Academic Integrity At Penn State University's Code Of Conduct

Academic integrity is the individual’s responsibility and personal choice, the educational institute can police, however, its up to each student to be honest with themselves and with each other, with everything they do in life. The student needs to commit to honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility during their academic and professional careers. When the student commits to these fundamentals and puts forth the necessary effort, they will be rewarded with a higher level of understanding and competency that will benefit them thru life. Trust in Academics is integral to the character building of each student. The pressures students experience are no different from those they may experience on the job. If dishonesty is accepted
Academic integrity is a basic guiding principle for all academic activity at The Pennsylvania State University, and all members of the University community are expected to act in accordance with this principle. Consistent with this expectation, the University's Code of Conduct states that all students should act with personal integrity, respect other students' dignity, rights and property, and help create and maintain an environment in which all can succeed through the fruits of their efforts. Academic integrity includes a commitment by all members of the University community not to engage in or tolerate acts of falsification, misrepresentation or deception. Such acts of dishonesty violate the fundamental ethical principles of the University community and compromise the worth of work completed by others.” (Penn State’s University Faculty Senate Policy
Among their objections: The burden of proof falls squarely on the professor. Students usually deny the charges, and when punishments are handed out, they rarely equal the crimes.” )Cheating Culture by Jeffrey Sellingo Prism Magazine september 2004, volume 14 number 1 american society for engineering education. This is disconcerting to me, if bureaucracy at the academic institutes deter the professors from escalating violations of academic integrity policies or conduct codes, won’t cheating just continue to rise? What value will a degree hold? Universities must find a way to improve upon this process and effectively enforce violations to ensure compliance and make it a level playing field for all