ASMSU is teaming up with the University Committee on Academic Policy, or UCAP, to tackle academic dishonesty. In basic terms, that means they're trying to get students to stop cheating. A worthy fight to partake in perhaps, but one that is also near impossible to win.
The groups are considering permanently recording academic dishonesty on the cheater's transcript. While the thought of that is scary, shouldn't having a big, bold zero representing a failed class due to cheating be good enough? That's the current policy.
If students are caught cheating by an instructor, their academic dean is notified, and the cheaters fail the class and might have to go through a judiciary process. If students receive failing grades and wish to repeal, they can also choose to go through the same judiciary process.
These measures, already put in place to deal with cheating, are as adequate as any, which raises questions as to what prompted this response from ASMSU and UCAP. ASMSU, if you don't know by now, is MSU's undergraduate student government.
First, has there been an increase in cheating on campus that this is in reaction to? To have ASMSU spend its time attempting to tackle an age-old tactic of unethically getting ahead is a waste. Why doesn't the student government focus more on issues that will affect more students like, for example, renewing their lobbying effort at the state Legislature to get rid of taxes on textbooks — something that would surely better the majority of students' lives and something the group has discussed in the past.
In addition, a standard rule for campus will not be followed by every professor in every classroom. Instructors may have different opinions on the policy and will choose to follow it as they see fit.
The problem with focusing too much energy on preparing a plan to punish cheaters is that cheating will not go away anyway. Sadly, there will always be people who choose the easy and dishonest route. In fact, according to The Center for Academic Integrity, 80 percent of college students said they have cheated at least once.
But of course, just because the majority of students occasionally do it doesn't make it right. It should go without saying that cheating is wrong. Even though there are various types of cheating, all college students should realize that whether they're copying a friend's homework or having someone else write their paper, both are just as wrong.
The system in place is efficient and fair for students, and while ASMSU's attempt to rewrite the cheating policy at MSU is admirable, maybe our government should work toward something that would benefit the student body in a positive manner.
