| ACADEMIC INTEGRITY CASES |
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Academic Integrity Cases The director of an advanced
molecular biology course has the midterm exam scheduled for
regular class time. A group of students (10 out of about 40
enrolled in the class) approach the course director a week before
the exam and tell him that a special seminar has been scheduled
at the same time as the exam. He grants their request that they
be allowed to take the exam in the next hour following the
seminar. Information given in the introductory part of the
seminar turns out to be a critical review of material that helps
most of the students who attend the seminar answer a challenging
exam question correctly. This becomes common knowledge among the
rest of the class who write a letter of protest to the course
director and to the departmental chair. They claim the students
who attended the seminar had an unfair advantage on the exam.
What are the implications of this scenario in terms of the honor
code. Assume you are the course director; what, if anything ,
will you do? Then assume you are the departmental chair; what, if
anything will you do? İF. L. Macrina Dr. Mable Ross directs an undergraduate course in biochemistry. Taught to
upperclassmen over two semesters, the course presently enrolls 200 students.
Four graduate teaching assistants (TAs) are assigned to Dr. Ross and they teach
small group recitation sections and they grade exams. There are 4 exams each
semester. Half way throught the fall semester Dr. Ross learns that there have
been multiple incidents of students approaching the TAs with corrected exams and
pointing out problems with the grading of certain questions. . The students have
argued that they provided the correct answer but were graded as though their
response was wrong. In all cases the TAs inspected the graded exam, admitted
that they made an error in grading, and adjusted the student's exam score
upwards. Discussion of these incidents at a weekly teaching staff meeting leaves
Dr. Ross suspicious of the student's motives. She suspects the students have
tampered with the corrected exams so as to make their answer appear correct. Dr.
Ross also is unhappy with the TAs who did the re-grading and dismisses their
arguments that she never mentioned any policy that forbid re-grading. At the
next staff meeting Dr. Ross announces a new policy. For the remaining 6 exams in
the course, each TA will be required to photocopy the completed exams of each of
the students in their section. The TAs are to keep these exams in a secure
location. These exam copies must be used in any cases where students approach
the TA with a grading "dispute". TAs who uncover tampered exam papers must
immediately report such incidents to the department's honor council
representative. Finally, the fact that the graded exam papers are being
photocopied will not be disclosed to the class. Two of the course TAs are
uncomfortable with Dr. Ross's plan. They think it represents entrapment and is
deliberately deceptive. Is Dr. Ross acting responsibly? Are her actions legal?
Are they ethical? Bill and Sara meet in an
introductory graduate course and over the span of the upcoming
academic year, fall in love and get married. At the beginning of
the second year they select mentors in the same department and
begin their dissertation research. They both work extremely hard,
but frequently has Bill help her in the lab. On weekends they are
commonly seen working together doing experiments which are
exclusively part of Sara’s research project. Over the course
of the next three years Sara prepares 6 senior authored
manuscripts and all are published in peer-reviewed journals. Bill
is not included as an author on any of the papers, but he is
acknowledged in 5 of them. In her last year in the program, Sara
wins the prestigious graduate student honors day award and is
also selected by the departmental faculty to receive the
outstanding graduate student annual award. Recently, Sara has
been offered a permanent position in a biotechnology company.
Bill is not likely to be finished with his dissertation research
anytime soon, and has no publications or even abstracts to his
name. A small group of graduate students meet with you, the
departmental chair, and bitterly complain that Sara has had an
unfair advantage during her graduate research career. They claim
her publication record is deceptive as it fails to account for
all the "extra help" she received from her spouse. They
claim both she and her mentor are party to inappropriate
practices. They want you to intervene in some way. İF. L. Macrina You have been spending several hours
a day in the library writing up your research results for
publication. You sit each day in a secluded part of the library
while you do your reading and writing. On two different occasions
over the course of a few days you notice that the same student
retrieves what appears to be a bound volume of periodicals from a
nearby library shelf. You observe that this student returns the
book to the shelf after use and, upon inspection, you notice he
places the book on a shelf behind a totally different set of
bound periodicals. You determine that the book he is using
actually belongs on a shelf in a different section of the
library. The third time you see the student use the book and
return it, you confront him and question him regarding this
unusual situation. The student tells you that he is writing a
postdoctoral grant application and has a strict deadline. The
book he has been using contains several critical review articles
and it cannot be checked out of the library. The student is
worried that the book will be used by other students and that
this will interfere with his grant application writing.
Accordingly, he indicates that he is conveniently storing the
book in an "out of the way place" in the library until
he finishes his grant writing. You suggest that what the student
is doing is unfair, unethical, and may in fact be an honor code
violation. The student ignores your comment and walks away. You
observe the student to continue to sequester this book over the
course of the next few days. What, if any are your
responsibilities in this situation? Using your own
institution’s honor code as a guide, would you classify the
student’s action as an honor code violation? What would you
proceed to do about this situation? İF. L. Macrina A graduate department's comprehensive
exam for predoctoral trainees consists of written questions
submitted by each member of the student's graduate advisory
committee. The questions can cover anything within the breadth of
the discipline. A student getting ready to take this exam makes
an appointment with a faculty member who sits on her committee.
They meet in the faculty member's office with the door open. The
student asks the faculty member to give her some guidance with
respect to the area or areas in which she should concentrate her
studying in order to prepare for the question the faculty member
will ask on the written exam. The faculty member remarks that
this is an unusual request and initially is reluctant to disclose
any information. However, with additional probing from the
student, the faculty member proceeds to give the student guidance
on areas for study. Another graduate student working at the bench
in the faculty member's lab is able to hear all of the
conversation in the office. This student comes to you and
suggests that an honor code violation has occurred. The student
asks you if you concur that a violation has transpired and what
he should do to initiate action against the student. What are
your responses to these questions? İF. L. Macrina Bill, Martha, and Richard are all
first year graduate students enrolled in a biochemistry course.
Martha tells Bill that she has just learned Richard possesses all
of the previous year's examinations given in this biochemistry
course. Martha and Bill decide that Richard is committing an
honor code violation and they come to you for advice. They ask
you whether you feel they have grounds to proceed with an
accusation. They also want to know what additional information,
if any, should be gathered relative to their case. Finally, they
ask you how they should proceed to file this accusation. What
advice do you give them? İF.
L. Macrina A professor advising several predoctoral and postdoctoral graduate trainees discovers some
expensive graphics software on the laboratory computer. Upon
inquiry, he learns that the software was purchased by the
predoctoral mentor of one of his current postdoctoral trainees.
The professor considers this to be an infringement of the
original software license agreement and a breach of computer
ethics. The professor proceeds to erase both the application
software and all of the related data files from the hard disk of
the laboratory computer. He provides no explanation for his
actions. No one in the laboratory group objects to these actions
including the person who loaded the software onto the machine.
Several months later, the postdoctoral who brought the graphic
software to the laboratory prepares a manuscript on his research
results. This manuscript is being coauthored with the professor.
The manuscript contains several figures that the postdoctoral has
prepared using the above-referenced graphics program on his home
computer. The professor refuses to accept and read the
manuscript, claiming that the postdoctoral has not been ethical
in his use of the software. Comment on the appropriateness of the
behavior of both the professor and the postdoctoral in this
scenario. İF. L. Macrina A faculty member at a medical school
is sitting on a national committee that composes test questions
for an exam that must be taken by all medical students in the
United States. Each year the medical school organizes a special
evening hour review course to help students prepare for this
examination. The faculty member who sits on the national
committee is asked to participate in his specialty area and to
conduct two hours of an evening review session. The faculty
member agrees to do so. Following the review session an
administrator from a medical school in a nearby city writes the
administrative offices of the National Examination Board. The
administrator says that he has found out that a member of the
national test committee is conducting review sessions at his
medical school. He specifically names the faculty member and the
school involved. He claims that the conduct of a review session
by this faculty member is inappropriate and represents a serious
conflict of interest and breach of academic standards. Comment on
this scenario. İF. L. Macrina Students in Biochem. 9000 are given a take home mid-term examination with the instructions that they may use whatever sources they deem appropriate to arrive at the correct answers. Two students turn in absolutely identical papers with the explanation that they used each other as sources. The instructor files charges against both claiming that plagiarism has occurred.
Dr. Williams, a graduate faculty
member is known for asking questions during student's
comprehensive oral exams which are considered to be very basic;
some faculty feel his questions are "too easy".
Williams is aware of his reputation but contends that his
questioning on such examinations reflects what he feels to be
necessary and sufficient probing of the student's knowledge at
that point in their career. Dr. Ullman, another graduate faculty
member, tells Williams that he will no longer invite him to sit
on the oral examining committees of his students. Dr. Williams
proceeds to file a grievance against Dr. Ullman, claiming that he
is being discriminated against and that this is an issue which
violates his academic freedom. You are selected as a member of
the grievance panel. What is your thinking on these matters given
the facts as presented. İF.
L. Macrina Dr.
David James is director of a graduate course in chemistry which
enrolls about 150 students. Mary, a student taking the course,
makes an appointment to see James’ department head. She is
quite upset by Dr. James behavior in class. She feels he is
frequently rude when answering student’s questions. Although
he has encouraged the class to ask questions, she claims he
answers questions with a cynical tone, often implying that the
student’s problem is related to their lack of attention in
the classroom or failure to do the assigned reading. A few
"brave" students still ask questions and they seem to
be undaunted by Dr. James’ insulting responses. The
department head thanks Mary for the information and tells her he
intends to investigate her claims. Without Dr. James knowledge,
the chair instructs Dr. Sally Howe to discretely attend several
of Dr. James’ lectures. She slips quietly into the back of
the lecture hall and attends several classes unnoticed by Dr.
James. Dr. Howe reports back to the chair that Mary’s claims
are all true; if anything, Howe feels Mary has understated Dr.
James’ rudeness. As departmental chair what, if anything, do
you do? As dean, you have just learned about this entire episode,
including the fact that the chair has sent the Dr. James a letter
of reprimand for his classroom behavior. What, if anything, will
you do. İF. L. Macrina As a faculty member you are
advisor to several first year graduate students. John Franks, one
of your advisees, visits you and is concerned that he has
received a failing grade on his midterm exam in the cell biology
course. Prior to the exam he missed one week of classes ( 4
lecture hours) due to illness. He claimed he had the
"flu" and was unable to attend class. Upon his recovery
he visited the course director and asked for help in making up
the classes he missed. The professor told him to read the
assigned text chapters. John pressed the course director for more
help. In response, the course director provided John a photocopy
of his notes with the caveat that they were "very sketchy,
and simply provide the main points which are then expanded in the
lecture." John says he was unable to get class notes from
any of the students taking the course. At the conclusion of the
course John receives a grade of D, which is considered an
unacceptable grade in his graduate program. He returns to you and
says he’s filing an honor code violation against the
professor for denying him access to the same information given to
the rest of the class. İF. L. Macrina Monica Louis has matriculated as a graduate student in the
Department of Genetics. She did not qualify for departmental or
university support but Dr. Sam Adams, an associate professor in
the department, offers her a lab assistant position. Monica must
prepare all the tissue culture media and sterilize instruments
used by his laboratory group. In addition she must regularly
weigh rats being used in a laboratory project which is part of
the dissertation research of a predoctoral student, Ben Franklin.
She must do weighings three times per week and enter the data
into a computer database. Over the course of the fall semester,
she works diligently and reliably and earns the trust of Dr.
Adams and the whole lab group. During the spring semester she
asks Adams if she can work nights because her course load is more
demanding. He approves this request. As the semester progresses
one of Adams’s lab technicians uncovers evidence that Monica
is submitting more hours on her time card than she is actually
working. During March it is probable that she has falsified her
time cards amounting to overpayments equaling $2,200. While
suspicions are rising about this, Ben Franklin produces clear
evidence that Monica fabricated many of the weights she recorded.
The time card falsification and data fabrication appear related.
During spring break Monica left campus for several days, yet she
submitted hours for compensation. Moreover weights were entered
into the data base after the fact corresponding to days when she
was out of town. Dr. Adams meets with his departmental chair to
discuss how to proceed. During the discussion several
possibilities come up. One is that the alleged accusations
constitute an academic honor code transgression. Another is that
Monica’s actions constitute scientific misconduct. A third
is that she may be guilty of criminal theft. As dean of the
school you are consulted at this point. What advice do you give
Dr. Adams on what avenue to pursue and how to move forward? İF. L.
Macrina Letters and memos announcing pre- and postdoctoral
training opportunities as well as job openings are posted on a
bulletin board near the departmental lunchroom. As a senior
graduate student you have started paying close attention to this
postings. A postdoctoral opening on the west coast catches your
eye, but you’re rushing to start an experiment and you
don’t have time to read it. The next morning when you return
to carefully read the notice, it’s gone. As you as standing
there confused, Leo DiSnerd, another graduate student, stops
quickly at the bulletin board, removes one of the announcements,
and begins to walk away. When you confront him about this he
freely admits that he has removed several notices over the past
few weeks, including the one you were looking for. He says that
he is in an intense phase of searching for a postdoctoral and is
following up several of these notices. He claims removing them is
"no big deal", and makes the following points First,
the posting system is haphazard so he’s not depriving anyone
of a systematic way to search for positions. Second, he always
lets the notices stay up for a few days before he removes them.
Third, most, if not all of this information is readily available
on the Internet. Is this an honor code violation? Are you
ethically obliged to do anything about Leo’s behavior? İF. L.
Macrina John, an entrepreneurial student in a first year graduate
school class, is particularly adept at making effective class
notes. There is no class note cooperative for this course. Thus,
he decides to sell his notes to class mates. He does not tell the
course professor about this activity. He announces the
availability of his "killer" notes to several students
in the class whom he knows well. Sarah, Sam and Bill buy
John’s notes covering 10 lectures. Sam proceeds to give
photocopies of his purchased notes to Janet and Todd. Comment on
the ethics and legality of this scenario. Has an honor code
violation occurred? İF. L. Macrina Mike Morton is a third year graduate student at Big West
University where he is immersed in his dissertation research in
cell biology. One fall Saturday afternoon you are working in the
lab when Mike arrives to do some work having just attended a Big
West home football game. He seems in a jovial mood as he shuts
down a high voltage electrophoresis apparatus and prepares his
gel for processing. He then loads some centrifuge tubes and
starts a high speed centrifuge run that will take 3 hours. As he
works near your bench you can smell alcohol, and you conclude
that although Mike may not be drunk, he has clearly been
drinking. You have some passing concern that Mike could be
endangering himself and others by operating potentially dangerous
lab equipment following alcohol consumption. The next day you
visit the lab to change some cell culture media and you discover Mike's centrifuge
completed its run, and is sitting idle with Mike's samples still in it. You
phone his apartment but get no answer, so you send him an e-mail
alerting him to the problem. The next morning the centrifuge is
still not in operation, but Mike's tubes are no longer in the
rotor. Sensitized to these events, you take a keen interest in Mike's behavior. You
notice that you can sometimes smell alcohol on his breath in the
mornings when he comes to the lab. Are you obliged to act these
observations? What actions, if any, do you take? Are there honor
code, scientific misconduct, or other policy transgressions
involved here? İF. L. Macrina |
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Last modified: 09/07/04