Higher standards

The professors and teachers employed in any school or university are expected to be held to higher standards than those of their students. They need this to have the moral authority to judge a students work. The rules concerning plagiarism are recited to all students when we are given a writing assignment. The teachers make sure that we understand that – whether it is intentional or not – plagiarism will not be tolerated, and that we should take great care to avoid it when writing our papers. This year, students have received failing grades for plagiarism and the rules do not permit them to revise their original submitted work. It is expected that a university student should have taken the extra time to review her paper and correctly cite all sources.

It is unethical to plagiarize according the SIUE web site:
“Philosophically, it is morally wrong to claim to do work that one has not done. One goal of the University is to encourage students to consider issues of ethics when making decisions. Thus, it is only fair that we uphold this goal by enforcing rules about plagiarism” (http://www.siue.edu/~lmarkow/plagairsm.htm).

The website also provides detailed examples of different ways of committing plagiarism. For example:
“Here is an example:
1. Russell Schutt of Investigating the Social World defines a survey as, "Research in which information is obtained from a sample of individuals through their responses to questions about themselves or others" (p. 592: 1996).
A student would be plagiarizing if they did … the following in a paper:
2. According to Russell Schutt a survey is research in which information is obtained from a sample (p. 592). I did a survey on University Faculty in 1999. I asked the faculty whether they use the Vadalebene Center…
This is plagiarism because the student did not put quotes around the passage that was used in her paper.” (http://www.siue.edu/~lmarkow/plagairsm.htm)

I read the review of Dr. Poshard’s dissertation by Professor R. Gerald Nelms, and in it he goes over the different types of plagiarism that were found there. Some of these seemed to correlate with the example above: “Of the forty infractions noted, twenty-five are cases where citations to the allegedly plagiarized material are present but quotation marks around copied material were not included” (Nelms, http://news.siu.edu/PoshardDissertationReviewfinal.pdf). He later stated that “These passages, then, despite their length, do not represent serious citation infractions” (Nelms, http://news.siu.edu/PoshardDissertationReviewfinal.pdf). In our classes it doesn’t matter about the seriousness of the plagiarism infraction, the consequences are still the same. As stated above, “…it is only fair that we uphold this goal by enforcing rules about plagiarism”. Not enforcing these rules goes against the professed ethical standards of our school.

Where can we draw the line to excuse plagiarism? Dr. Poshard sent a letter to all the students and faculty members associated with SIU school system to explain what the final decision was, and why. To me it seems as though Dr. Poshard was trying to make excuses for his behavior, alleging that he had no intention of plagiarizing. The same goes for Dr. Dussold. He also claimed that his mistake was unintentional, and gave rationalizations for his behavior. Dr. Poshard fired Dr. Dussold for the very same offenses he had committed in his own work. Dr. Dussold was "fired in 2004 for plagiarizing his teaching statement", and was not given a chance to revise his mistakes (http://newshound.de.siu.edu/fall06/stories/storyReader$309). Both Dr. Poshard and Dr. Dussold plagiarized ducuments of similar importance to their careers, but yet the punishments were vastly different. This is a double standard. This situation would not be as extreme if a professor had not gotten fired for a violation of a school rule of which our president has been accused.

The rules established by an institution should apply to everyone associated with the institution, including those who wrote and/or enforce them. Even the faculty code of ethics and conduct states: “...there is need for the faculty to assume a more positive role as guardian of academic values against unjustified assaults from its own members. The traditional faculty function in disciplinary proceedings has been to assure academic due process and meaningful faculty participation in the imposition of discipline by the administration. While this function should be maintained, faculties should recognize their stake in promoting adherence to norms essential to the academic enterprise.” (http://www.siue.edu/policies/1q1.shtml). I have serious concerns about the disciplinary actions both taken and not taken with regard to the conduct of the faculty members at the center of this controversy. What message will they send to both students and faculty with regard to academic, professional, and ethic conduct at SIUE? Is there a double standard here? And if not, what is the standard and to whom does it apply?