ASMSU is looking to help professors administer exams in an effort to curb cheating and increase its student outreach.
Vinayak Prasad, Academic Assembly External Vice chairperson, presented a plan to the Academic Assembly Policy Committee Tuesday night that would create a pilot program to proctor exams for large classes.
He detailed the plan's initial groundwork which calls for about 15-20 total students in the program who would pass out exams and stay to monitor test takers. The professor would not have to be present.
"This is the sort of thing that we should be doing and have failed to do in the past," Prasad said.
Prasad also said he plans to discuss the idea with President-designate Lou Anna Simon next week to garner approval.
"It would be nice to have the support of her office," he said. "The provost obviously has a much larger voice than our assembly."
The pilot program, casually referred to as "Honor Board," would survey students after the process to decide its ultimate fate.
College of Social Sciences Representative Peter Tomchuck said he was weary that monitoring exams wouldn't change much of the cheating because most is outside the classroom.
"We need to change the attitude to make students want to actually learn," he said.
Prasad admitted his proposal doesn't address all dishonest students, but said it at least begins to address the problem.
On Tuesday afternoon, Prasad proposed an idea to the Executive Committee of Academic Council to require professors who hand exams back to their students to also post them online.
He said it would level the playing field for students who take classes with recycled exams. The proposal will go to the University Committee on Student Affairs before it is sent back to the executive committee for further review.
The Lyman Briggs School has its own honor statement, which is posted in classrooms, and states students shall not cheat or falsify their work.
"It's effective to a degree," said Kent Workman, academic adviser with Lyman Briggs. "Not everything is 100 percent, but it keeps the idea in people's minds and puts it in a public fashion."
Prasad said his proposal would more directly confront the issue of cheating.
"If you post an honor code on the wall, it doesn't make what you do any different," he said. "But if you institute a policy like this, it will have an effect."
English senior Errick Greenlee is skeptical that the proposal will make a difference in how students get their answers.
"They can't be everywhere at the same time so (there's) always a way to cheat," he said. "It may help deter cheating, but you'll need multiple people per row for it to be effective."
Darrell Hughes contributed to this report.
