The Ethical Tightrope: Plagiarism

A great deal of emphasis is placed on the act of plagiarism at Baruch. Many students even question the actual damage this act could cause.

I decided to interview Professor Susan Chambré of Baruch's sociology department to see this "epidemic" through the eyes of a social scientist and truly understand why students give in to this dark and devious temptation.

Chambré said, "I believe plagiarism is a growing problem that is facilitated by the Internet. Many students don't have a clear understanding of it and what constitutes plagiarism. I believe the policies set forth by Baruch College are sound, but based on my own experience, not adequately enforced, because faculty don't want to confront students and might not recognize that allowing plagiarism deprives students of the opportunity to develop important academic and work-related skills."

I agree with Chambré's comment on the rules and regulations set forth by Baruch, because these match the standards for many schools and organizations.

You rarely hear of students getting nabbed for plagiarism. There will always be that handful of students who copy and paste from Google, but they have it coming. That must mean that the students either intimidate professors out of busting them, or that the professors don't have the time or energy to confront their students about it. And then, if one student gets away with it, others may follow.

Chambré said that some factors contributing to plagiarism may include the pressure to raise their grades, stress, lax institutional plagiarism policies, and poor work ethic.
Chambré brought up an interesting point about the increase of plagiarism. "Daniel Patrick Moynihan, [the political scientist], developed a theory called ‘Defining Deviancy Down.' This states that behavior once viewed as deviant has become more tolerated, more accepted, and so has plagiarism." I agree completely with Moynihan's theory because, even in a pure psychological aspect, our society is degrading itself with more perverse forms of entertainment and more lax morals, which grow progressively worse over consecutive generations.

Many students justify cheating or plagiarism because they can't handle the workload.
Students should get real. Only college will give you such tame consequences for your actions. If you were to pull that in the corporate world, you could get get fired, and there could be legal implications as well.

One program often used to catch plagiarizers is called Turnitin. Every paper you submit electronically gets screened by this website and key terms, whole sentences, and quotes are highlighted and automatically linked with the site or other source that it originated from. All in all, you're sunk if you think you can get away with plagiarism with teachers who are using this program. It's only a matter of time.

Teachers are not out for their students' blood. Chambré even said, "I used to come down very hard on those who plagiarized, but I've become much more tolerant and let the student revise their work if I see that it is a student who recognized that they just made a mistake. However, if students plagiarize, I generally report them to the Dean of Students, which I am obligated to do."

You might say this teacher is still horrible for reporting the student to the dean, but why is it surprising that a college such as this one is strict on its honesty policies? If you have a problem with getting reported for breaking the rules and being caught, that's your problem.

Some students have misconceptions about the policies on "whistle-blowing" or "ratting" on another student. There is no policy that demands students inform their professors if they witness an act of cheating or plagiarism. Baruch, along with many other schools, does have an "honor code" that encourages a student to report this information. However, if a student chooses not to, there will be no repercussions.

I hope this information encourages you to think differently about cheating — not only for your own conscience, but also for the academic record associated with your name.