COLUMN: Terminating Internet term papers

From Michael Mugmon's, "The Way It Is," Fall '98 From Michael Mugmon's, "The Way It Is," Fall '98It's late, you're exhausted and you have two 15-page term papers due in the next 24 hours. You've almost polished off the first one on America's policy of containment in post-World War II Southeast Asia, but what about your paper on Christopher Marlowe's Dr. Faustus and the Prometheus myth? But you really wouldn't learn anything. You certainly wouldn't get your education dollars' worth. To top it off, you'd garner illegitimate credit for someone else's efforts. And that's precisely what bothers Boston University President Jon Westling. In a move that partially redeems him for dropping his school's fledgling but popular football program this past fall, Westling has decided to take on plagiarism and untruthfulness with a lawsuit filed against eight Internet term paper companies. A Massachusetts law already prohibits the sale of term papers within the state, and, interestingly enough, BU was the institution behind that piece of legislation 26 years ago. So with such a law already in place, what then is the reason for the new legal action on the part of the Terriers? A lack of enforcement from Massachusetts officials coupled with the colossal expansion of the Internet. In this round in federal court, Westling hopes to use the 1972 Massachusetts law to force the eight firms -- which are scattered over seven states -- to stop selling term papers over the World Wide Web to Massachusetts students. If Westling succeeds in his quest, he will do academia no small service. Although the law would apply only in Massachusetts, it is a state teeming with colleges and universities. Thus, thousands of students would lose the opportunity to buy ready-made papers, while the Internet term paper companies would lose a major customer base. More importantly, the BU president is setting a precedent for the nation's higher education institutions. Westling is making academic integrity a top priority, and his actions are a powerful statement. While some students will always cheat and turn in work that isn't their own, be it a purchased term paper or an essay copied from a periodical, a successful lawsuit would make it slightly more difficult for them to slide through the system. And without a doubt, a legal victory against the Internet term paper firms would be a step toward assuring graduate programs and potential employers of Massachusetts students that a transcript faithfully reflects a student's academic achievements -- or shortcomings. "The public has a right," Westling argues, "to expect that degrees awarded by colleges and universities are accurate assessments of the work of the person to whom the degree has been awarded." One Internet term paper firm, the New Jersey-based The Paper Store, has fired back with a countersuit claiming that BU's stand infringes on the company's First Amendment right to free speech. But to no degree should the law protect such egregious misrepresentations of work and effort. The Internet firms also contend that BU's legal action is superfluous because the companies already instruct students not to claim the papers as their own work. In fact, The Paper Store's Web site makes it only somewhat clear that the company doesn't promote plagiarism. "The Paper Store will never offer its services to any person giving any reason to believe that he or she intends to either wholly or partially submit our work for academic credit in their own name," the company's owner writes. But why else would a student buy a pre-fab term paper? Surely not to build a reference library. And certainly not to supplement research a student has already done. Students purchase term papers to turn them in for credit, plain and simple. While a successful lawsuit would justly cripple the term paper companies to an extent, Westling has unfortunately overlooked a key factor -- he must convince students why purchasing a term paper is improper. He should set the tone by moral example and by levying heavy penalties against those students who choose to take the easy way out. Even if Westling prevails, ready-made term papers will always be available to students. But the Boston University president has his academic heart in the right place. If he can persuade students to share his philosophy, then term paper companies will go out of business naturally -- without the pressure of a lawsuit.