REDEFINING THE HONOR CODE:
Academic dishonesty’* cases have increased dramatically over the past few
months. Is the honor code not enough to keep students honest?
Q Cases of
^^academic
dishonesty” on rise
since this past fall.
Christy Saoi.er
Staff Reporter
Cases of academic dishon-
e.sty have increased ihis semes
ter, up from five cases in the
fall. According to- Honor
Council Chair Rebecca Raw],
the Honor Council heard II
such cases this semester.
Academic dishonesty
includes plagiarism, unautho
rized collaboration and unau
thorized copying.
The student handbook
defines plagiarism as “the
intentional representation of
another person’s words,
thoughts, or ideas as one’s
own.”
According to Rawl, the cat
egories of unauthorized col
laboration and unauthorized
copying include “receiving
help on an assignment on
which collaboration was not
allowed or using sources for
help^hat are not allowed.”
According to Dean of
Students Ann Gleason, this
increase in plagiarism is not
common at Meredith alone.
“Colleges and universities
across the country have seen
an increase in the number of
incidents involving academic
dishonesty,” she said.
She cited a study by Don
ald McCabe, the founder of
the Center for Academic
Integrity at Duke University,
that found that “more than 75
percent of college students
cheated at least once during
their undergraduate careers.”
According to Gleason,
other research by McCabe
indicated that 74 percent of
high school students had also
cheated at least once,
suggesting that the problem
begins earlier than college for
many students.
Students who cheat or
plagiarize in high school often
continue this behavior in
college, leading to a blatant
disregard of honor codes such
as the one at Meredith.
“Many people think they
will not get caught or that the
Council will be merciful if it
is their first offense. This is
not the case,” said Rawl.
However, Rawl attributed
other cases to “sloppy schol
arship” caused by a lack of
knowledge about or regard for
correct citation procedures.
Gleason agreed.
“Some violations may be
attributed to lack of knowl
edge about what constitutes
plagiarism, but in some cases.
students have submitted papers
that were taken entirely from
websites.”
Honor Council Support
Counselor Amanda Griffin
agreed that a lack of
knowledge is a major factor in
this increase.
“In my perspective, it seems
that most students brought
before Honor Council for aca
demic dishoneMy did not take
English 111 at Meredith where
the principles of plagiarism are
primarily embedded.” she said.
PLAGIARISM
continued on
page two
Survey to aid task force in planning for
future childcare facility
□ Will Meredith
get an on-site
childcare facility
soon?
LaDonna LoGut
staff n^wrter
Over 500 members of the
Meredith community have par
ticipated in a survey designed
to assess opinions and sugges
tions for an on-site childcare
center for children of students,
faculty, staff and possibly the
Raleigh community.
However, according to Dr.
Deborah Tippett, chairperson
for the survey’s task force, the
results of the Childcare Needs
Assessment survey have not
been examined fully yet and
will not be available until the
second week of May.
For the past several weeks,
the survey has been available
for students and other members
of the Meredith community to
take online via Meredith E-
News. It was recently unptosted
so the task forcc—formed of
faculty, staff and students—
could assess the preliminary
surveys; however, it should be
posted on E-News again soon.
The survey consists of two
parts. The first section is
directed toward students, while
the second section is directed
toward parents.
Also, it is available both in
English and in Spanish to
accommodate as much of tb“
Meredith community as po.ssi-
ble.
If supported, the childcare
center would serve as a
larger-scale facility than the
current Brewer House.
Currently, the Brewer House
is a childcare lab which holds
an average of eight children per
day and is used as a learning
tool by child development
majors.
The task force will continue
to generate plans for the child
care facility, a center that, in the
future, may accommodate all
children, including those with
spKcial needs.
The survey has also aided
senior Allison Nunnery in her
child-development thesis.
She said that the future
facility would decrease
commuting time between
home and school for students
and faculty with children and
provide parents with a daycare
close enough so parents could
visit their children throughout
the day.
2001-02 YEAR IN REVIEW
The Herald takes a photographic look at the faces and events of an academic year