“We have found that graduate students in general are cheating at an alarming rate and business-school students are cheating even more than others,” concludes a study by the Academy of Management Learning and Education of 5,300 students in the U.S. and Canada. …
However, what’s holding many professors back from taking action on cheaters is the fear of litigation.
(Thomas Kostigen, “Survey: M.B.A.s Are The Biggest Cheaters”, MarketWatch/ CareerJournal.com, Oct. 25; Al Lewis, “Wily MBA students lead cheating pack”, Denver Post, Oct. 2).
7 Comments
It’s easy to say “fear of litigation,” but what are the facts? How often do student accused of cheating bring litigation against their schools?
“How often do student accused of cheating bring litigation against their schools?”
I think that is the million doller question. But the phobia of being sued,is quite real and hinges on the fact that win or loose the defendent would foot the lawyers bill , just to save his/her ass. litigation is not a two way street , win or loose it will leave you demoralized and worse off , this is particularly true among people who are litigated most often .But I think we would need more examples like this to put a hard no. on such anecdotes.
Here in the Netherlands (where the culture is far less geared towards litigation than in the US) it happens several times a year (on a population of about 16 million).
Last year one teacher was actually murdered over expelling a student for cheating. The kid went home, got a gun (which are illegal here), went back, and shot the teacher.
Even one such incident would be enough to make teachers very wary of taking action against cheaters, especially cheaters known to have violent tendencies.
At least “only” 45% of law students cheat.
I would think that in law school, cheating would be seen as a POSITIVE – it certainly seems that way among actual lawyers.
As the son of a university professor, I have long been convinced that cheating is a huge problem. While I’ve never heard a professor say that they are soft on cheaters out of a fear of litigation, I have heard stories of department heads discouraging strict punishment for academic dishonesty because, “we have more important things to do than listen to the complaining of some 20-something kid and his parents.”
As a result, you get students who grow up thinking that being caught at cheating entitles them to re-do an assignment, rather than face suspension or expulsion. And let me tell you, the opportunity to “try again” has somewhere around zero deterrent effect.
Too many students today (as well as their parents) seem to be under the impression that if you pay your tuition, you’re somehow entitled to a degree.
Back to fear of litigation, though. I do think it would be helpful to know how often students actually bring litigation, but I also think that fear of litigation can result without any rational basis (e.g. a high or increasing number of suits). Like the threat of satanic cults that garnered such media attention when I was a child, I wonder how rational is the basis for professors fearing student litigation.
“I do think it would be helpful to know how often students actually bring litigation”
Actually, I think it would be more helpful to know how EASY is it to bring a suit, how much it costs to defend one’s self from it (both in money and othr costs, like personal time), and how likely one is to prevail.
It’s not how often it’s actually used, it’s how easy it is to inflict pain if it IS used, and how easy it is to use.
I think we all know the answers to THOSE quenstions, though.