Issue date: 10/13/06 Section: News

Bryan Shinehouse, a member of the Cabrini College academic honesty board, attends a board meeting on Monday, Oct. 9, 2006.

Feeling the pressure of being a first year student, a freshman whose name will remain anonymous, made the decision to copy his friend's math homework. "I felt lazy and had other things to do that were more of a priority," he said. He felt that his other classes were more important than "doing a bunch of stupid math problems."

According to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, about 70 percent of students admit that they have engaged in academic dishonesty at least once. Cheating has become an ever-growing problem on college campuses and students are finding it easier to cheat to make it through college rather than studying.

"Why are people so scared of their own ideas?" Dr. Charlie McCormick asked. He said that he didn't understand why students were so afraid to express their own thoughts when they would benefit from it much greater. According to the philadelphiainquirer.com, most students cheated because they thought everyone else was doing it.

"Everyone in my class cheats," the freshman said. "My teacher is always picking on me and my friend. I walked into class and he said, 'You might not want to copy each other's homework,' calling me out in front of the class."

McCormick said, "[Students] feel that it is ok to cheat as long as they get by. We are not exactly sure what motivates cheaters though."

"I would do my homework and [my friend] would do hers. I just didn't want to do my homework this one time. We got caught because we did the same problem and we both got another one wrong," the freshman said. He also said that this was the first time he had ever been caught cheating.

Cabrini College has a strict academic honesty policy. When a student is first charged with cheating, a violation form is filed and a hearing with the Academic Honesty Board if requested by the student. If the student is caught cheating for a second time, they are automatically removed from the class and receive a failing grade without the option of withdraw.

Now, though, many schools aren't just letting the cheaters go unnoticed. In many schools across the nation, cheaters are getting the grade "XF" put on their academic transcripts. This "XF" grade will show that the student failed due to cheating.

Continued...

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