GSG calls for academic integrity lesson

Graduate students may need a primer on the university's Code of Academic Integrity, and the Student Honor Council needs to consider the effect of cultural differences on international students' mindsets, according to resolutions passed last week by the GSG.

As it is, Graduate Student Government officials said, academic integrity guidelines — on cheating, fabrication, plagiarism and facilitating academic dishonesty — are marketed most heavily to undergraduates, leaving many graduate students less aware of the university's policies.

At its last meeting of the academic year, the GSG formally requested not only that the university reach out to graduate students so they understand these rules, but also that more graduate students become involved in the Student Honor Council, the body that investigates charges of academic dishonesty against students.

The Office of Student Conduct already tries to reach all students, said Andrea Goodwin, the office's associate director. But because most cases the honor council hears involve undergraduates, it is more difficult to engage graduate students, she said. Nonetheless, she said, it is just as important that they understand the consequences of violating the university's honor code.

"I certainly agree with marketing the honor code more heavily to graduate students," Goodwin said.

The GSG also requested that international graduate students be given a more careful look when brought before the honor council, asking that at least one member of the six-person panel that determines the validity of these charges be a fellow international graduate student or a non-native English speaker.

Because some international students were raised with cultural values that conflict with American academic standards, GSG Vice President for Legislative Affairs Karin French said cases involving international students can be better examined through the lens of a different culture as the honor council considers expulsion or other punishments.

"They weren't given the same set of rules as to what is acceptable and unacceptable," French said.

Expulsion also can cause more serious consequences for international students because it may result in them losing their visas and being forced to leave the country within days, French added, so honor council decisions need to be indisputable in these cases.

"When it's an international student, it's a very serious issue," French said.

Additionally, the GSG asked that non-native English-speaking students facing the honor council be provided with a translator so they can better understand the technical jargon used in hearings, which Goodwin said sounded feasible.

"We certainly don't want any of our students to be at a disadvantage, and certainly not due to a language barrier," Goodwin said.

At the meeting, the GSG also took steps toward addressing what officials described as the spotty attendance of many of its members during this year's assembly meetings and a lack of communication between program representatives and the GSG assembly. One meeting was even canceled earlier this year because not enough members were present.

"Everybody shows up in the fall, and then it sort of tapers off throughout the semester," said GSG Vice President for Academic Affairs Aaron Tobiason, which he said diminishes the body's influence in university affairs.

Under the new rules passed last week, GSG members can appoint a proxy representative to vote in their place if they must miss a meeting but are still required to attend at least half of the body's eight to 10 annual assemblies. The GSG's executive board was also granted the power to remove members with more than five absences.

At last week's meeting, the GSG also requested that the University Health Center create a Graduate Student Health Advisory Committee and passed a resolution supporting the creation of the graduate-undergraduate mentorship program that the body had discussed earlier in the school year.

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