Wittenberg University Honor Council

2005-2006 Annual Report

Honor Council Roster for 2005-06

Shelley Barnes, ‘07

Ed Charney, Art

Pam Evans ’06, Honor Council Chair

Maureen Fry, Director, Writing Center

D. Scot Hinson, English, Faculty Advisor

Brady Hively ‘06

Ashley Huffman ‘06

Latosha Johnson ‘07

Jocelyn LaRoche ‘08

Lisa Martorano ‘08

Alisa Mizikar, Library

Lowell Monke, Education, Honor Council Vice-Chair

Kathy Reinsel, Biology,  sabbatical Fall

Scott Rosenberg, History

Kristen Russell ‘06

Ozge Sayginer ‘09

Stephen Siek, Music (sabbatical replacement Fall semester)

Brian Shelburne, Math

John Young, Political Science, Student Development

Major Activities for 2005-06

< Meetings every other week, Wednesday evenings

< Review of cases of academic dishonesty

< New Faculty Orientation

< OA training

< New Student Days Committee

< Honor Council logo contest—on hold for branding considerations.

< Honor Council posters—to be unveiled Fall, 2006. 

< Major restructuring of hearing scheduling practices.

< FDB sponsored Faculty Workshop on Promoting Academic Integrity in the Classroom.

< New Student Days:  address by the Honor Council, break-out discussion groups on academic integrity, and signing of the Honor Rolls.  Our approach mirrors that of many other schools across the country.  We continue to refine our presentation and interaction with incoming first-year students.

< Academic Integrity Week, Spring Semester

< Revisions of the Code of Academic Integrity, ongoing over the past year, were completed in Spring, 2006.  They were presented to students in the Spring and approved in a student referendum.  The Honor Council had submitted the changes for consideration in the Spring, but it was decided that discussion of the revisions would be postponed until Fall, 2006.  Hopefully the faculty will consider them this Fall. 

< Honor Council training

< Brochure for faculty on “How to Handle Cases of Academic Dishonesty.”

Discussion

Nationally more students are cheating.  Now national averages for the percentage of students who admit to at least one instance of serious cheating have risen from 70-75% to 80%.  Researchers have not clearly explained the increase or attributed it to any particular source.  Wittenberg should consider surveying its students next year to better gauge students’ attitudes and practices. 

Wittenberg is seeing a trend toward plagiarism as the predominate form of academic dishonesty.  In part, our numbers indicate that the internet is finally having its predicted impact.  Researchers have been slow to attribute increases in plagiarism to the availability of material online, but we can now no longer deny the current trend in this direction.  Wittenberg is no exception to this trend.  Though I have not seen this personally, “custom” ghost writing is on the increase.  Students can buy papers online at a specific grade level and with custom mistakes, say a “B” essay with comma problems or poor transitions. 

This year significant changes were made to the way the Honor Council schedules hearings, in part, a product of the lessons learned from last year’s increase in the number of the cases requiring review by the Honor Council.  This significantly streamlined the process and allowed the Honor Council to be more responsive.  The Honor Council’s most demanding task for the year was completing revisions of the Code of Academic Integrity itself.  These revisions were driven in part by faculty concerns.  However, the Council is required to review its policies every other year.  Most of the changes clarify existing policy or codify routine Council practices.

Controversy arose over whether or not students can appeal decisions of Honor Council hearing boards to the Provost.  The Code of Academic Integrity does not include an appeal to the Provost; however, the Provost receives appeals regularly.  The Honor Council and the Provost did not initially agree on how such informal appeals should be handled, but with the help of the Executive Board, it was agreed that the Provost would consult with the Honor Council on these informal appeals and that he/she would not make unilateral decisions that would undermine the authority and autonomy of the Honor Council or compromise its ability to define and enforce standards for academic integrity.  This issue will be revisited when faculty reviews revisions to the Code. 

Controversy also arose when a student who admitted to having plagiarized twice appealed the Honor Council’s decision to suspend him for a semester on the grounds that he had a learning disability.  The student appealed to the Student Appellate Board for a lesser sanction on these grounds.  After three hearings, the original sanction was upheld, although the Provost changed the semester in which the student was to serve his suspension.  Despite the student’s claims, research clearly shows that there is no relationship between learning disabilities and academic dishonesty.

Final Comments  This report is my last official act as Faculty Advisor for the Honor Council and a member of the team developing and implementing the Code of Academic Integrity.  I have a few comments and suggestions.  First I would recommend that we consider expanding the Honor Council.  More members would allow the Honor Council to better divide its time between hearing cases and working more proactively to promote academic integrity.  Second, Wittenberg should fund another survey to take stock of how students and faculty think about academic integrity and to see if the Code and Council are making any difference on campus.  Third, faculty and students alike should more fully exploit the Honor Council and the services it can provide.

Wittenberg should be enormously proud of what is has accomplished.  Faculty and students alike have embraced the  Code of Academic Integrity--as a result, the Code is becoming part of Wittenberg culture.  But Wittenberg has to continue to integrate academic integrity into its curriculum and culture, focusing especially on WittSems and the First Year Experience.  The disturbing increase in the statistics makes it clear that we need to do more, not less. Wittenberg must continue to fund and support the Honor Council’s work with these programs.  Moreover, I can think of few other programs that better suit the Strategic Plan than the Honor Council, which has at its heart the light of integrity.  The Honor Council provides students and faculty opportunities for leadership and faculty/student collaboration that are powerful and potentially transformative.  A continued commitment to a culture of honesty, respect, trust, and responsibility would certainly make Wittenberg more distinctive.

Submitted by D. Scot Hinson, Faculty Advisor for the Honor Council

Report on Honor Code Violations

May 17, 2006

Fall 2005 – Spring 2006 Summary

Forty-seven (47) violations of the university honor code were reported during the Fall 2005-Spring 2006 school year by faculty.   Sixteen (16) of the forty-six students were charged with academic dishonesty while thirty-one (31) were charged with plagiarism.  Twenty-seven (27) violations were committed by males and twenty (20) were committed by females.  Fourteen (14) hearings were held by the Hearing Board and one more is pending.  

Honor Code Violations by Type and Year

Sanctions Imposed by Faculty for Honor Code Violations*

* In some cases, no sanction is imposed or more than one sanction may be imposed

I  

Status of Students with Honor Code Violations  FA05-SP06

Status of Students with Honor Code Violations  FA04-SP05

Hearing Board Sanctions Fall 04-Spring 05