A federal appeals court upheld the authority of the University of Michigan to revoke a master's degree awarded to a student found to have fabricated a discovery on which his thesis was based. A degree can be revoked without a court proceeding or trial when allegations of fraud are involved. (MLW)

Current literature and federal agency pronouncements concerning falsification of discovery, theft of discoveries, and violations of accepted research procedures are examined, and internal institutional procedures for addressing these issues are suggested. Particular attention is given to due process afforded to faculty accused of such misconduct.…

This paper argues that corruption is used on a systematic basis as a mechanism of direct and indirect administrative control from the state level down to local authorities and administrations of public and private institutions. Informal approval of corrupt activities in exchange for loyalty and compliance with the regime is commonplace in many…

This paper reviews the issues involved in using statistical data on multiple choice examination results as evidence of cheating among college student test-takers. Recent studies have demonstrated the large extent of academic dishonesty among American college students. Seeking to curb this trend, college faculty have been turning to statistical…

Cheating by students in academic assignments, especially term papers, cheating on tests, and altering or forging a university document are discussed. Efforts of the University of Maryland to crack down on cheating and to produce a workable code of student conduct are described. (MLW)

Public officials and student aid experts agree that the federal program delivery system is outdated, inefficient, and vulnerable to fraud, but they disagree on how bad the situation is and whether the Education Department has the structure necessary to fix it. A 1995 project to integrate all federal grant and loan programs into one system has not…

Compares the self-reported cheating behaviors of fraternity and non-fraternity members and the relation between student cheating and the overall level of greek membership on campus. Fraternity and sorority members cheat more than non-members but cheating would not change dramatically if fraternities or sororities did not exist on campus. (RJM)

Discusses the increase in online plagiarism and what school librarians can do to help. Topics include the need for school district policies on plagiarism; teaching students what plagiarism is; pertinent Web sites; teaching students proper research skills; motivation for cheating; and requiring traditional sources of information for student…

Compares the effect of content ordering and scrambled ordering on examinations in courses, such as economics, that require quantitative skills. Empirical results suggest that students do no better if they are given a content-ordered rather than a scrambled examination as student performance is not adversely affected by scrambled ordered…

Current literature on academic dishonesty identifies many factors that influence students to cheat, faculty members' responses to cheating, and ways that campuses have sought to deter cheating. Through an appropriate use of both educational and developmental programs and due process policy responses, campuses can make real progress in the struggle…

A Total Quality Management (TQM) approach to enforcing an admissions rule was taken in one master's degree program in lieu of punishing students for infraction. Prevention became possible only after TQM techniques revealed the causes of rule violation. Follow-up shows no new rule infractions for several academic terms. (MSE)

Two British studies of undergraduate student cheating are reported: the first is a study of university staff (n=20) and students' (n=112) perceptions of cheating, resulting in a classification of cheating behaviors; the second used student (n=128) self-reports to identify age, gender, discipline, and institutional characteristics related to…

As colleges and universities increasingly seek for-profit corporate sponsors for their research programs, collaboration may be complicated by differential missions leading to potential conflicts of interest. Ethical issues include corporate influence on research topics, secrecy and publication restrictions, patent ownership, unfavorable…

As states have pushed to adopt high-stakes assessments, critics say the number of cheating incidents among educators has risen dramatically. Tying improvements to cash bonuses has not helped. Stretching rules to show improvement can become the norm, if superintendents don't promulgate zero-tolerance cheating policies. (MLH)

The primary purpose of "National Cross Talk" is to stimulate informed discussion and debate of higher education issues. This publication contains the following articles: (1) The Plagiarism Plague: In the Internet Era, Cheating Has Become an Epidemic on College Campuses (Don Campbell); (2) Dillard's Dire Straits: Historically Black…