-half long investigation.

According to The New York Times, she remains a tenured faculty member at the university, which has not yet released the extent of the sanctions imposed on her.

Plagiarism is a very grave offense, no matter who commits it. And Columbia's silence on the issue is not just troubling - it's downright unfair.

After an external law firm examined the documents in question, they determined that the similarity in the language used was not coincidental, and that Constantine did not adequately credit her sources in her work.

Complicating the issue are some touchy subjects. Claims of racial biasing against Constantine, for instance, will probably exert considerable influence over how the case plays out.

But when a teacher copies off of a student, there's an extreme breach of trust in the student-professor relationship.

Carolyn Marvin, a communication professor and member of the Faculty Senate's Academic Freedom and Responsibility Committee, agrees: "It's important for the integrity in the knowledge to be honestly produced."

Though professors are known throughout the academic world to be the main producers of knowledge, students have a significant role as well. What really stands out in this case is the fact that Constantine plagiarized off of two students working on their own dissertations and articles.

The academics of tomorrow are being born in classrooms across the world today, and they deserve the same right to recognition as the most revered of university professors. Without a sense of mutual respect in the classroom, the learning process is hampered.

As Marvin told me, "the work of a student must be accorded as much respect when it comes to the matter of plagiarism. The purpose of students is not for the professors to use their work without credit."

The Teachers College's decision to keep Constantine on staff, however, is drawing a distinction between those at the front of the class and those at the back, in a world where students are constantly writing theses and dissertations for publication alongside their professors. To value one over the other when it comes to copying is completely unfair.

Students need to be able to trust those they sit next to in class just as much as those who lecture to them and guide seminar discussions. But when those relationships break, an educational balance is broken.

Constantine has taken advantage of those who have entrusted her with their own knowledge.

The actual punishment imposed on her may be unknown, but as long as she remains a member on the Teachers College faculty, the integrity of her own work, as well as the school's reputation, remain in question.

To not revoke the tenure of a professor whose crime demonstrates that she does not value the work of a student is a crime in and of itself.

Give credit where credit is due. We all deserve it - students too.

Christina Domenico is a College junior from North Wildwood, N.J. Her e-mail is domenico@dailypennsylvanian.com. The Undersized Undergrad appears on Fridays.

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