As the Honor Committee continues to debate whether to further define plagiarism, University students continue to debate the Committee's definitions and policies as well, expressing varying opinions on the types of plagiarism cases the Committee should pursue and the level of knowledge students have about the subject.
Intent - whether an act of cheating was purposeful - especially remains a topic discussed at the Committee's weekly Sunday night meetings. Though the Committee's new proposal to alter its authoritative green book hopes to further clarify the definition of plagiarism, Vice Chair for Community Relations J.J. Litchford said the nature of intent also remains an issue that is continually debated among the Committee's members and the University community.
Under the Committee's current bylaws, a student cannot be accused of committing an honor offense unless it is "more likely than not" that the student committed the act, that the act is not trivial and that the student committed the act with an intent to cheat.
Many students, however, think that the details surrounding plagiarism and intent need to be explained more clearly.
"Intent is important," second-year College student Freddie Rose said. "If you're not plagiarizing with intent, you're not necessarily violating the community of trust."
Third-year College student Ashley Moore also said the Committee should only pursue cases in which a student plagiarizes with intent.
"I don't think some one should be kicked out for mistakenly plagiarizing," she said.
Students also noted that plagiarism is a complicated honor offense, which needs to be defined as much as possible considering the severity of the punishment given to those who are caught and charged with honor offenses.
"There are some fuzzy areas depending on the background [of an assignment]," first-year College student Lesley Hogg said, adding that there should be a clear list of examples detailing what is unintentional and intentional plagiarism.
"There's a lot of grey area that leaves students unsure, especially when it comes to paraphrasing," third-year College student James Linville said.
Some students, however, disagreed, such as second-year Engineering student Anthony Abaroa, who said he believes that all students who plagiarize should be brought before the Committee, regardless of whether or not that student plagiarized with intent.
"Nothing's black and white," Abaroa said. "If someone makes a bad mistake, they need punishment."
Third-year College student Chris Trizna expressed a similar sentiment, while also noting that it may be difficult to recognize whether a student has plagiarized with intent or plagiarized mistakenly.\n"Honor should pursue all offenses ideally," Trizna said, also adding that plagiarism cases "should be a case-by-case basis - you can't judge whether it's intent."
Fourth-year College student Mike Bartlett also agreed with this view.
"In the ideal world you would only pursue people who plagiarize with intent, but I don't see how you could always do that," he said.
The Committee plans to start a University-wide initiative to further educate students on the subject of plagiarism to prevent students from committing the act. Currently, students' main source of education on the subject of plagiarism is the Committee's green book, which outlines the Committee's procedures and processes, but students also learn about paraphrasing and proper citations in their ENWR courses, Litchford said.
On the whole, though, most students interviewed thought they are knowledgeable enough to avoid plagiarism.
"It's something you learn about in middle school and high school," Trizna said. "Most students know [how to avoid plagiarism] coming in to U.Va."
Linville agreed, noting that the threat of an honor violation alone should inspire students to educate themselves about plagiarism.
Student opinions, however, varied on the subject of University-wide efforts to educate students about plagiarism. Some students praised the Committee's efforts to educate the community on plagiarism, while others were critical of what they perceived as a lack of effort on the Committee's part.
"Professors often provide a guide to citing sources," second-year College student Kaity Houk said, noting that "lots" of professors are good about reminding students to avoid plagiarism. Rose also spoke out in favor of the Committee's work, saying that "Honor does do a good job of educating the community."
Not everyone, however, was as optimistic.
"I've never been educated about plagiarism at U.Va.," Trizna said. "It might not be fair to try students who don't know what is plagiarism."
The Committee also is currently working on a computer module that will educate students about plagiarism.
"This is one option out of a universe of options," Vice Chair for Education Rob Atkinson said. He added, though, that although the Committee is discussing new education ideas like the online module, these plans will likely not be finalized until next semester.
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