LETTERS: Tuesday, December 14, 1999

To the Editor: I'd like to clarify some of the provisions of the new policy: The DP article polled 250 freshmen and learned that 68 percent of them don't bring their own beer to parties. This should not be a surprising statistic, nor a particularly useful one, considering that approximately 100 percent of our freshmen are under the legal drinking age. It is certainly not the University's expectation that under-age students follow the BYOB policy, as the DP article indicated. Clearly, this would be a violation of the law. While the BYOB system has its shortcomings, the goal has been to reduce the risk of uncontrolled access to alcohol and to limit the overall volume of alcohol at parties by of-age drinkers, thereby further reducing the risk of abusive drinking behavior. The fraternities that have held registered events this semester have worked hard to comply with the alcohol policy and they are to be commended. They have largely embraced all attempts to maintain a safer social environment. The alcohol monitors, trained bartenders, sober social host and ticketing system are all measures to ensure that students have a great time at parties while keeping alcohol-related risk at a minimum. Both the University's Division of Public Safety and college houses are reporting fewer alcohol-related incidents this semester, good indicators that we are making progress toward this goal. The unprecedented number of social options and the attendance at these events is another good sign that students are embracing the varied and expansive non-alcoholic social options now available at Penn. Finally, as campuses across the nation struggle with finding a way to deal with high-risk drinking among college students, we should all recognize that all attempts to promote a safer environment are works-in-progress. There is no magic solution to reducing alcohol abuse or the negative consequences that result from heavy drinking. Penn has taken courageous and significant steps to ensure a lower-risk environment. It is a long-term community effort that we will need to evaluate repeatedly and comprehensively, not simply by taking a "snapshot" of one piece of the problem after the first four months. Stephanie Ives University Alcohol Coordinator To the Editor: It's finals week, and we all know how it is. Right about now the workload gets heavier, the nights become longer and Wawa is a bit busier than usual around 4 a.m. But something else becomes more prevalent during this season of review sessions and Econ Screams, something more subtle. That something is the temptation to cheat. Cheating is a widespread problem on college campuses. According to a U.S. News and World Report cover story, 75 percent of college students admitted to having cheated at least once in their careers. But what is more disturbing is the attitude toward cheating. The report cited that the majority of the students surveyed did not think cheating was necessarily wrong. Penn is not insulated from this problem. An informal survey conducted by the Honor Council last year showed that cheating at Penn was consistent with the report's findings. Academic dishonesty comes in many types here at Penn. Included are such seemingly minor offenses as copying homework, fudging a line in a bibliography and excessive collaboration. There are also seemingly major offenses like fabricating lab data, buying term papers on the Internet and sneaking ready-made blue books into exams. But every type of cheating, whether one views it as minor or major, is a violation of the Code of Academic Integrity and warrants grounds for disciplinary action -- something more and more professors are willing to do. Needless to say, as friendly as the staff of the Office of Student Conduct is, the disciplinary process is probably something you want to avoid (one word: permanent record). And it usually ends in sanctions that range from probation to expulsion. Though harsh, these sanctions are necessary to level the playing field for those who opt not to cheat. You've probably heard at some point that incidents of academic dishonesty devalue your education, tarnish the reputation of the institution and erode the relationship between teacher and student which is the basis of our educational system. That's all true, but that's not what we're here to tell you. Although the Honor Council doesn't like cheating for all of those reasons, not everyone will buy into academic integrity because it's simply not convenient or time-effective. So for those of you who don't really care about academic integrity, please keep this in mind -- as the students who sit on those agonizing Hearing Panels, we'd prefer not to see you in that context. So we encourage anybody in need of academic support to use the resources available on campus. From last-minute tutoring sessions to the Department of Academic Support to the Honor Council itself, resources are out there. Academic dishonesty is a problem at Penn. But that doesn't mean things can't change, and it doesn't mean they can't change this week. The Honor Council urges you to look past the shortcut and into your future. Good luck with finals. Rikki Tanenbaum College '01 The writer is chairperson of the University Honor Council.