Business First

Cheaters, think again, is message of new integrity code

Students and faculty at The University of Mississippi School of Business Administration have been reminded to uphold academic integrity in a new effort to curb unethical academic behavior.

“We believe it is important to highlight the need for integrity in business studies,” says Brian Reithel, dean.

Beginning last fall, students were read a paragraph by faculty members that said, “the School of Business Administration upholds honor and academic integrity in all of its teaching, research and service activities.”

“All business faculty, staff and students are charged with the responsibility to behave with personal and professional integrity and to refrain from dishonorable conduct,” according to the academic integrity code.

Plaques bearing this phrase have been placed in each of the school’s classrooms.

“I don’t think it ever hurts to remind people about a code of ethics and honor code,” says Fred Dorn, clinical assistant professor of business administration.

The integrity phrase was written by the school’s executive committee and posted in the rooms over winter break, says Reithel.

Dorn, who is also a management consultant in Memphis, Tenn., says concern is growing about business world ethics.

He says widely publicized unethical business practices over the past few years have fueled the issue.

The Ole Miss business school, which enrolls 2,951 students, has been steadily growing since 1996. Reithel says he attributes this growth in enrollment to “the fine quality of our faculty, our staff and our alumni.”

Dorn says he believes this increase also has increased the need for ethical awareness.

Laura Collins, a marketing major from Biloxi, says the phrase and plaques will be overt reminders to students who do not normally cheat but are thinking about it.

“Everyone who cheats is going to keep cheating,” Collins says. The integrity statement “is like a conscious little reminder in your head not to cheat and to do the right thing.”

In a survey conducted on 21 college campuses, more than 75 percent of students admit to some form of cheating, according to the Center for Academic Integrity Web site, www.academicintegrity.org/cai_research.asp.

Reithel says the statement is designed to help curb cheating, which in turn will improve the school’s reputation.
“Anything that will give an Ole Miss student an edge in the marketplace is something we will embrace,” Reithel says.—Camille Breland nBF

Reprinted with permission from the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal