July-August 2019

ExcellingWith
Integrity
By STEVE FOX
U.S. universities
expect students
to work with
honesty and
integrity, and
avoid all forms
of academic
dishonesty.
Right: Integrity Peer Educators
at University of California San
Diego promote integrity (far
right), educate students on
ethics and advise students
who have been reported for
academic integrity violations.
Thousands of students dream of studying in
the United States, home to some of the
world’s best higher education institutions. But
some of them often underestimate the
workloads, the deadlines and the examination
routines. The demanding environment might
tempt some to sacrifice integrity—in other
words, to cheat or indulge in unethical
behaviors like plagiarism, collaborating on
assignments meant to be done alone and
buying term papers online.
Students cheat for a variety of reasons,
notes Tricia Bertram Gallant, director of the
Academic Integrity Office at the University of
California San Diego (UCSD) and an expert
on integrity and ethics in education. These
include the “pressure to obtain a university
degree in order to have a secure livelihood,
the contract cheating industry, and ignoring
the problem for too long by many schools,
colleges and universities around the world.
The Internet has made it easier,” she says.
“And students sometimes make bad
decisions.”
MARCY ZIMMERMAN
Tricia Bertram
Gallant, director
of the Academic
Integrity Office
at University of
California
San Diego.
Academic integrity is defined by the
International Center for Academic Integrity
(ICAI) as a commitment, even in the face of
adversity, to the six fundamental values of
honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility
and courage. ICAI is a consortium of learning
institutions, founded to combat cheating,
plagiarism and academic dishonesty in higher
education. The organization also helps
cultivate cultures of integrity in academic
36 JULY/AUGUST 2019