By Annaliza Guard and Madison Marquardt
Bengal News West Reporters
The Internet provides limitless resources
to college students across the planet.
Within recent years the World Wide Web has opened an underground black
market of students buying and selling term papers, theses and dissertations.
In a survey conducted by Rutgers
University, out of 63,700 undergraduate college students, 7 percent self report
to turning in work “done by another.”
The sale of term papers is not a new
phenomenon. In the 1960s, commercial
services began selling term papers to students, sometimes under names like “academic
research services.” In 1981, New York
State passed laws to make these sales illegal.
Until recently the anti-plagiarism
laws in New York State contained a loophole that left materials purchased
unlawfully over the Internet outside of the current penalties. Senate bill S2810 seeks to change that.
The bill extends the current
prohibition against the sale of dissertations and term papers to those provided
through electronic media such as the Internet.
Vice President of Student Affairs
for Canisius College, Terri Mangione, says that plagiarism is a serious issue.
“People choosing to make money off
of time management issues of students is a problem,” Mangione said. “If they were to enforce something like this it
would be interesting. If we are mandated
to report acts of plagiarism [to state authorities], we will report them.”
The new bill would remove the
ambiguity attached to the current legislation, and assure that students—as well
as others who provide unlawful assistance—would be eligible for
prosecution. Violators could be fined up
to $1,000.
Simply adding the phrase “either
written or provided through electronic media,” to Section 213b of the Education
Law, would remove the loophole that currently prevents state authorities from
prosecuting students who illegally obtain materials over the Internet.
The bill passed unanimously in the
senate on Jan. 29. Sponsors of the bill
includes local Sen. Timothy Kennedy, D-Buffalo and Assemblyman Robin
Schimminger, D-Kenmore. Last March the bill failed to make it past the
assembly..
Locally, four schools carry
policies that reprimand students accused of plagiarism. Canisius, D’Youville and Medaille colleges
and SUNY Buffalo State each have their own definitions as to what constitutes
plagiarism. Penalties range from warnings to expulsion. All four schools also have committees that
review cases of students who are accused and the evidence against them.
“Our policies for everything are
separate and distinct from anything law enforcement would impose,” Mangione
said. “If a student is found to be responsible for our policy we will impose
our own sanctions. If a student is found responsible for anything outside of
Canisius, in terms of law enforcement, then they would move through that
process on their own.”
Mangione also stated that the school
has not yet been informed as to how administrators should report violators to
authorities or what the new process will entail.
