Despite the risk of serious consequences such as expulsion, dozens of University students are caught plagiarizing or cheating each year.

When professors catch students cheating or plagiarizing, they have the option to bring the case to the attention of LSA Assistant Dean for Student Academic Affairs Esrold Nurse.

In the previous academic year, 64 cases of academic dishonesty were reported. During the 1999-2000 academic year, 101 cases were reported.

Louis Rice, LSA deputy assistant dean for student academic affairs, said he could not reveal whether any of those cases resulted in expulsion from the University.

Last year, of the 64 reported cases of cheating, 24 concerned alleged plagiarism, Rice said.

"I think the main problem in LSA is plagiarism, often linked with students downloading papers from the Internet and submitting them as their own work," said Robert Owen, LSA associate dean for undergraduate education.

There is no automatic, one-term probation period before a student can be dismissed from the college, according to LSA"s Code of Academic Conduct. Punishments depend not only on the severity of the offense but also the student"s previous academic conduct.

"It is important to note that a faculty member does have the prerogative to handle the case in the classroom," Rice said.

The number of cases reported to the dean is not necessarily representative of the actual amount of cheating and plagiarism discovered in the college, Rice said.

Collaborative work can also lead to plagiarism in LSA, even when faculty encourage students to work together on projects that require gathering data.

In these cases, "they expect each student to work independently when it comes to interpreting and reporting the results," Owen said.

In the LSA code, six types of academic dishonesty, from submitting the same paper in multiple classes to knowingly helping someone else cheat, are defined.

The problem often begins even before students arrive at the University. According to plagiarism.org, four out of five college-bound high-school students admit to cheating on their schoolwork.

"In LSA we are putting increased emphasis on academic integrity during the orientation for incoming students," Owen said.

The University is combating academic dishonesty by joining a national organization called the Center for Academic Integrity, which sponsors national conferences on all aspects of this issue, Owen said.

On a smaller scale, professors use their own tactics to discourage cheating and plagiarism. One of them is the Internet itself, with websites like plagiarism.org that are committed to tracing fraudulent papers. Some professors, such as English Prof. Steven Mullaney, redefine plagiarism and cheating in their course syllabus to make it clear academic dishonesty will not be tolerated.

Last year LSA re-formed the Academic Judiciary Committee, which is composed of six professors and six students. The committee discussed why LSA uses a code of conduct and monitors exams closely to deal with academic dishonesty.

The committee has no plans to recommend that LSA use an honor code rather than the current code of conduct.

The College of Engineering as well as other universities do not monitor exams and use an honor code that students must sign each time they take an exam. The purpose is to reaffirm that they did not give or receive help on their work.

"The biggest drawback to constituting an honor code in LSA is its 15,000 students. Some say it is unrealistic to expect with a student body as large and complex as LSA"s that you can maintain the integrity of an honor code," Rice said.