ETHOS

JULY 2015

A Monthly Publication of the International Center for Academic Integrity Featuring Summaries of Integrity News + News from the Center

Quote of the Month

Ones philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices
one makesand the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility.
-Eleanor Roosevelt

Arizona State Demotes History Professor

By: Scott Jaschik

InsideHigherEd.com

7/13/2015

When an anonymous blog last year accused Matthew C. Whitaker

of plagiarizing portions of Peace Be Still: Modern Black America from
World War II to Barack Obama, he said that he wouldn't respond to
charges presented in that way. His publisher, the University of
Nebraska Press, backed him.
The anonymous nature of the charges bothered some at Arizona
State University, where Whitaker was a full professor and led a
research center. But after the university conducted an investigation
and found misconduct, Whitaker now says that he agrees that he
made significant mistakes in the book.
Mark Searle, Arizona State's interim provost, last week sent a
message to history faculty members in which he said an investigation
into the book had "identified significant issues with the content of the
aforementioned book." Searle went on to say that "as a result of the
outcomes from that investigation, Dr. Whitaker has accepted a
position as associate professor without a Foundation Professorship
[an honor he previously held], and now co-directs his center."
Searle also forwarded a letter from Whitaker, in which he admitted
wrongdoing. Both letters were forwarded by someone other than the
authors to Inside Higher Ed.
"I have struggled to overlook the personal nature of the criticisms,
and to evaluate and recognize that there was merit to some of them. I
alerted ASU administration to the fact that the text contained
unattributed and poorly paraphrased material. I accept
responsibility for these errors and I am working with my publisher to
make the appropriate corrections," he wrote
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/07/13/arizona-statedemotes-history-professor-after-investigation-his-book

From the Director

More from the horses mouth . . .
Once I wrote about a lesson Id learned from
horses, that mechanical means of preventing
something you dont want, head tossing, for
horses, or plagiarism for students, is effective
only as long as the mechanism is in place. It
doesnt alter the propensity for the unwanted
behavior. Another important message,
however, is that just because someone (horse
or person) does something or exhibits a
particular characteristic, it doesnt mean that
its a permanent part of who they are.
Old-time auctioneers have an expression for
something ephemeral or temporary. They
might say, for instance, of a horse with a limp
from an injury incurred in shipping to the
auction it goes with him, but he doesnt own
it. It conveys that while the limp is present
now, it wont necessarily be part of the horse
next week. Buyers should be aware of it, but
this temporary flaw is expected to change.
This concept also applies to students who
make the decision to cheat. Even when
transgressions have occurred, it is not the
case that the student should forever be labeled
a cheater. There is the potentialthe
expectation, eventhat the situation will
improve. The language we use for this
mattersboth because it shapes our policies
and practices, and because it may shape the
way students see themselves. Cheating might
go with a student for the moment without
it following that they own it forever.

~Teddi Fishman

Grade Changing Under Investigation

By: Molly Bloom

Atlanta Journal Constitution

that the school district would recommend safeguards to put

6/19/2015 in place before the start of the next school year.

The Atlanta school district will conduct a comprehensive

Circumstances the investigative reports describe will sound

review to determine the extent of its problem with improper depressingly familiar to those who followed Atlantas last
grade changing, district officials said Friday, following several cheating scandal, in which 11 former educators were
convicted of crimes connected to cheating on state tests:
instances of students receiving grades they didnt earn.
principals pressuring employees to change grades;
District investigative reports released in response to public
records requests from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and retaliation against those who balked; supervisors allegedly
Channel 2 Action News show more than 200 cases of improper ignoring or implicitly approving signs of cheating
grading practices, including unjustified grade changes.
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/atlantaAPS spokeswoman Jill Strickland said in a written statement public-schools-academic-integrity-under-in/nmgwJ/

Announcements

Upcoming Events!
3rd Annual ICAI Southeast
Regional Consortium Meeting
Hosted by Kennesaw State University
Kennesaw, Georgia
November 2-3, 2015
http://ccpe.kennesaw.edu/icai/

3rd National Congress on

Academic Integrity

Corruption Lowers
Nigerias Global Academic
Integrity Rating
By: Folarin Okunola
Pulse.ng

7/9/2015

High incidence of corruption in the

university system is responsible for
the poor global academic integrity
rating of Nigerian institutions.
A former Executive Secretary of
National Universities Commission
(NUC), Professor Peter Okebukola,
said this on Monday in Abuja in his
keynote address at a workshop.

Okebukola said Nigerian

Universities will continue to be
ranked low on the global index if
the issue of Academic integrity is
http://www.udem.edu.mx/Esp/Noticiasnot addressed. We must all come to
Eventos/Pages/Eventos/2015/octubre/3-Congreso- the realization that whether we like
Nacional-de-Integridad-Academica.aspx
it or not, the ranking is here to stay.
The corruption level which directly
HETL 2015:
and indirectly impacts on academic
integrity is high in Nigeria more so
Learning Without Borders
in the last 8 years."
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Universidad de Monterrey
Monterrey, Mexico
October 8-9, 2015

September 22-24, 2015

https://www.hetl.org/2015-hetl-pstlconference/

____________________________

www.facebook.com/AcademicIntegrity

http://www.twitter.com/TweetCAI

He argued that the pervasiveness of

corruption in the university system
mirrored the larger society. "We
cannot have a saintly university
system in an ocean of corrupt larger
community reeking with persons
with dishonest attribute, where
parents are key agent in sorting by
inducing lecturers for marks for
their children and wards and
bribing admission officers to secure
admission," he added
http://pulse.ng/student/universitiesranking-corruption-lowers-nigeriasglobal-rating-in-academic-integrityokebukola-id3956973.html

The International Center for Academic Integrity grants permission to duplicate and
distribute this newsletter physically or electronically, so long as it is duplicated
and/or distributed in its entirety and without alteration.
Please note that this publication features summaries of and links to
original works that are subject to copyright protection. ICAI does not
claim ownership or credit for any original works found within.

Students Fight Back Against

Cheating in Their Ranks
By: Glenn Mulcaster
CanberraTimes.com.au

7/12/2015

The MyMaster essay mill scandal

that led to disciplinary action against
dozens of students at Sydney's
Macquarie University in May has
raised the profile of a new student
society. The Academic Integrity
Matters, or AIM, student group was
set up last year as a chapter of the
University of California San Diego's
AIM organisation.
The chairwoman of the AIM
Ambassadors, Sonia Saddiqui, is a
postgraduate student and part-time
academic staff member at Macquarie.
She is pursuing a PhD to explore if
student honour codes developed in the
US could be adopted in Australian
universities.
Honour codes were devised at
Stanford in 1921 and Princeton in
1893 by students and remain enforced
by students there.
Ms. Saddiqui graduated from UNSW
as an overseas student from
Singapore, and then worked for 10
years in student advocacy at Central
Queensland University's Student
Association. "Since MyMaster came to
light we have received more
opportunities to talk about academic
integrity," she said.
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/nati
onal/education/students-fight-backagainst-widespread-cheating-in-theirranks-20150712-gi7qia.html

Welcome New Members

July 2015!
Michigan Technological University
NC School of Science and Math
Louisiana State University

This publication is sponsored by:

Ethos Staff:

CAI-L@clemson.edu

Aaron Monson:

Editor/Writer

Teddi Fishman:

Executive Editor