The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 25, 2005, Image 1
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2005 * —
Students lead cheating seminar
By KELLY CAVANAUGH
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
Members of the Bateman Team
lectured faculty members
Thursday about students newest
cheating strategies.
Academic integrity and faculty
awareness of cheating was the topic
at this month’s faculty teaching
seminar, “How We Cheat: A
Student’s Perspective,” held by the
Flagship Communications
Bateman Team.
“I think it’s important to
increase awareness about cheating,
because with an increase of
knowledge, that allows the faculty
to know what is going on in their
classrooms,” said Rebecca Dulin, a
fourth-year public relations
student and member of the
Bateman Team.
A Bateman Team survey
showed 66.9 percent of USC
students say they have cheated in
some way. A Center for Academic
Integrity survey found that 80
percent of students admit cheating.
Dulin said she was surprised
that “USC is such a strong model
of academic integrity,” but what
has surprised her most is the
trouble to which students will go
in order to cheat.
The Bateman Team conducted
a focus group composed of seven
USC students to find the top
reasons students cheat and the
most common cheating methods.
The group found the top reasons,
in order, for cheating include:
“I think it’s important
to increase
awareness about
cheating, because
with an increase of
knowledge, that
allows the faculty to
know what is going on
in their classrooms.”
REBECCA DULIN
FOURTH-YEAR PUBLIC RELATIONS
STUDENT
laziness, lack of original ideas, to
please parents, to keep scholarships
and poor time management. All
seven participants in the focus
group admitted to having cheated
at some point in their academic
careers.
Some of the latest and most
popular cheating methods include
using graphing calculators to store
information, and using the lid of
the calculator as a cheat sheet.
Buying papers online is also
popular among students, as is
using cell phones to take pictures
of tests and to text message answers
to other students. Some students
use water bottles and baseball caps
to hide cheat sheets. Perhaps the
strangest method discussed was
that some females put cheat sheets
in their pantyhose, pushing their
skirts up to read the sheets during
tests.
♦ Please see CHEATING, page 3
JON TURNERJTHE GAMECOCK
Third-year criminal justice student Phillip Ellis, the first investigator on the scene, labels evidence for his teammates to photograph .
USC criminal justice students practice skills
for forensic science competition
\ COLUMBIA
By JON TURNER
THE gamecock
The corpse lay collapsed in a pool of blood.
Crimson footprints congested the landing of
Currell College s southern stairwell and left a
tracery upstairs like an obscene Morse code.
‘ Don t go in the stairwell,” Phillip Ellis
warned his teammates amenably. “There’s a
dead guy.”
It s a wonder we don’t have ants,” said Julie
Buffington, surveying the scene.
The setting sun glinted in the corn syrup and
food coloring. The practice dummy consisted
only of head and torso, but next year USC’s
crime scene investigation teams, comprised of
students in the criminal justice department, will
have a whole dummy, donated by the American
Red Cross, Al Brown said.
Brown, two-year president of USC’s
Criminal Justice Association, said that just a few
years ago the organization had been “pretty
much extinct,” with only five or six members,
but that a dedicated recruiting drive and
membership in the American Criminal Justice
Association had given the chapter the impetus
to expand to almost 100 members.
Brown said one of his goals had been “to
represent USC on a national level. He and
several other students will get their
opportunity next month, as USC teams make
their first appearance at a national ACJA
conference and compete in firearm use, crime
scene investigation and law enforcement
knowledge.
The two crime scene investigation teams
practice every week, testing their ability to
quickly assess and diagnose various criminal
scenarios. Most are concocted on the fly, like
Brown and Buffington’s Wednesday
homicide.
“Does this look good?” Brown asked,
arranging an assortment of drug paraphernalia.
“Yeah, looks pretty good,” Buffington said.
“Do we have a bloody footprint?” he asked.
“We have some M&Ms,” she responded.
According to national regulations, each team
gets 15 minutes to document its crime scene
and 45 to determine the nature of the incident,
so time can be an issue for less experienced
competitors.
“We have 15 minutes. But usually we go to
30, then 45,” Ellis joked disparagingly.
Kragh Kelling said he had been interested in
forensic science for years before he joined the
association.
“Honestly, it was a stereotype,” he said. “The
show ‘CSI’ sparked my interest.”
As early as his senior year of high school,
Kelling took correspondence courses in crime
4 •
scene investigation, and he said he hopes to
make a career of it.
“I’d like to go federal,” he said. “My hopes
are to join the FBI someday.”
Brown pointed to forensic science as a
growing field.
“Forensics has taken off at USC,” he said,
“especially since Newberry College got funding
for a program.”
Brown said he hoped USC would follow
suit.
“I do believe it’s necessary in order to make
USC a more prominent college, especially with
new research being done in forensic science,” he
said. “I believe it would be an invaluable tool.
Forensics is taking on a whole new meaning in
the world, in criminal justice, in the courtroom,
and it’s becoming a valuable tool for law.”
For now, Brown and his teammates will hold
their own practice sessions to hone their skills,
hiding homicides behind possible drug
overdoses and pasting handrails with syrupy
fingerprints.
“All right, time,” Brown finally called,
ending Wednesday’s practice.
“God bless America,” Ellis said. “You tricky
bastard.”
Comments cm this story? E-mail
gamecocknetvs@gwm.sc. edu
JASON STEELMAN/THE GAMECOCK
RHA President Adam Hark and Publicity Chairwoman Karin
Gardner work together in the RHA office Thursday night.
RHA to reconsider
$5 residential fee
By TAYLOR SMITH
STAFF WRITER
Legislation to raise residence
activity fees $5 has been tabled by
the Residence Hall Association,
but the controversy following the
proposal remains.
RHA President Adam Hark
said students’ anger is
understandable, which is why the
legislation will probably not
resurface in a form similar to the
current proposal.
“No one wants to pay more
money to go here anymore,”
Hark said.
The need to raise fees stems
from an act that was passed last
week exempting resident
advisors from the activity fee.
Because RAs are not allowed to
vote in RHA elections and have
no representation in the
organization, Sen. Jonathan
Ross sponsored legislation to
free them of the financial
burden.
“Why would they be made to
pay resident activity fees if there
is no representation by them,”
said Ross, a first-year political
science student. “No taxation
without representation.”
Several RAs have protested
this legislation in conjunction
with legislation passed last week
because, Hark said, they feel
alienated by the act proposed and
tabled Tuesday.
RHA Act S05-AC05 proposes
that a second account be made
available specifically for RAs,
residence hall directors and
residence hall coordinators. The
new account would cost each
student living on campus an
additional $5.
The account used by resident
advisors is held by RHA, which
Hark said was inappropriate.
“Why should we give them
money of our own,” Hark said.
“We manage the funds of our
♦ Please see RHA, page 3
— DEAN DIALOGUE --
I-WT.-1-- WM\ II I
NICK ESARES/THE GAMECOCK
Education Dean Les Sternberg says his college has experienced
rapidly increasing enrollment in the last two years.
Education college
faces tight budget
• Sternberg looks to
donors for help with
finding difficulties
By TAYLOR SMITH
STAFF WRITER
Classroom space and state
funding is sparse, but students
are pouring into the USC
College of Education, a trend
dean Les Sternberg is worried
about.
“Historically, we are in one of
the oldest buildings on campus,”
Sternberg said. “And we don’t
want to put students in sites that
don’t match.”
Sternberg said the college was
not expecting the number of
students they have received after
starting three new degree
programs almost two years ago.
“We projected that a certain
number of students would be
involved in the program, but our
projections were wrong,”
Sternberg said. “We had 550 and
were expecting 350.”
Sternberg said the mission of
any college of education is to
prepare “future leaders,” which
could be done only with a
balanced school set on classroom
instruction and research.
“1 would like to see even more
research engagements,”
Sternberg said. “Aside from us
♦ Please see DEAN, page 3
in mis issue -
♦ SPORTS
Gator hunting
The USC men’s basketball
team prepares to play host to
rival Florida in the Colonial
Center on Sunday after losing
two consecutive games.
Page 9
♦ THE MIX
Advice from the
‘Date Doctor’
Will Smith stars as ‘Hitch,’
giving advice to socially
. inept guys in love with the
vifomen of their dreams.
Page 7
INDEX
Comics & Crossword..8
Classifieds.11
Horoscopes.8
Letters to the Editor..5
Online Poll..5
Police Report..2
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