The
Regular session – November 8, 2004 - 3:30 p.m. - Jacobson Faculty Hall 102
office: Jacobson Faculty Hall 206
phone: 325-6789
e-mail:
The Faculty Senate was called
to order by Professor Valerie Watts, Chair.
PRESENT: Barker,
Biggerstaff, Blank, Bozorgi, Brown, Burns, Catlin, Cramer, Davis, Devenport,
Dohrmann, Draheim, Driver, Elisens, Fincke, Forman, Frech, Geletzke, Gutierrez,
Halterman, Havlicek, Hayes-Thumann, Hobbs, Houser, Kauffman, R. Knapp, Lai,
Magnusson, Penrose, Raadschelders, Rupp-Serrano, Scherman, Schwarzkopf, Sharp, Striz,
Taylor, Vieux, Watts, Wheeler, Wood, Wyckoff
Provost's office representative: Heiser
ABSENT: Bradford,
Caldwell, Cintrón, Civan, Dewers, Greene, Henderson, C. Knapp, Lewis, Liu, Marcus-Mendoza,
Ransom
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Announcement: 2004-05 Campus
Departmental Review Panel
Academic integrity
Senate Chair’s Report:
Alcohol task force
Exercise facility for faculty
Graduate Student Senate role within student government
Election, councils/committees/boards
Resolution, academic integrity
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The Faculty Senate Journal
for the regular session of October 11, 2004 was approved.
The following faculty will
serve on the 2004-05 Campus Departmental Review Panel: David Mair (English), Bruce Mason (Physics
& Astronomy), Teri Jo Murphy (Mathematics), Joy Nelson (Music), Edgar
O’Rear, III (Chemical Engineering & Materials Science), David Sabatini
(Civil Engineering & Environmental Science), and Zev Trachtenberg (Philosophy). The panel will also include Associate Dean James
Patterson (Architecture), Associate Dean Frederick Blevens (Journalism), and Graduate
College Representative Susan Vehik (Anthropology). The units to be reviewed are
Prof. Watts explained that Pal
Randhawa, chair of the student honor council, and Greg Heiser, assistant
provost would talk about the honor council’s latest efforts regarding academic
integrity and the survey that was conducted.
Dr. Heiser introduced Ricker Deeg and Melissa Renfro, members of the
honor council. He said the honor council
had been active this semester in promoting a strong student force for academic
integrity.
Mr. Randhawa thanked the
senate for its support and reported on the student activities since he spoke to
the senate last semester. The honor
council, which is nine months old, has developed an integrity pledge. Its members have spoken to classes, student
organizations, and international students about academic integrity, and the
group plans to expand those efforts over the coming years.
Mr. Deeg said the web site – ou.edu/honorcouncil – included a
list of the members, a description of what constitutes academic misconduct, and
useful links. Mr. Randhawa said they had
recruited additional students to the council because many of the members will
be graduating soon. This semester, the
council hosted a visit from Dr. Donald McCabe, an expert in academic misconduct. With information Dr. McCabe provided, the
council will develop more specific plans on how to deal with cheating. For example, the council has contacted
departments where cheating is a particular problem and will discuss with their
faculty how to tailor plans to address the problem. He said he realized some faculty members were
not enthusiastic about using the integrity statement. He asked for suggestions on how to spread
information about academic integrity throughout the university. Faculty may send suggestions or questions or
request a council member to speak to a class about academic integrity to honorcouncil@ou.edu.
Prof. Havlicek asked whether
the intention was that the pledge had to be word for word or that “tests” or
“exams” could be substituted for the word, “exercise,” where appropriate. Mr. Randhawa replied that “exercise” was open
to the interpretation of the professor and could be replaced. Prof. Striz said he had used the statement on
an exam and did not have problems or widespread cheating. Dr. Heiser said some students may object to the
pledge, but basically it is an acknowledgement of the things students are
supposed to be doing anyway. Certainly,
faculty members have the authority to require students to sign by not accepting
work that is unsigned. Prof. Fincke asked
whether faculty had legal backing for signing in the case of major assignments. Dr. Heiser said the professor should give
ample warning about the consequences for not signing. Prof. Schwarzkopf asked, “If a faculty member
refuses to accept work where a student won’t sign the pledge, would you, as the
chief enforcement officer, officer for the academic side, support that?” Dr. Heiser
said that had been the intention all along.
However, he did point out that any dispute could end up in a grade
appeal.
Prof. Raadschelders asked
whether the sanctions were different for a student who had not signed the
pledge. Dr. Heiser said signing or not
signing would not result in a stiffer penalty.
Prof. Raadschelders questioned the point of introducing the pledge if it
was simply a code of ethics. Dr. Heiser answered
that it was a reminder that people care about academic misconduct and academic
integrity. Prof. Devenport wondered why it
was left up to the faculty. He suggested
that students should be admitted here with the understanding that they should
sign the pledge. Mr. Deeg said he had
been working with the admissions office to add a statement in the admissions
packet for students to sign that says they would abide by the honor code. Dr. Heiser added that all universities in the
country expect integrity, and the statement articulates what was formerly
understood.
Dr. Heiser discussed the results from Donald McCabe’s visit in October. A survey was sent to faculty and students that asked a number of questions about perceptions of academic integrity. About 150 faculty and about 800 students participated in the survey. With respect to self-reported cheating, about 40-45 percent of the students who took the survey said they had cheated here at least once in the past year. About 10-15 percent reported they had cheated three times or more in the past year on a major assignment, term paper, final examination, or mid-term. The good news is we were 3-5 points lower than the national average in both cases. Students here learn about the academic misconduct system from faculty comparatively more than at other universities. Faculty members reported that they learn from web pages more than from other faculty or other sources. Faculty who did not report an academic misconduct incident gave reasons including fear of lack of support, the cheating was not important enough, and they did not want to ruin the student’s life. More than half of the respondents were very satisfied to neutral with the system. Dr. Heiser said he wanted to minimize the times when the system was too cumbersome. He said he would send the numbers to the Faculty Senate office to make available to the faculty. [Note: The academic integrity survey results, plus a summary, are on the UOSA Honor Council website as .pdf files at 2004 Integrity Survey - Students, 2004 Integrity Survey - Faculty and 2004 Integrity Survey - Executive Summary.]
Prof. Schwarzkopf said it
would be helpful to know what kinds of assignments involved the most frequent
misconduct so faculty could focus on those situations. Dr. Heiser said it was interesting to see the
students’ assessment of the seriousness of various behaviors. Most students still recognize that copying
from someone’s exam really is cheating, but a lot of them do not understand
that cut-and-paste plagiarism is cheating.
He hopes the honor council can remind students that their fellow students
care. The university is experimenting
with turnitin.com, an online plagiarism detection service that allows faculty
to check on student papers or have students upload their own work. Next semester, 3-4 units in Arts &
Sciences will try the service. If it
works out, we will get a campus-wide license and include the other departments. Turnitin.com is a little better than the Google
service and has the advantage that it logs student work in its database so
papers cannot be recycled.
Prof. Watts asked Dr. Heiser
to talk about the key factors that Dr. McCabe observed in institutions that were
successful with academic integrity. Dr. Heiser
reported that Dr. McCabe said cheating could never be eradicated; the lowest figure
he had seen was about 8 percent. Dr.
McCabe is a fan of modified honor codes, which increase student buy-in and make
expectations in the community more visible.
A few other schools in the Big 12 are moving toward an honor code. A range of things can be done. The idea is to raise student awareness. Prof. Driver asked whether graduate students had
been involved or whether this was strictly an undergraduate effort. Dr. Heiser said the emphasis had been on
undergraduates but that graduate students should be involved because the
Prof. Watts mentioned that at
the November 6 meeting of the faculty advisory council to the state regents, many
institutions expressed concern about academic integrity. They were curious about what we had been
doing and were complimentary of our efforts.
“Just this
morning the Faculty Senate office received from the President’s office a list
of major issues the alcohol task force is examining. We will be forwarding the list to you in the
next day or so. Some of the policies
mentioned on the list include requiring all fraternities, sororities, and
residence halls to be dry; adopting a ‘three strikes and you are out’ policy; and
supporting the city’s ordinances to deal with ‘party house’ problems. I am hoping that this list might encourage
more feedback from faculty about various policies the President is
considering. Again, please send your
suggestions to either the faculty senate office or Nick Hathaway.
“I am pleased to
announce the opening of the free exercise
facility for faculty, which is located on the west side of the football stadium
(see 4/04 Senate Journal). The senate’s request to lengthen the hours of the fitness
center to 7:00 p.m. has been addressed. The
facility is open on a non-card-swipe access basis from 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. If you choose to use the facility after business
hours, the period of 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., you will need a card to enter the
building. [Note: You may e-mail
your name to Robert Smith in the Athletic Department, rsmith@ou.edu, and he will arrange a time to activate
your card. Any card with a magnetic
strip, but preferably not a credit card, can be used. The women’s locker room is locked for security
reasons and is accessed by swiping the card or entering a code.]
“Finally, you
should have received a copy of a memo the executive committee sent to the
student leadership last Thursday regarding the two amendments the
The senate approved the
following nominations of the senate committee on committees to fill vacancies
on university and campus councils, committees and boards.
Campus Tenure Committee
To replace John Furneaux,
2004-07 term: Paul Cook (Chemistry & Biochemistry)
Continuing Education Council
To replace Bret Wallach,
2003-06 term, as of 1/05: John Duncan
(Law)
Environmental Concerns Committee
To replace Bruce Hoagland,
2003-06 term: Mark Sharfman (Management)
Faculty Appeals Board
To replace Sally Faulconer,
2002-06 term: David Carnevale (Human Relations)
To replace Michael Bemben,
2003-06 term, as of 1/05: Leon Price (Management)
Honorary Degrees Screening Committee
To
replace Dan Kiacz, 2002-05 term: Luther White (Mathematics)
Prof. Watts presented a resolution
(attached) endorsing
the act establishing a UOSA Statement of Academic Integrity and a UOSA Honor
Council. Prof. Striz moved to
vote on the resolution at this meeting. His
motion was approved. The resolution endorsing
the UOSA act was approved on a voice vote.
The meeting adjourned at 4:00
p.m. The next regular session of the
Faculty Senate will be held at 3:30 p.m. on Monday, December 13, 2004, in
Jacobson Faculty Hall 102.
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Sonya Fallgatter, Administrative Coordinator
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Roger Frech, Secretary