Upholding Academic Integrity at Rutgers-Camden

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The Rutgers Academic Integrity Policy is the basis of the University’s commitment to striving for an ethical environment. This policy is enforced in all schools at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, which includes Rutgers-Camden. The purpose of this policy is to define what exactly are the violations, penalties, and also how to process any violations. It is expected that all students, faculty, and staff read and understand this policy.

Academic Integrity is at the forefront of the priority list in order for the University to achieve its educational, clinical, and research missions.

The principles of academic integrity require that a student:

Submits all work in a course, academic research, or other activity is the students original work and was not aided by impermissible technologies, materials, or collaborations
Properly acknowledges and cites all use of images, ideas, or results of others
Ethically obtains all data and reports the accurately
Treats all other students ethically and to respect their goals without interference
Uphold the ethical standards and code of conduct for their field

Students need to ensure that they uphold these principles and make sure that proper credit is given. This maintains the university’s integrity, and faculty members are encouraged to send a link to the policy on their syllabi. However, faculty members are facing a difficult situation proving when this line is crossed.

Dr. Kathryn M. Lambert, a professor of Political Science at Rutgers-Camden, points out the gap in the university’s enforcement tools. Dr. Lambert says, “I read papers that I suspect are created with AI but I have no empirical evidence to present to the student to initiate a discussion about it.” This has presented a huge ethical concern for not only Dr. Lambert, but for many professors across campus.

The Academic Integrity policy is generally viewed as standard and Dr. Lamber notes that nothing about the policy seems “unreasonable or out of the ordinary.” This differs from other institutions that are now negotiating where AI can be included into academic spaces.

For Dr. Lambert, the core ethical conflict lies in students using AI to replace their authenticity when writing their papers. To her, using AI is alright when using it as a tool to create outlines for papers. However, using AI can become incriminating if used to write the actual paper. “If students rely on AI to generate the paper then critical thinking skills and research skills may suffer,” says Dr. Lambert.

The Rutgers AI policy outlines several types of academic integrity violations, each with examples. Any violation is a breach of ethics and trust. Some of the most common types of violations:

Cheating: Cheating is the use of prohibited material, information, sources or aids in any academic exercise. Cheating can also mean submitting an assignment as one’s own work when someone else prepared them.
Plagiarism: Plagiarism is the use of another person’s work without giving them proper credit. Every quote or appropriate indentation must be identified by the student, in order to avoid plagiarism.
Fabrication: Fabrication is the use of falsified sources, citations, data, or results. This could look like citing a source that does not exist.

Some less common violations include:

Facilitation of Dishonesty
Academic Sabotage
Violation of Research or Professional Ethics
Violations Involving Potentially Criminal Activity

There are three levels of violations: Level 1 Violations are less serious violations of the policy. May occur on a minor quiz or assignment, and the student may be inexperienced to lack the understanding of the policy. Some examples of this would be plagiarism on a minor assignment, citing a source that does not exist, prohibited collaboration with another student on a homework assignment. Level 2 violations are serious violations of academic integrity that affect a greater portion of the course work. Level 2 violations are seen as planned and clearly dishonest. Some examples of Level 2 violations are a second violation, substantial plagiarism, participating in an organized cheating scheme. Level 3 Violations are considered extremely serious breaches of conduct, which may include violation of law, extreme cases of dishonesty, and violation of professional code of conduct.

The school’s ethical concerns are recognized by students attending Rutgers-Camden. When asked if AI could be used as a tool, a student answered, “Yes, as a student I use AI quite frequently to help me understand class material. I often create test questions related to the topic of study.” This would be considered permissible to most students and faculty members and not a breach of the policy. This student makes the point that although students should adhere to the Academic Integrity Policy, “students may want to pass without having the time to study, so they risk breaking the rules for a slight advantage.” This goes against the academic integrity policy, which this student is aware of, but they acknowledge that every student’s circumstances differ.

Ultimately, the Rutgers Academic Integrity Policy is not just a set of rules, but a policy that preserves the University’s success. While professors may face difficulties enforcing the policy against AI use, students also try navigating the ethics of using these AI tools. As Rutgers continues to expand this policy and enforce these methods, it remains critical that students understand the importance of the Academic Integrity Policy.