When San Diego State University instructor Brian Cornforth received an anonymous tip in March that students were cheating in his undergraduate business-ethics course, he decided to make a case study of his own class. The tipster said students in one class had obtained answer keys for the multiple-choice quizzes from earlier test-takers, so Cornforth scrambled the questions for the later class. “I was horrified,” Cornforth says: 25 of 75 students simply cribbed the pirated test key, even though many answers were clearly nonsense. Punishment came swiftly. He flunked all 25, and several management majors won’t graduate until they retake the required course. “Students really want that piece of paper and apparently they are willing to do anything to get it,” says Julie Logan, the school’s judicial officer.
Some of the students think the blame should be shared. “I know cheating’s not right, but what about the teacher’s responsibility?” one flunked senior complains, calling Cornforth’s policy of giving the same test to different classes “negligent and stupid.” Says Cornforth: “All I can do is show them the proper ethical models, to give them some examples.” Maybe this case study will be a lasting lesson.
