Promoting Academic Integrity

Academic Integrity Week, the first in what is intended to be an annual event allowing students, faculty and staff to celebrate academic integrity and promote honesty and scholarship began Monday and concludes tomorrow. Activities are designed to raise awareness of the acts that constitute cheating and plagiarism and of the related University policies and standards. They will also provide the campus community with the opportunity to engage in meaningful dialog and to learn ways of preventing academic dishonesty.

Michelle Campagna, director of the New Student Experience, initiated the program. Campagna said she was shocked that so many freshmen were fabricating stories on their class assignments.

Campagna thought a campus-wide event would be an opportunity for the University to raise awareness. "We need to address this as an institution and there can’t be any questions of what we expect.

"While students may be getting away with plagiarizing and cheating in high school, college is a whole new ballgame," Campagna continued. "Our students need to understand that honesty and integrity are the expectations of this community. I view this time as a formative period and hope students will realize they have to rise to the occasion and reconsider their approach to their academics."

The event has been endorsed by the University Senate as well as the Student Government Association and Provost Richard Lynde officially declared the week of Oct. 31 Academic Integrity Week. "Montclair State is founded on values such as mutual respect, honor and integrity," he said. "It is important that we assume responsibility for the cultivation of these values both in and out of the classroom. They are essential to the open exchange of ideas and to fostering ethical citizenship in our campus community and in the larger community as well. On campus, they are the foundation of teaching, learning, research and scholarship."

The series of events include a mock judicial trial, a brown bag discussion on student plagiarism and a session featuring Dr. Donald McCabe, founding president of the Center for Academic Integrity.

Campagna admits that one week of events is not going to address all the issues, but says it will engage the community in conversations that will surely continue. "If we expect to produce students who are global citizens with some sort of ethic and civic responsibility, we have to ensure that they leave the university with responsibility and honesty."