Journal of Legal Studies Education
Volume 25, Issue 2, 241–282, Summer/Fall 2008
Integrating Academic Integrity
Education with the Business Law
Course: Why and How?
Shelley McGilln
INTRODUCTION
As a member of the academic integrity committee at Wilfrid Laurier University, I was part of a cross-disciplinary group of faculty and administrators asked to review and revise the existing academic integrity policies and
procedures. During the completion of this task, there was often lively debate about fundamental legal topics such as due process, privacy, intention,
whistleblowing, misrepresentation, and intellectual property. As the content of these debates began to spill into my business law classroom, I wondered why I was not using this very student-centered issue to teach the
procedural and substantive legal content of the course.
This article advocates integrating academic integrity education into
the business law course. Many have suggested teaching business ethics this
way1 but have ignored the natural overlap in legal content with the traditional business law course. This article focuses on why and how business
law instructors should integrate the two. Rather than highlighting only the
ethical components of academic integrity, this approach emphasizes the
legal aspects of academic misconduct. It connects personal student experiences with many of the substantive legal topics covered in the course,
Assistant Professor, School of Business & Economics, Wilfrid Laurier University; LL.B. University of Western Ontario; LL.M. York University. I wish to thank Professor Carol Bast and
the reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article. Naturally, all mistakes, errors, or omissions remain my own.
n
1
Jonathon R.B. Halbesleben et al., Everybody Else is Doing it, So Why Can’t We? Pluralistic Ignorance and Business Ethics Education, 56 J. BUS. ETHICS 385 (2005); Linda Achey Kidwell, Student Honor Codes as a Tool for Teaching Professional Ethics, 29 J. BUS. ETHICS 45 (2001).
r 2008, Copyright the Author
Journal compilation r Academy of Legal Studies in Business 2008
241
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thereby improving the learning opportunity. In the second part of the
article, various suitable business law topics are identified. The appendices
contain examples of appropriate exercises.
Academic integrity also provides a student-centered example of the
natural link between law and ethics.2 Students often mistakenly believe
that satisfying technical requirements of the law amounts to ethical behavior. Although a law may be founded on a broad ethical principle, its application may be quite narrow. Students have trouble understanding that
legal requirements set the minimum standard of acceptable behavior, and
ethical behavior often requires a higher standard. Contrasting the specific
language of the academic misconduct regulations with the expansive goals
of academic integrity policy highlights the connections and distinctions
between law and ethics.
In addition to its contribution to the substantive goals of the business
law course, academic integrity education reduces the incidents of
academic misconduct, an area of particular concern in the business faculty. Research has established a link between academic misconduct and unethical workplace behavior. Therefore, enhancing academic integrity
education may reduce student academic misconduct in the present and
may have a positive effect on the conduct of the business community in the
future. In short, there are strong pedagogical, institutional, and ethical
reasons for incorporating this topic into the content of the business law
course.
DEFINITIONS
Throughout this article, some common phrases will be used with a specific
context in mind. First, the phrase ‘‘business law course’’ refers to a traditional business law course as distinct from a legal environment course or a
Law and ethics are different social control systems. They share a host of common terms
and precepts, and both are concerned with rights, wrongs, and duties . . . Ethics have an
important role in the lawmaking process. Law and regulatory rules cannot be appreciated without understanding their underlying ethical concerns . . . The law and ethics are
clearly different in foundation and actualization. Ethics represents society’s moral principles, whereas the law establishes basic standards of impropriety . . . It (law) is by no
means a comprehensive source for defining and controlling unethical behaviour.
Olivia Yu & Lening Zhang, Does Acceptance of Corporate Wrong Doing Begin on the Training
Ground of Professional Mmanagers?, 34 J. CRIM. JUST. 185, 189 (2006).
2
2008 / Integrating Academic Integrity Education with Business Law Course
243
business ethics course.3 A business law course covers selected substantive
legal topics in such areas as tort, contract, corporate, employment, and
intellectual property law as well as some business ethics content.
The goals of such a course often take on a risk-management
dimension. The primary goal is usually issue identification; students
should be able to identify legal risks. This requires a basic understanding of the legal principles that give rise to liability. Secondarily, students
must be able to develop legal and ethical strategies for managing the
legal risks. This requires critical decision making and an understanding of
the natural link between law and ethics. It is often difficult for students
to understand that conduct may be legal but still unethical.4 The course
goal is to encourage both legal and ethical conduct in future business
leaders.
When using the phrase ‘‘academic integrity,’’ I refer to the general
ethical climate in the academic environment, in addition to any specific
codes of conduct regulating behavior and imposing sanctions. It is designed to capture the broad ethical attitudes, perceptions and standards of
the academic community with respect to academic behavior as well as
specific conduct or misconduct expressly designated as unacceptable.
The phrase ‘‘academic misconduct’’ refers to the specific conduct
designated in the university academic misconduct policy as unacceptable
behavior worthy of penalty. Distinguishing between integrity and misconduct helps students understand the connection between ethics and law. Finally, ‘‘academic misconduct policy’’ refers to two key components: the
university’s published code of conduct (substantive component) and the enforcement process followed before penalties are imposed (procedural
component). Much of the overlap between academic integrity issues and
the business law content focuses on these two academic misconduct policy
components.
3
Marc Lampe, A New Paradigm for the Teaching of Business Law and Legal Environment Classes,
23(1) J. LEGAL STUD. EDUC. 1 (2006); John Tanner et al., A Survey of Business Alumni: Evidence of
the Continuing Need for Law Courses in Business Curricula, 21(2) J. LEGAL STUD. EDUC. 203 (2004).
4
Yu & Zhang, supra note 2; Lynn S. Paine, Law, Ethics and Managerial judgment, in A COMPANION
BUSINESS ETHICS 194 (Robert E. Frederick ed., 2002) (explaining that a commonly held
view by managers is that if the conduct is legal it must be ethical. In fact, law often represents
the minimum while ethics represent the moral center).
TO
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WHY INCORPORATE ACADEMIC INTEGRITY CONTENT
INTO THE BUSINESS LAW COURSE?
Business Majors Are More Likely to Cheat than Nonbusiness Majors
Cheating is an epidemic among university and college students, and business students are no exception.5 One Canadian study reported that as
many as eighty percent of undergraduate students admitted some form of
cheating.6 Business students appear to have lower ethical values than nonbusiness students.7 In a recent 2006 study, 537 students from an American
college responded to a survey requiring them to rank the acceptability of
unethical and illegal business practices.8 The study found that all students
viewed illegal behavior as unacceptable, but business students were more
tolerant than nonbusiness students of unethical business practices.9 Business students are also more likely than nonbusiness students to participate
in questionable ethical behaviors.10 In addition to being more likely
5
It is beyond the scope of this article to review the extensive research in this area. By way of
example, a recent Canadian study shows that fifty-three percent of undergraduate students
admitted serious cheating and up to eighty percent admitted some type of ‘‘less serious’’
cheating. Julia Christensen Hughes & Donald L. McCabe, Academic Misconduct Within Higher
Education in Canada, 36(2) CAN. J. HIGH. EDUC. 1 (2006). Many American studies have recorded equally staggering statistics including: William. J. Bowers, Current Trends in College
Cheating, 17 PSYCHOL. SCH. 512 (1964) (reporting a survey of 5,000 students across ninetynine campuses found three out of four students reported cheating); Donald McCabe &
Linda Trevino, Academic Dishonesty: Honor Codes and Other Contextual Factors, 64(5) J. HIGH.
EDUC. 522 (1993). (reporting a survey of 6,000 students found two out of three students
reported cheating); Donald McCabe et al., Cheating in Academic Institutions: A Decade of Research, 11(3) ETHICS & BEHAV. 219 (2001), http://www.leaonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1207/
S15327019EB1103_2.
6
Hughes & McCabe, supra note 5.
7
James R. Harris, Ethical Values and Decision Processes of Male and Female Business Students, 64(5)
J. EDUC. FOR BUS. 234 (1989); M. Lynnette Smyth & James R. Davis, Perceptions of Dishonesty
Among Two-Year College Students: Academic versus Business Situations, 51(1) J. BUS. ETHICS 63
(2004).
8
Yu & Zhang, supra note 2, at 191; see also Johnny Duizend & Greg McCann, Do Collegiate
Business Students Show a Propensity to Engage in Iillegal Business Practice?, 17(3) J. BUS. ETHICS 229
(1998).
9
There was no significant difference between business and nonbusiness students’ tolerance of
illegal business practices. Yu & Zhang, supra note 2, at 191. This would seem to reinforce the
need to address the link between law and ethics in acceptable business conduct.
10
John A. Wood et al., Ethical Attitudes of Students and Business Professionals: A Study of Moral
Reasoning, 7 J. BUS. ETHICS 249 (1988). Sarath Nonis & Cathy Owen Swift, Determining Cheating
2008 / Integrating Academic Integrity Education with Business Law Course
245
to cheat, business students feel more justified in doing so than do other
students.
Studies show that cheating is rampant in all faculties both in
actual incidents and in how often individual students cheat.11 However,
business students have been found to be more likely to commit academic
misconduct, to be more tolerant of such conduct, and to find it more
socially acceptable than do other students.12 One study of 6,000 students
conducted in the fall of 1990 found that eighty-seven percent of undergraduate business majors at thirty-one different U.S. colleges engaged in
academic misconduct as opposed to sixty-seven percent of students from
other faculties.13 Those nonbusiness students interested in a career in
business reported academic misconduct at a seventy-six percent rateF
higher than any other identified career such as law, engineering, or medicine. The more important financial success was to the student, the more
likely that student was to cheat. A 2004 study of 265 college students found
that fifty-nine percent of business students reported cheating as compared
Behavior in the Marketing Classroom: An Analysis of the Effects of Demographics, Attitudes, and in Class
Deterrent Strategies, 20(3) J. MKTG. EDUC. 188 (1998) (reporting that eighty-four percent of
marketing students admitted to cheating at least once).
11
Supra note 5; Patricia A. Hutton, Understanding Student Cheating and What Educators Can Do
About It, C. TEACHING 177 (Winter 2006) (stating that more than seventy-five percent of students on most campuses admit to some form of cheating and fifty percent of those students
did not believe that cheating was wrong); Donald L. McCabe & Linda Klebe, What We Know
About Cheating in College, CHANGE 28 (1996) (stating that frequency of student cheating is going
up); Smyth & Davis, supra note 7.
12
Donald L. McCabe & Linda K. Trevino, Cheating Among Business Students: A Challenge for
Business Leaders and Educators, 19 J. MGMT. EDUC. 205 (1995). See John S. Baird, Current Trends
in College Cheating, 17 PSYCHOL. SCH. 512 (1980) (stating that business students are more likely
to cheat than liberal arts or education students). For greater business student tolerance, see
Deborah F. Crown & M. Shane Spiller, Learning from the Literature on College Cheating: A Review
of Empirical Research, 17 J. BUS. ETHICS 683 (1998); Miguel Roig & Carol Ballew, Attitudes Toward Cheating of Self and Others by College Students and Professors, 44(1) PSYCHOL. REC. 3 (1994).
As to social acceptability see Smyth & Davis, supra note 7. Bob S. Brown & Peggy Choong, A
Investigation of Academic Dishonesty among Business Students at Public and Private United States
Universities, 22(2) INT. J. MGMT. 201 (June 2005) (finding over ninety-five percent of students
reported participating in at least one form of unethical academic behavior). See Helen Marsden et al., Who cheats at University? A Self Report Study of Dishonest Academic Behaviours in a Sample
of Australian University Students, 57(1) AUSTL. J. PSYCHOL. 1 (2005) (finding engineering students
to be more likely to cheat than economics/accountng students).
13
McCabe & Trevino, supra note 12, at 210; Smyth & Davis, supra note 7.
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with forty-one percent of nonbusiness students, and business students
found cheating to be socially acceptable.14
Committing acts of academic misconduct is most often measured by self
reporting rather than objective tracking, and this could mean that these staggering percentages are low. Self-reporting can be influenced by the definition
of academic misconduct and the subjectivity or truthfulness of the student.15
One 1997 study observed 311 students enrolled in economics and accounting
classes and compared the observations with the self-reported data.16 The selfreported data underestimated the absolute level of cheating observed.
The public is calling on universities to deal with the cheating ‘‘scan17
dal’’ and, given the above describe statistics, business faculties have an
even greater need to address academic integrity and misconduct issues
than do other faculties.
Cheating Students Become Dishonest Employees
If cheating students are more likely than honest students to engage in
workplace misconduct once employed, then reducing academic miscon-
14
Smyth & Davis, supra note 7. Kenneth J. Chapman et al., Academic Integrity in the Business
School Environment: I’ll Get by with a Little Help from My Friends, 26(3) J. MKTG. EDUC. 236 (2004)
(a study of 824 business students finding that marketing majors were significantly more likely
to cheat than any other business major and marketing students had about twice as manyhighfrequency cheaters as any other business major). Siva Sankaran & Tung Bui, Relationship Between Student Characteristics and Ethics: Implications for Educators, 30(3) J. INSTRUCTIONAL PSYCHOL. 240 (2003) (reporting similar finding on ethical scoring of business studentsF
marketing students scored the lowest).
15
Clifford Nowell & Doug Laufer, Undergraduate Student Cheating in the Fields of Business and
Economics, 28(1) J. ECON. EDUC. 3 (1997). This study used direct observation and self-reporting, and their results were not the same. It concluded that self-reporting may not elicit truthful responses. Id. Jeff Allen et al., Academic Integrity: Behaviors, Rates and Attitudes of Business
Students Towards Cheating, 20(1) J. MKTG. EDUC. 41 (1998) (finding that students underreported
dishonest behaviors in a study of 1,063 undergraduate students). Eric G. Lambert et al., Collegiate Academic Dishonesty Revisited: What Have They Done, How Often Have They Done It, Who Does
It, And why Did They Do It?, ELECTRON. J. SOC. (2003); http://www.sociology.org/content/vol7.4/
lambert_etal.html (a study of 850 university students finding that the results varied widely
depending upon the range of behaviors listed). A contrasting measure that is sometimes used
is behavioral intention where the study asks a student if the student would cheat in a given
situation. One study created a cheating index that combined both self-reported data and behavioral intention towards cheating: Chapman et al., supra note 14.
16
Nowell & Laufer, supra note 15.
17
The Great University Cheating Scandal,MACLEAN’S, Feb. 12, 2007, at 32.
2008 / Integrating Academic Integrity Education with Business Law Course
247
duct is one way of addressing future unethical conduct in the workplace.
Much has been written over the need to address business ethics in the
business school environment as a way of encouraging ethical conduct in
future business leaders.18 In 1995, Barbara Cole reported a study of 537
business students from twelve different schools and 158 business people;
she found that students responded less ethically than business people to
business scenarios.19 Despite the ongoing debate over whether ethics can
be taught, most business programs now include business ethics education
and identify business ethics education as an overall program goal.20 In fact,
often this forms part of the business law course content.
Students are able to transfer the ethical issues raised in academic
misconduct scenarios to the business environment. In a 2004 study, academic content questions were paired with similar business content questions to determine if attitudes toward ethical behavior changed between an
academic and business setting.21 The study found that most students had
similar attitudes in the two venues, and business students generally rated
18
Supra note 1; Allen Hall & Lisa Beradino, Teaching Professional Behaviors: Differences in the
Perceptions of Faculty, Students and Employers, 63 J. BUS. ETHICS 407 (2006); Jennifer Merritt, Why
Ethics Is Also B-School Business, BUS. WK. 105 (Jan. 27, 2003); Diane L. Swanson, The Buck Stops
Here: Why Universities Must Reclaim Business Ethics Education, 2(1) J. ACAD. ETHICS 43 (2004);
Frederick H. Gautschi III & Thomas M. Jones, Enhancing the Ability of Business Students to
Recognize Ethical Issues: An Empirical Assessment of the Effectiveness of a Course in Business Ethics,
17(2) J. BUS. ETHICS 205 (1998). For an interesting discussion on the attitudes of Business
Faculty towards teaching ethics, see Kathy Lund Dean & Jeri Mullins Beggs, University Professors and Teaching Ethics: Conceptualizations and Expectations, 30(1) J. MGMT. EDUC. 15 (2006).
19
Barbara C. Cole & Denise L. Smith, Effects of Ethics Instruction on the Ethical Perceptions of
College Business Students, 70(6) J. EDUC. FOR BUS. 351 (1995).
20
Formats vary; some schools include ethics as a separate course while others integrate ethics
content throughout various courses. Manuel Velasquez et al., Can Ethics be Taught?, Markkula
Center for Applied Ethics, http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/canethicsbetaught.
html (last visited Feb. 14, 2008); John A. Bryne, Can Ethics be Taught? Harvard Gives It the
Old College Try, BUS. WK. 34 (Apr. 6, 1992); Linda K. Trevino, Ethical Decision Making in Organizations: A Person-Situation Interactions Model, 11(3) ACAD. MGMT. REV. 601 (1986); Cole &
Smith, supra note 19 (supporting integrated ethics education throughout the program rather
than in an ethics course after surveying 850 students and finding no difference between responses of those that had taken an ethics course and those that had not). Ethical education is
a required component for AACSB accreditation of a business program; see The Association
to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, Standards, http://www.aacsb.edu/accreditation/
business/STANDARDS.pdf (last visited Feb. 14, 2008).
21
Smyth & Davis, supra note 7 (referring to setting-specific ethics as situational ethics). See also
Raef A. Lawson, Is Classroom Cheating Related to Business Students’ Propensity to Cheat in the ‘‘Real
World’’? 49(2) J. BUS. ETHICS 189 (2004).
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the situations as less unethical than did nonbusiness students. In particular,
business students found falsification of job applications to be less unethical
than did nonbusiness students.
The more comfortable a student becomes with cheating, the more
often he or she will repeat the conduct in the future.22 One key indicator of
whether a student will cheat in the future is whether the student has
cheated in the past. Those students who have cheated in high school are
more likely to cheat in university.23 It seems only logical that this pattern of
repeat behavior would continue into the workplace.24
Research has identified a link between committing acts of academic
misconduct in university with future unethical conduct in the business environment. Students who engage in dishonest acts in college classes are
more likely to engage in dishonest acts in the workplace.25 One 2004 study
of 237 business students at three different New York State Universities
found that
there was a very strong relationship between students’ propensity to engage in
unethical behaviour in an academic setting and their attitude toward such behaviour in the business world . . . Specifically, cheaters are more likely to believe it is acceptable to lie to a potential employer on an employment
22
McCabe & Klebe, supra note 11, as discussed in Hughes & McCabe, supra note 5, at 3.
23
Lambert et al., supra note 15 (a survey of 850 university students measuring twelve different
variants finding that cheating in high school was the most significant indicator of cheating in
university). Nonis & Swift, supra note 10, at 197 (a study of 301 marketing students finding
past cheating to be a significant predictor of future cheating).
24
Kevin L. Blankenship & Bernard E. Whitley Jr., Relation of General Deviance to Academic Dishonesty, 10(1) ETHICS & BEHAV. 1 (2000) (finding patterns of minor deviance were significantly
related to academic dishonesty); Gail Tom & Norm Borin, Cheating in Academe, 63(4) J. EDUC.
FOR BUS. 153 (1988).
25
Sarath Nonis & Cathy Owens Swift, An Examination of the Relationship Between Academic Dishonesty and Workplace Dishonesty: A Multicampus Investigation, 77(2) J. EDUC. FOR BUS. 69 (2001) (a
large study covering over 1,000 students (with work experience) from six different AACSB
universities). See Randi L. Sims, The Relationship Between Academic Dishonesty and Unethical
Business Practices, 68(4) J. EDUC. FOR BUS. 207 (1993); Suzanne Ogilby, The Ethics of Academic
Behavior: Will It Affect Professional Behavior?, J. EDUC. FOR BUS. 92 (1995); Donald L. McCabe
et al., The Influence of Collegiate and Corporate Codes of Conduct on Ethics-Related Behavior in the
Workplace, 4 ETHICS Q. 461 (1996); Gale M. Lucas & James Friedrich, Individual Differences in
Workplace Deviance and Integrity as Predictors of Academic Dishonesty, 15 ETHICS & BEHAV. 15
(2005). Conrad Black offers a high-profile example: JACQUE MCNISH & SINCLAIR STEWART,
WRONG WAY THE FALL OF CONRAD BLACK 27 (2004).
2008 / Integrating Academic Integrity Education with Business Law Course
249
application and to believe it is acceptable to use insider information when
buying and selling stocks.26
In 1993, Randi Sims conducted a small study of fifty-seven Masters of
Business Administration (MBA) students to determine whether there was a
correlation between workplace and academic misconduct.27 The results
showed that ninety-eight percent of respondents admitted to some form of
workplace dishonesty while ninety-one percent admitted academic dishonesty. Each student was asked to respond to a list of behaviors rated as
mild to severe. Respondents who engaged in severely dishonest activity in
college were more likely to report engaging in severely dishonest activity at
work. This held true for mild dishonesty as well. Respondents who admitted to multiple types of dishonesty at school also admitted multiple incidences in the workplace.
In 2001, Sarath Nonis and Cathy Owens Swift completed a large
study of 1,051 graduate and undergraduate business students from six
Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accredited
American universities.28 They asked students who held part-time or fulltime jobs within the past five years to report their academic and workplace
misconduct (if any). Students who committed academic misconduct were
more likely than honest students to commit workplace misconduct. Nonis
and Swift concluded that ‘‘once an individual forms the attitude that cheating is acceptable behaviour, he or she is likely to use this behaviour, not
only in the educational arena but also in other areas.’’29
One 2005 study looked at 235 physicians from three different medical schools who were disciplined by their licensing medical boards, and it
found that these physicians were three times more likely than other physicians in the control group to have been disciplined for unprofessional
26
Lawson, supra note 21, at 195. This is important because attitude has been identified as a
strong indicator of intention and behavior. See MARTIN FISHBEIN & ICEK AJZEN, UNDERSTANDING
ATTITUDES AND PREDICTING SOCIAL BEHAVIOR (1980); Brian K. Burton & Janet P. Near, Estimating
the Incidence of Wrong Doing and Whistle-Blowing: Results of a Study Using Randomized Response
Technique, 14 J. BUS. ETHICS 17 (1995) (equating academic misconduct with improper behavior
in business organizations) discussed in Mohammed Y. Rawwas & Hans R. Isakson, Ethics of
Tomorrow’s Business Manager: The Influence of Personal Beliefs and Values, Individual Characteristics,
and Situational Factors,, 75(6) J. EDUC. FOR BUS. 321 (2000).
27
Sims, supra note 25.
28
Nonis & Swift, supra note 25.
29
Id. para. 45.
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behavior while they were students in medical school.30 The physicians who
were disciplined for ‘‘severe’’ misconduct were also more likely to have
been severely unprofessional in medical school.
In summary, there is a positive correlation between the occurrence
and frequency of incidents of academic misconduct and workplace misconduct as well as the severity of the academic and workplace conduct.31
Therefore, reducing the incidents of academic misconduct may have the
positive by-product of reducing the likelihood of unethical business conduct in the future. Addressing student academic misconduct now may accomplish the business program’s educational goal of improving the ethical
conduct of future business leaders.
Academic Integrity Education Decreases Incidents of Academic Misconduct
Understanding why students cheat is a complicated task. The reasons lie in
a combination of personal values, individual characteristics, and institutional factors. Many studies have isolated individual characteristics such as
gender, age, class standing, and discipline.32 Male students are more likely
to cheat than female students; younger students are more likely to cheat
30
Maxine A. Papadakis et al., Disciplinary Action by Medical Boards and Prior Behavior in Medical
School, 353(25) N. ENG. J. MED. 2673 (2005); Maxine A. Papadakis et al., Unprofessional Behaviour in Medical School Is Associated with Subsequent Disciplinary Action by a State Medical Board,
79 ACAD. MED. 244 (2004) (finding similar results for one California Medical School).
31
Sims, supra note 25; Nonis & Swift, supra note 25. See also Richard A. Fass, Cheating and
Plagiarism, in ETHICS AND HIGHER EDUCATION 170–84 (William W. May ed., 1990) (finding that
people who had committed academic misconduct also cheated on their taxes, in sports and
politics). William R. Todd-Mancillas, Academic Dishonesty Among Communication Students and
Professionals: Some Consequences and What Might Be Done About Them, Presentation at the Annual
Meeting of Speech Communication Association, 73d Boston, MA (Nov. 5–8, 1987) (as discussed by Nonis & Swift, supra note 25) (a study of communication majors tracing academic
misconduct to dishonest communications professionals).
32
Gender: David A. Ward & Wendy L. Beck, Gender and Dishonesty, 130(3) J. SOC. PSYCHOL. 333
(1990); Gerald Albaum & Robert A. Peterson, Ethical Attitudes of Future Business Leaders Do They
Vary by Gender and Religiosity?, 45(3) BUS. & SOC’Y 300 (2006); Helen Marsden et al., Who Cheats
at University? A Self Report Study of Dishonest Academic Behaviours in a Sample of Australian University Students, 57(1) AUSTL. J. PSYCHOL. 1 (2005). Grade Point Average: John S. Baird, Current
Trends in College Cheating. 17 PSYCHOL. SCH. 515 (1980); Age: Valerie J. Haines et al., College
Cheating: Immaturity, Lack of Commitment and a Neutralizing Attitude, 25 RES. HIGH. EDUC. 342
(1986); Discipline: supra notes 12 & 14; Julia Christensen Hughes & Donald McCabe, Understanding Academic Misconduct, 36(1) CAN. J. HIGH. EDUC. 49 (2006); Mohammed Y.A. Rawwas
& Hans R. Isakson, Ethics of Tomorrow’s Business Managers: The Influence of Personal Beliefs and
Values, Individual Characteristics, and Situational Factors, 75(6) J. EDUC. FOR BUS. 321 (2000).
2008 / Integrating Academic Integrity Education with Business Law Course
251
than older students. Students with low grade point averages (GPAs) show a
higher propensity to cheat than students with high or mid-range GPAs33
and, as has already been noted, business students are more likely to cheat
than nonbusiness students. In the search to understand why some students
cheat, other researchers34 have identified the following institutional or
contextual factors:
pressure to achieve good grades,35
probability of being caught (low faculty reporting),36
opportunity (available technology or few safeguards),37
social acceptability among peers (perception that everyone does it),38
low jeopardy (light sanctions even if caught),39
faculty member (instructor) tolerance,40
33
Hughes & McCabe, supra note 32; Nonis & Swift, supra note 10.
34
Hutton, supra note 11 (identifying low probability of being caught and attitudes of peers and
faculty as key). See also Augustus E. Jordan, College Student Cheating: The Role of Motivation,
Perceived Norms, Attitudes and Knowledge of Institutional Policy, 11(3) ETHICS & BEHAV. 233 (2001),
available at http://www.leaonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1207?s15327019EB1103_3 (last visited Apr.
10, 2007).
35
Brian K. Burton & Janet P. Near, Estimation of the Incidence of Wrong Doing and Whistle-Blowing: Results of a Study Using Randomized Response Technique, 14(1) J. BUS. ETHICS 17 (1995);
Anthony R. Perry et al., Type A Behaviour, Competitive Achievement-Striving, and Cheating Among
College Sudents, 66(2) PSYCHOL. REP. 459 (1990).
36
Hughes & McCabe, supra note 32.
37
Hutton, supra note 11; Gary Pavela, Cheating on Campus: Who’s Really to Blame?, CHRON. HIGH.
EDUC. 64 (1981); Kim McMurtry, E-cheating: Combating a 21st Century Challenge, 29(4) THE
JOURNAL 36 (2001); Carolyn Kleiner & Mary Lord, The Cheating Game, 127(20) U.S. NEWS &
WORLD REPORT 54 (Nov. 22 1999).
38
McCabe & Trevino, supra note 5. Perception of peer tolerance is key as students often overestimate the amount of cheating done by their peers. This is known as ‘‘false consensus effect’’
and is often found when students justify their own cheating. Chapman et al., supra note 14, at
239–43 (finding the average student’s belief about the frequency of other students cheating
was four times higher than their own likelihood of cheating and among high frequency
cheaters the false consensus effect was extremely high (2,030 percent)).
39
Hughes & McCabe, supra note 32; David N. Happ et al., Crime in the Classroom, 73(4) J. CHEM.
EDUC. 349 (1996); Miguel Roig & Carol Ballew, Attitudes Toward Cheating of Self and Others by
College Students and Professors, 44(1) PSYCHOL. REC. 3 (1994) (reporting students believe faculty
are responsible for student cheating).
40
George E. Stevens & Faith W. Stevens, Ethical Inclinations of tomorrow’s Managers Revisited:
How and Why Students Cheat, 63(1) J. EDUC. FOR BUS. 24 (1987).
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lack of knowledge of the rules,41 and
time pressures.42
Many of these reasons are the same as those given by corporate cheaters,
most notably performance goals and peer tolerance.43 Business students
identify fear of being caught and severity of consequences as the most important considerations when deciding whether or not to cheat.44 It is possible that these reasons are just excuses used to justify known dishonest
behavior; even so, research shows that eliminating the justification for past
cheating reduces the likelihood of future cheating.45
Including academic integrity and misconduct content in the business
law course can impact at least four of these institutional factors or excuses:
it can teach students the rules, it can change peer perceptions of social
acceptability, it can change a perception of faculty tolerance, and it can
raise awareness of serious sanctions.
One 2001 study compared the focus placed on academic integrity
at two business schools and found that placing a high priority on academic
integrity through educational emphasis decreased the incidents of
cheating.
‘‘Indeed, faculty and student comprehension of and commitment to
an institution’s academic integrity policy may have a greater impact on
cheating than the presence or absence of an honour code . . . Course based
41
Jordan, supra note 34.
42
Elletta S. Callahan et al., The Impact of Prioritizing Academic Integrity in Business Schools: A
Comparative Perspective, 19(2) J. LEGAL STUD. EDUC. 190 (2001) or (stating that whether the time
pressure is imposed by the institution or created by the student through procrastination did
not change the positive correlation with cheating); Ellis Evans et al., Adolescents Cognitions and
Attributions for Academic Cheating: A Cross-National Study, 27 J. PSYCHOL. 585, 595 (1993): Miguel
Roig & Lauren DeTommaso, Are College Cheating and Plagiarism Related to Academic Procrastination?, 77 PSYCHOL. REP. 691 (1995).
43
Kenneth J. Smith et al., An Examination of Cheating and Its Antecedents Among Marketing and
Management Majors, 50(1) J. BUS. ETHICS 63 (2004).
44
McCabe & Trevino, supra note 12, at 211.
45
Id. Classroom deterrents did not have a significant impact on cheating. Deterrents were
classified as more proctoring, different tests, etc. However, they did find that a student’s ability
to justify past cheating had a direct link to the likelihood that the student would cheat in the
future. Authors recommended teaching the role of a code of conduct to reduce ability to
justify cheating. Id.
2008 / Integrating Academic Integrity Education with Business Law Course
253
and institutional factors have a greater impact on academic integrity rates
than do any individual student characteristics.’’46
The ‘‘high priority’’ institution incorporated academic integrity discussion problems into the content of various courses.
Education is of particular importance as the student population becomes more international. Significant differences exist between the attitudes, beliefs, and likelihood of cheating of students from different
countries.47 Including substantive content on academic misconduct policy in the core curriculum will help students come to a common understanding of the expected conduct in the specific institution.
Many have identified the importance of having an honor code for
students.48 Making the academic integrity honor code and the academic
misconduct policy of the institution part of the substantive business law
content sends a very high priority message to students while actually informing them about the specific misconduct rules. Both of these strategies
help reduce incidents of academic misconduct.
Success will depend on faculty member commitment. The attitudes
and behaviors of faculty members have been found to be one of the
strongest influences on student attitudes about ethics.49 One 1993 study
surveyed ethical attitudes of faculty members, seniors, and freshmen students and found that seniors had attitudes more in line with faculty mem-
46
Callahan et al., supra note 42, at 192. See also McCabe & Trevino, supra note 5; McCabe &
Klebe, supra note 11 (finding students consistently indicate that when they are aware of their
institution’s policies and procedures they are less likely to cheat). See Cole & Smith, supra note
19.
47
See Kenneth J. Chapman & Robert A. Lupton, Academic Dishonesty in a Global Educational
Market: A Comparison of Hong Kong and American University Business Students, 18(6/7) INT. J.
EDUC. MGMT. 425 (2004); Robert A. Lupton et al., A Cross-National Exploration of Business Students’ Attitudes, Perceptions, and Tendencies Toward Academic Dishonesty, 75(4) J. EDUC. FOR BUS. 231
(2000); Paul W. Grimes, Dishonesty in Academics and Business: A Cross-Cultural Evaluation of Student Attitudes, 49 J. BUS. ETHICS 273 (2004); Hughes & McCabe, supra note 32, at 53.
48
Donald L. McCabe et al., Academic Integrity in Honor Code and Non-Honor Code Environments: A
Qualitative Investigation, 70(2) J. HIGH. EDUC. 211 (1999) (stating that honor codes are voluntary student pledges separate from the universities code of conduct); Linda A. Kidwell, Student
Honour Codes as a Tool for Teaching Professional Ethics, 29 J. BUS. ETHICS 45 (2001); Zabihollah
Rezaee et al., Ethical Behavior in Higher Educational Institutions: The Role of the Code of Conduct, 30
J. BUS. ETHICS 171 (2001).
49
Hutton, supra note 11; Fred R. David et al., Perspectives on Business Ethics in Management
Education, 55(4) SAM ADVANCED MGMT. J. 26 (1990).
254
Vol. 25 / The Journal of Legal Studies Education
bers than did freshmen.50 A factor in this was perceived to be increased
exposure to the ideas and values of professors. Another 1990 study found
that the behavior of business faculty members was the most influential
factor in ethics education.51 If faculty members present no position on academic misconduct and rarely enforce the rules, then students will believe
that faculty tolerate the conduct and that they are unlikely to be caught or
punished. This will influence the attitude of the student with respect to the
importance of academic integrity. Increasing the profile, content, and enforcement of academic integrity in the classroom will change the students’
perception of faculty member and institutional tolerance.
What is the attitude of faculty members toward academic integrity?
Even faculty members are confused about the rules and distinctions between unethical, illegal, unprofessional, and socially undesirable behavior.52 One Canadian study attempting to examine the ethics of Canadian
business faculty members with respect to undergraduate teaching asked
faculty members to rank fifty-five behavioral statements from least ethical
to most ethical on a scale of one to five.53 None of the behavioral statements expressly addressed the issue of ignoring academic misconduct or
enforcing sanctions for academic misconduct. This shows a failure to associate this type of conduct with overall unethical behavior. It is under the
radar. Interestingly, giving the same test as in previous terms was seen as
definitely ethical by the majority of respondents. Students would have to
perceive this unchanged exam as a lack of concern about academic misconduct and increase the student’s perception of how easy it is to cheat.
50
Robert E. Stevens et al., A Comparison of Ethical Evaluations of Business School Faculty and Students, 12 J. BUS. ETHICS 611 (1993).
51
William I. Sauser Jr., The Ethics of Teaching Business: Toward a Code for Business Professors, 9
SAM ADVANCED MGMT. J. 33 (1990).
52
Mary Birch et al., Black and White and Shades of Gray: A Portrait of the Ethical Professor, 9 ETHICS
& BEHAV. 243 (1999).
53
Chett Robie & Lisa M. Keeping, Perceptions of Ethical Behaviour Among Business School Faculty
in Canada, 2 J. ACAD. ETHICS 221 (2005). The fifty-five statements were adapted from the code
of ethics of the Academy of Management. Some statements could be interpreted as implicitly
covering such conduct, that is, relaxing rules (e.g,. late papers, attendance) so undergraduates
will like you, ranked as the eleventh most unethical of the fifty-five with a score of 1.79/5.
Faculty is used in the most general sense in this article, although differences have been noted
between part-time, nontenure track, and tenured faculty. Id. at 225. See Joe Kerkvliet &
Charles L. Sigmund, Can We Control Cheating in the Classroom? 30(4) J. ECON. EDUC. 331 (Fall
1999).
2008 / Integrating Academic Integrity Education with Business Law Course
255
Students often describe instructor commitment and awareness of institutional policies as key factors in the decision not to cheat.54 Faculty
members generally tend to ignore academic misconduct. One well-known
study found that sixty-five percent of faculty members reported having
discovered one or more students cheating, but only twenty-one percent
reported the incidents.55 Possible reasons for this failure to report include
lack of familiarity with the process, difficulty of proving allegations, dissatisfaction with sanctions, fear of litigation, sympathy for the student, faculty time commitment, and damage to a faculty member’s reputation or
teaching evaluations.56 Business faculty members have been found to be
even more tolerant of academic misconduct than instructors in other faculties.57 In one study, only sixty-one percent of business faculty members
reported having observed cheating as compared with well over seventy
percent of instructors in all other faculties.58 This is perplexing because
business students self-reported at a significantly higher rate than did students from other faculties. Given this finding, encouraging faculty members to place a high priority on academic integrity education will be a
challenge but may be more likely to succeed if academic integrity content is
integrated into the substantive content of the course rather than isolated as
an unrelated procedural issue.
Integrating academic integrity content into the business law course
will decrease incidents of academic misconduct by addressing four key
54
McCabe & Klebe, supra note 11, at 30.
55
Avinash C. Singhal, Factors in Student Dishonesty, 51 PSYCOL. REP. 775, 777 (1982) (stating that a
passive faculty attitude toward cheating or a nonsupportive attitude toward university policy
may increase academic misconduct). See Callahan et al., supra note 42, at 190; Hutton, supra
note 11. Faculty reactions to academic dishonesty showed similar results of sixty percent observance and twenty percent reported. Faculty did not understand the implications of following or ignoring the university’s policy. See Margaret P. Jendrick, Faculty Reactions to Academic
Dishonesty, 30 J. C. STUDENT DEV. 401 (1989).
56
Id.; Callahan et al., supra note 42, at 190; MALINE MARAMARK & MINDI MALINE, U.S. DEPARTEDUCATION, ACADEMIC DISHONESTY AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS 5 (1993); Detlev Nitsch et
al., Why Code of Conduct Violations go Unreported: A Conceptual Framework to Guide Intervention and
Future Research, 57 J. BUS. ETHICS 327 (2005).
MENT OF
57
McCabe & Trevino, supra note 12.
58
Id. at 210 (Table 2) & 216. See also Robert E. Stevens et al., Evaluations of Ethical Situations by
University Faculty: A Comparative Study, 69(3) J. EDUC. FOR BUS. 145 (1994) (comparing ethical
attitudes across business faculties and finding that business faculty have a ‘‘slightly’’ higher
tolerance for questionable business practices than do other faculty).
256
Vol. 25 / The Journal of Legal Studies Education
reasons why students cheat: It will teach them the rules, dispel any impression of faculty tolerance or peer acceptability, and warn students of the
serious consequences of cheating.
Academic Misconduct Education Can Be Experiential Learning
In addition to decreasing academic misconduct occurrences, including a
study of academic integrity in the business law course can improve comprehension of the traditional substantive course content. Academic misconduct is something that almost every student has personally experienced
either as a participant, observer, or victim. Drawing on this personal experience to illustrate the application of legal principles will improve student understanding of the course content.
Past experiences shape our attitudes, values, and beliefs. Learning
has been defined as the transformation of experience into knowledge,
skills, and attitudes.59 It alters the entire person including values, beliefs,
emotions, and senses.60 This transformation can be accomplished through
thinking (reflection), doing (action), or feeling (emotion), or any combination of them. Transformation necessarily involves using the lessons of
past experiences as criteria for the assessment of new information.61
Therefore, all learning is experiential in varying degrees.62
As individuals, our perceptions and sense of truths are shaped by the
lessons of our past experiences. It is through this reflective lens that we
interpret all new experiences. Experience occurs when there is interaction
between the individual and the outside world or a connection between our
internal world and the external world.63 As long as our new experiences
are understandable and explainable given our existing view of the world,
there is no need to change that view. The internal world remains intact and
59
PETER JARVIS, ADULT LEARNING
60
PETER JARVIS, TOWARDS
A
IN THE
SOCIAL CONTEXT 32 (1987).
COMPREHENSIVE THEORY OF HUMAN LEARNING 18 & 87 (2006).
61
Id. at 82.
62
It is beyond the scope of this article to present an in-depth analysis of experiential learning.
For further discussion, see JARVIS, supra note 60; Jeffrey A. Cantor, Experiential Learning in
Higher Education Linking Classroom and Community, in ASHE-ERIC HIGHER EDUCATION REPORT
NO. 7, 1995, (Lynne J. Scott et al. eds.,1997); JANICE MCDRURY & MAXINE ALTERIO, LEARNING
THROUGH STORYTELLING IN HIGHER EDUCATION: USING REFLECTION & EXPERIENCE TO IMPROVE
LEARNING (Kogan Page 2003) (2002).
63
JARVIS, supra note 60, at 70.
2008 / Integrating Academic Integrity Education with Business Law Course
257
little learning occurs. Change, and therefore learning, occurs when the
new experience is no longer explainable based on past experience. We are
called upon to revise our past perceptions to make sense of the new experience. This state of disharmony is referred to as disjuncture and is the
point at which learning occurs.64
Clearly, we all live with many things we do not understand, and we do
not embark on a quest of learning to reconcile all of these inconsistencies.
To put it another way, many experiences never enter our consciousness.
Consciousness and awareness of the experience flow from interest. If we
are not interested, we do not bother sorting out the disharmony. The result
is selected or targeted learning.
Most of us are only interested in things that are relevant to our lives.
Theoretically, interest is described in terms of four concentrical zones of
relevance from events most closely connected to a person’s world to those
with no relevance at all.65 Much of the world passes unnoticed around us
until it impacts our inner circle of relevance. Suddenly, we become aware
and interested and retain the event in our conscious experience. This new
experience may challenge an existing set of norms and trigger new learning in the search to restore harmony. The perception of future experiences
is forever changed. As educators, this is what we strive to achieve: we hope
students will identify the issue we present as one relevant to their sense of
consciousness so they will make the effort to reconcile any disjuncture and
thereby trigger learning. The greater relevance the issue has to the student, the more likely the student will make the effort to learn from the
experience.
Interpreting the experiences of others is experience, but it is considered a mediated or secondary experience rather than primary experience.66 Shared narratives of other people’s content or teaching theory fall
into this category of secondary experience and ‘‘many educators now see
this as insufficient.’’67 Instead, primary experiences or things that impact
the learner’s specific circumstances are the preferred learning tool being
64
Id. at 77.
65
Id. at 78 (referencing ALFRED SCHUTZ, ON PHENOMENOLOGY
WRITINGS 112–13 (Helmut Wagner ed., 1970)).
66
Id. at 74.
67
Id. at 85.
AND
SOCIAL RELATIONS: SELECTED
258
Vol. 25 / The Journal of Legal Studies Education
more relevant and increasing the chance for learning. ‘‘It is this provision
of primary experiences that has come to be known as experiential teaching
and learning.’’68
Drawing on students’ primary experience is likely to engage a student in the topic under consideration. Using the subjects of academic integrity and misconduct to personalize specific topics in the business law
course will create a primary experience more relevant to the student’s
present circumstances than other usual examples from the still unfamiliar
business context or legal environment. Therefore, using the academic integrity context to identify the principles included in the business law
course improves and expands the student’s learning opportunities.
Few Courses Have Such an Ideal Content Correlation
Academic integrity is a natural fit with the business law course. The most
obvious overlap is with business ethics. Virtually every business law course
includes an ethics component. Academic integrity is an experiential example of ethical principals in the student environment. In addition, understanding the link between ethical principles and the law is a
fundamental underlying concept in the business law course; ethical values
find their way into judicial decision making and legislative intent.69 Studying the academic code of conduct together with the academic misconduct
definitions and sanctions shows this link in action. It provides an important
example of the role of the code of conduct and the ability to enforce the
code of conduct.70
The academic integrity topic may also give added credibility to business law faculty teaching ethics; sometimes faculty are seen by students as
being isolated in an ivory tower separate from the pressures of the business
world.71 As a result, preaching the virtues of business ethics while living in
the academic world can be seen as hollow or uninformed. Students may
dismiss the professor’s perceptions as naı̈ve. Applying those same princi-
68
Id.
69
Daniel T. Ostas & Stephen E. Loeb, Teaching Corporate Social Responsibility in Business Law and
Business Ethics Classrooms, 20(1) J. LEGAL STUD. EDUC. 60, 87 (2002).
70
Kidwell, supra note 48.
71
McCabe & Trevino, supra note 12, at 213.
2008 / Integrating Academic Integrity Education with Business Law Course
259
ples to the academic world where the professor has expertise and standing
may credentialize the professor in the eyes of the student and increase the
impact of the ethics content.
Even more striking than the ethics link is the tremendous applied
example of many substantive legal principles covered in the business law
course. Academic misconduct policy is an opportunity to focus on a student-centered example of legal principles in practice. The second part of
this article will identify the particular topics that are most adaptable to the
academic integrity component; however, the connection is clear from the
very first topic most business law courses introduce: the legal system and
due process. The school’s academic misconduct enforcement process is a
visible demonstration of many of the same due process principles taught in
business law. Analyzing the academic misconduct enforcement process in
place at the specific educational institution can highlight such issues as
burden of proof, standard of proof, and admissibility of evidence. It is also
perfect for developing an understanding of the role of discipline in professional organizations and the difference between civil, regulatory, quasi
criminal, and criminal regimes. One popular topic for class debate on due
process is whether judges should be elected or appointed. The issue of
student representation on academic misconduct adjudication panels parallels this issue. A review of the sanctions for academic misconduct raises an
opportunity for understanding the goals of criminal sentencing in contrast
with the goals of civil law remedies. Few courses in the overall business
program offer the broad overlap with academic misconduct policy as the
traditional business law course.
SUBSTANTIVE TOPICS USED TO INCORPORATE
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY CONTENT INTO THE BUSINESS
LAW COURSE
Almost every topic in the business law course can be adapted to include
academic integrity education. The topics identified here are just a sampling of the possibilities and have been selected because they connect well
with the two general academic misconduct policy components:
1. the code of conduct including sanctioning guidelines and
2. the enforcement process associated with violations of the code of
conduct.
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Vol. 25 / The Journal of Legal Studies Education
For purposes of this article, the substantive topics are sourced in the Canadian business law text The Law and Business Administration in Canada72
and the American text Business Law Today.73 It is not suggested that every
possible topic be used. The instructor should introduce the academic integrity issue early in the course and then select two additional legal topics
spaced throughout the term. Ideally, one topic would be adapted to the
procedural academic misconduct enforcement component and the other
to the substantive academic misconduct code of conduct.
The academic integrity issue is initially introduced with an academic
integrity quiz in the orientation or first class of the term. Appendix I
contains my quiz in its present configuration. Most instructors already discuss the consequences of academic misconduct in course outlines and usually in the introductory class. To complement this discussion, the academic
integrity quiz can be administered during the first class using ‘‘clicker’’
technology.74 The questions deal with the various topics that are discussed
below and allow the quiz to be used in successive terms no matter which
legal topics are chosen for use in the specific term. Students are asked to
choose an answer from among the highest to lowest ethical standards. The
clicker technology displays the aggregate results of student responses on a
bar or pie graph immediately following the students’ input. Some of the
questions are designed to present ethical dilemmas. The results for each
question form the basis of a class discussion focusing on the legal principle
presented by the question and the ethical value behind the principle. The
distinction between academic integrity and academic misconduct is highlighted. This is an opportunity for the instructor to link law and ethics. The
ethical values of the community as a whole will shape the interpretation
and development of the law just as the academic integrity climate at the
university will influence the level of academic misconduct.
The second and long-term use of the quiz is to introduce the specific
business law topics as they are reached during the course. For example,
one popular topic is whistleblowing; question 3 of the quiz asks the stu72
JAMES. E. SMYTH
ET AL.,
THE LAW AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
IN
CANADA (11th ed. 2006).
73
ROGER L. MILLER & GAYLORD A. JENTZ, BUSINESS LAW TODAY, STANDARD EDITION (7th ed. 2006).
74
Clicker technology refers to radio frequency or infra red hand-held transmitters used in
conjunction with an in-class receiver and computer software. Together they record, collate,
and graphically display student responses instantaneously. I currently use ioclicker technology. Other manufacturers include Turning Point and CPS. See http://www.wlu.ca/news_up
date.php?grp_id=28&nws_id=2351&filter_type=update (last visited Feb. 14, 2008).
2008 / Integrating Academic Integrity Education with Business Law Course
261
dents whether or not they will report a fellow student if they become aware
that he or she is cheating. This question and the results returned on the
first lecture are used to introduce the whistleblowing topic in the corporate
governance class. The quiz ensures that students have considered the implications of whistleblowing in the student environment before they are
asked to understand the concept in the workplace. In this same way, the
quiz is used throughout the course to connect student experience with the
various legal topics covered.
Machinery of JusticeFNatural Justice and Due Process
The first opportunity to integrate academic integrity education into the
business law content comes early in the course.75 Students must understand the basic categories of law: civil, criminal, quasi criminal, administrative, or regulatory. This is the ideal place in the course to deal with
procedural fairness and due process issues such as burden of proof, standard of proof, hearsay evidence, the right to cross examine, and judicial
independence. The results of questions 2, 4, 10, and 11 are relevant to
these issues.
Students are often surprised to discover that procedural fairness goes
beyond the courtroom and applies to administrative decision making. It
encompasses three general requirements:
1. a fair and open procedure,
2. an opportunity for those affected to make submissions, and
3. an impartial adjudicator.76
Appendix II provides a detailed overview of the assignment used for
this topic. The class is divided into small groups, and each group is given
one of the following tasks:
1. a substantive assignment to create an academic misconduct code,
2. a procedural assignment to design an enforcement process to be followed when allegations of academic misconduct are made, or
3. a substantive assignment to build a set of sanctioning guidelines.
75
SMYTH
76
ET AL.,
supra note 72, at chs. 1 and 2; MILLER & JENTZ, supra note 73, at chs. 1–3.
Baker v. Canada (M.C.I.), [1999] 2 S.C.R. 817, para. 22; Goss v. Lopez, 419 U.S. 565 (1975)
(the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that due process provisions of the U.S.
Constitution applies to educational discipline of students).
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Vol. 25 / The Journal of Legal Studies Education
Those completing the misconduct code exercise consider the role of intention and the concept of ‘‘parties to an offense,’’ as well as determining
where to draw the line between misconduct and integrity. The enforcement exercise is completed using the basic principles of natural justice,
procedural fairness, and due process as criteria. Those students completing the sanction guidelines look at the goals of sentencing for criminal and
regulatory offenses as compared with the goals of civil actions such as tort.
For a detailed discussion of this exercise, see Appendix II.
TortFRole of Intention, Fault, and Strict Liability
The role of intention in tort law is often difficult for students to understand.77 Why should there be liability when the tortfeasor did not mean to
do it or did not know the conduct was substandard? This question focuses
only on the tortfeasor and not the victim. The usual class discussion highlights fault rather than intention and points to the primary goal of tort law:
compensation for the victim. The better questions should be: Who has
been hurt by the conduct and should it have been foreseeable? Should the
tortfeasor reasonably have known that harm could result? Are there policy
reasons to make both fault and intention irrelevant in some situations?
Questions 11 and 7 of the introductory quiz make the academic integrity connection with this topic. Question 11 confronts the intention
question. The stakeholder theory analysis78 of academic misconduct in
question 7 yields a host of victims hurt by academic misconduct from the
administration, faculty, current and future students to the alumni, co-op
employers, and the surrounding community. Repairing this damage can
only be accomplished if the incidents of academic misconduct are reduced.
Dealing with those unaware students is key to meeting this goal. Therefore, from a policy perspective even unintentional academic misconduct
must be addressed. Intention can still be relevant as part of sanctioning just
as with punitive damages in tort.
77
SMYTH
78
ET AL.,
supra note 72, at ch. 3; MILLER & JENTZ, supra note 73, at ch. 4.
Stakeholder theory is central to the core undergraduate business education and asks a student to consider the impact of a firm’s actions on other parties. This can be used when teaching duty of care in tort as a way of connecting this concept to their general business education.
See R. EDWARD FREEMAN, STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT: A STAKEHOLDER APPROACH (1984), discussed in
Ostas & Loeb, supra note 69, at 72.
2008 / Integrating Academic Integrity Education with Business Law Course
263
After the stakeholder analysis, students are asked to review the academic misconduct code and determine what role intention plays in the
institution’s academic misconduct policy. This requires the student to consider a finding of academic misconduct separate from the sanction imposed. Students must look at the sanction from more than the offender’s
perspective. This is a substantive academic misconduct exercise because
students review the definitions of academic misconduct, interpret the language relating to intention, and consider the policy benefits of strict liability.
TortFNegligence, Misrepresentation, and Fraud
Negligence is the backbone of tort law, and fundamental to a student’s
understanding of this tort is the concept of standard of care. What level of
conduct is acceptable and what type of conduct falls below the standard of
care and triggers liability? Establishing the acceptable standard of care in
any given situation often leads to the code of conduct that governs the
activity. Proving that a defendant has not met the conduct required of the
relevant code of conduct satisfies this element of negligence.
Negligent and fraudulent misrepresentations are torts covered in
virtually every business law course.79 Recent accounting scandals have
made this tort and the civil action it provides against professional accountants central to a business law education. In establishing the standard of
care required of a professional, it is common to refer to the code of conduct
of the professional licensing organization.
Students can gain an understanding of the role of a code of conduct
by reviewing the codes of conduct that apply to them now, as students of
the university. Questions 1, 3, 6, and 9 of the introductory quiz require
students to rank specific scenarios of student behavior as acceptable and
unacceptable. At this point, students are asked to review the code of academic and nonacademic misconduct to determine if the conduct falls below the standard of behavior of the university. Students are asked to search
the code for examples of misrepresentation as academic misconduct. Common examples are misrepresenting someone else’s work as their own,
misrepresenting the state of their health to obtain a deferral of an exam
and misrepresenting their religious commitment to obtain extra benefit
such as time on an assignment. Would this give rise to a tort action for
79
SMYTH
ET AL.,
supra note 72, at ch. 4; MILLER & JENTZ, supra note 73, at ch. 4.
264
Vol. 25 / The Journal of Legal Studies Education
deceit? A discussion follows about whether damage has been sustained by
the professor or the administration relying on the misrepresentation. The
differences between a tort action and discipline proceedings are introduced. This topic blends nicely with the role of a professional organization
and demonstrates the dual application of a profession’s code of conduct to
both negligence and disciplinary proceedings.
Role of Professional OrganizationFDiscipline
As already identified, misrepresentation is a key business tort. When dealing with the concepts of innocent, negligent, and fraudulent misrepresentation by professionals, the role of the professional organization and its
standards of professional conduct are central.80 In addition to being the
standard of care in a negligence action, the standards of practice and the
professional rules of misconduct form the basis of disciplinary action
against a professional. Any disciplinary action undertaken by a professional organization must meet the requirements of procedural fairness and
natural justice.
The right of a professional organization to control the standard of
practice and the conduct of professionals is important for public confidence and the continued privilege of self regulation. The organization
must still meet the needs of the members by representing their interests to
the public and government. The relationship of student and university is
comparable to this type of professional relationship. When a university
disciplines a student for academic misconduct, it faces the same procedural
fairness obligations as a professional organization when dealing with its
member. Academic misconduct hearings provide a very student-centered
example of professional discipline.
This connection is introduced using the results of Questions 4, 5, and
8 on the introductory quiz. Students are asked to look at the discipline
procedure of a profession, that is, accounting or law, and compare it to the
university’s academic misconduct process in such areas as right to a hearing (question 8), panel of adjudicators (question 5), sanctions for a first
offense (question 4), and the right of appeal. Students are often surprised
to discover that personal conduct is covered by many of the professional
codes of conduct. They are even more surprised to discover that there is a
80
SMYTH
ET AL.,
supra note 72, at ch. 4; MILLER & JENTZ, supra note 73, at ch. 7.
2008 / Integrating Academic Integrity Education with Business Law Course
265
student nonacademic code of conduct that covers such things as drinking,
fighting, and harassing behavior.
The merits of various types of sanctions imposed by professional organizations provide another lively class debate. How do the possible sanctions further the goals of the organization such as public confidence? Is the
loss of a licence the most extreme penalty available?81 Under what circumstances should expulsion be imposed? How does this compare with a
student being expelled from a university or ceasing to be a student during
an investigation? Does the university see public confidence as a goal? All of
these questions create a very student-centered vehicle for delivery of the
professional organization content while deepening the understanding of
the underlying policy goals of academic misconduct sanctions.
ContractFStandard Form Contract and E-Commerce
The academic misconduct code of conduct provides a firsthand example of
a standard form contract interpretation issue. This connection is introduced using questions 11 and 13 of the quiz. What if the student is not
aware of the academic misconduct policy when he or she accepts the offer
of admission? How is a student supposed to know the rules and why is a
student bound by this code of conduct? If the university and student relationship is presented as contractual (even though it is not only contractual), then the contract between the student and university is a standard
form contract or contract of adhesion.82
What steps does the university take to bring these terms to the attention of the student? Most universities now have electronic calendars
available through their Web sites with a link to the code of conduct. This is
an obvious example of external terms incorporated into the contract
81
The Investment Dealers Association of Canada has lobbied for the right to treat fines imposed on members like judgments so they can be collected from members even if they surrender their licences. Imagine this opportunity in the academic misconduct setting. Paul C.
Bourque, Penalties Needed, NAT’L POST, Nov. 1, 2004; Wojtek Dabrowski, IDA Colledts Franction
of Fines Levied, NAT’L POST, Sept. 30, 2004, at FP3. Students cannot avoid sanctions for academic misconduct by ceasing to be a student: Khan v. University of Toronto [1999] O.J. No.
2944 (Ont. Sup. Ct.).
82
SMYTH ET AL., supra note 72. Standard Form Contracts or Contracts of Adhesion are contracts
drafted in advance entirely by one party and presented on a ‘‘take it or leave it’’ basis without
any negotiations. In the Smyth et al. text, they are introduced in Chapter 5 as part of the offer
and acceptance and repeated in Chapter 11 as part of contractual interpretation. MILLER &
JENTZ, supra note 73, at chs. 10 and 15.
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through either a click wrap or browse wrap agreement. It provides an easy
opportunity for academic integrity integration. Students are asked to trace
their registration steps online and determine if the academic misconduct
policy forms part of the contract between the parties and whether the contract is a click wrap or browse wrap agreement. How can the university
improve its process to ensure that the codes of conduct come to the attention of the student during contractual negotiations? Students are able to use
traditional rules of offer and acceptance, as well as consumer protection
principles associated with contracts of adhesion, to determine if the codes
of conduct form part of their contractual relationship with the university.
This exercise allows the student to experience firsthand the offer-and
-acceptance process while heightening awareness of the codes of conduct.
Employment
Employment law presents many issues that can be connected with academic integrity. Both employee misconduct and insubordination amount
to just cause for termination of employment.83 Understanding the role that
employment codes of conduct play in establishing misconduct or insubordination is vital. If the employer successfully incorporates the code of conduct into the employment contract, using violations of the code as cause for
termination or discipline becomes much easier. The previous discussion
relating to external terms of a contract is also applicable to this issue.
However, many times the employee does not see the manual of codes,
policies, and procedures until after he or she has accepted the job. In such
circumstances, the code can still be relevant in establishing insubordination
provided that the employee is made aware of the code.
Every employer is entitled to establish rules of operation for its business and, provided these rules are not dangerous or contrary to law, they
must be followed.84 The employer’s ability to introduce or alter the provisions of the code of conduct for existing employees highlights the need
83
Employment is covered in SMYTH ET AL., supra note 72, at ch. 20; MILLER & JENTZ, supra note
73, at ch. 34.
84
Candy v. C.H.E Pharmacy Inc. (1997) 27 C.C.E.L. (2d) 301 (B.C.C.A.). American cases have
focused on the employee manual’s affect on ‘‘employment at will’’ status and the effectiveness
of disclaimer clauses contained in the employee manual. Jackson v. Action for Boston Community Development, Inc., 525 N.E.2d 411 (Mass. 1988); O’Brien v. New England Telephone
& Telegraph Company, 664 N.E.2d 843 (Mass. 1996); Ortega v. Wakefield Thermal Solutions,
Inc., N.O. 035548A, Jan. 15, 2006 (Mass. Sup. Ct.).
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for carefully drafted manuals and educational initiatives. Employers will be
held to the policies and procedures they put in place. Employers are rarely
entitled to fire an employee for the first minor infraction; employees must
be given a warning first. Employee discipline and warning processes raise
due process concerns. All of these employment issues can be connected to
the academic integrity topic.
The status of the workplace code of conduct can be easily analogized
to the student code of conduct. The need for a university to control the way
its students behave is just as important as the employer’s needs. Students
are asked to identify the educational efforts undertaken by the university
to raise awareness of the code. Question 4 of the introductory quiz deals
with the appropriate sanction for a first offense. Students are also asked to
examine the sanction guidelines to determine if there is a warning requirement prior to imposition of serious sanctions.
Students are often employees as well as students and can be asked to
compare their employer’s code of conduct with a student code. Types
of conduct may overlap. The concept of a morals clause or standards of
conduct affecting the employee’s personal life separate from work are
of great interest to students, and here the existence of the university’s nonacademic code of conduct is comparable. Some universities have an
athlete’s code of conduct for those students on a varsity team.85 These
additional codes of conduct are helpful when introducing the concept that
an employer may have expectations beyond work performance relating to
personal character.
Both preemployment and postemployment conduct have academic
integrity links. Embellishing one’s achievements on a résumé bears a striking resemblance to taking credit for work that is not one’s own. The employer relying on the information on the résumé has a contractual remedy
of rescission, as well as a tort action for deceit. The employer may claim
damages associated with training costs, damage to the employer’s reputation, etc. Students are asked to consider the consequences of similar conduct in the academic world. Stealing an employer’s intellectual property
can be considered a form of plagiarism. Students are asked to consider
postemployment use of confidential information obtained during previous
employment and contrast such conduct with resubmitting an essay in a
85
See, e.g., WLU Athletes Code of Conduct, http://www.laurierathletics.com/aboutus/sainfo.asp
(last visited Feb. 14, 2008).
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subsequent course that has already received credit in a previous course.
More will be said about intellectual property later but these are examples
of analogous student and employee conduct.
Employer references also have an academic misconduct dimension.
Should employee misconduct be disclosed to parties seeking a reference
from an employer? Failure to disclose may give rise to allegations of fraudulent misrepresentation by the party relying on the reference. On the
other hand, disclosure may be a breach of privacy rights or defamation.
The university is in a similar position with respect to academic misconduct
violations. Students are asked to consider how a university should handle
academic misconduct violations on transcripts. These are just a few examples of how the employment law class can be connected with student primary academic integrity experience.
Corporate GovernanceFRole of the Code of Conduct, Whistleblowing, and Insider
Trading
The most natural overlap between academic integrity issues and corporate
governance topics occurs in three areas: codes of conduct, whistleblowing,
and insider trading. The concepts involved in each of these topics can be
demonstrated using the academic misconduct policy.
Codes of conduct are not mandatory for Canadian public companies
governed by the Ontario Securities Act,86 but a company must disclose
whether or not it has a code of conduct in place, file a copy of the code (if
any) and, if not, disclose steps taken to promote ethical conduct.87 There is
a policy statement issued by the Ontario Securities Commission recommending that publicly traded companies have a code of conduct.88 The
goal is to create a climate of ethical integrity within the company. This topic
nicely draws the distinction between law and ethics, and the link between
the two. When integrating this topic into the academic integrity model,
students are asked to review the honor code in place for business students
86
Securities Act, R.S.O., c. S-5 (1990) (Ont.).
87
O.S.C. National Instrument 58-101, Disclosure of Corporate Governance Practices, http://
www.osc.gov.on.ca/Regulation/Rulemaking/Current/Part5/rule_20041029_58-101_disc-corpgov-prac.jsp (last visited Feb. 14, 2008).
88
O.S.C. National Policy 58–201, Corporate Governance Guidelines, http://www.osc.gov.on.ca/
Regulation/Rulemaking/Current/Part5/rule_20041029_58-201_corp-gov-guidelines.jsp (last
visited Feb. 14, 2008).
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and athletes as distinct from the academic misconduct code governing the
conduct of all students.89 What are the differences in content and consequences of a breach? The unanswerable question debated by students is
can ethics be legislated?
One of the most natural correlations with academic misconduct is the
topic of whistleblowing. New corporate governance rules in the United
States impose a positive obligation on lawyers and accountants to report
accounting and securities misconduct often referred to as ‘‘Up the Ladder
Reporting’’ and ‘‘Noisy Withdrawal.’’90 Canada has not gone as far as the
United States but has protected whistleblowers by making whistleblower
retaliation a criminal offense.91 This topic is introduced with the results of
quiz question 3 and a search of the university code to determine if reporting is required. The students debate the pros and cons of student reporting. Often issues of broken relationships are raised and this corresponds
well with the concern for the violation of the solicitor–client relationship.
Retaliation and alienation are other reasons often cited for a failure to report academic misconduct. This invites an assessment of what protections
would be necessary to secure reporting and whether the criminal code
section goes far enough.
Peer evaluations can be used as an applied exercise in whistleblowing.
When assigning any kind of group work, a peer evaluation is commonplace. Many students use this as an opportunity to raise their own marks by
scoring all group members at the maximum. Some instructors give an
unequally divisible number of points that a group member must allocate to
the members of the group. This forces the group member to give at least
one member of the group a higher score. This is a good strategy to force
integrity in the scoring. Instead, I choose to use this as an example of
whistleblowing. The natural justice exercise at Appendix II includes a peer
evaluation. During the whistleblowing class, the results of the peer evaluations are discussed and the following clicker question is posed:
All of the group members’ scores are the same because:
89
BBA Code of Conduct, Athletes’ Code of Conduct, supra note 85.
90
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, Pub. L. No. 107-204, 116 Stat. 745, § 307 (2002); U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Standards of Professional Conduct for Attorneys, 17 C.F.R.
pt. 205 (2003) available at http://www.sec.gov/rules/final/33-8185.htm (last visited Feb. 14,
2008).
91
Criminal Code, R.S.C., ch. C-46, § 431.1. (1985) (Can.).
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(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
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everyone contributed equally.
a deal was made.
the peer evaluation was visible to all group members.
there was fear of retaliation.
As discussed earlier, this question asks students to consider what
checks and balances need to be in place to encourage whistleblowing.
Insider trading provides a quick and easy academic misconduct example. Usually this class comes after course evaluations have been administered and toward the end of the term when students are starting to
prepare for the final exam. The four students who have administered the
evaluations are called to the front, given a blank sheet of paper, and sent
back to their seats. The class usually settles and waits to be told what has
just happened. The class is advised that, as a reward for administering the
evaluations, these students have been given a copy of last year’s final exam
for preparation purposes. The class’s reaction focuses on the classic insider
trading issue: a level playing field. The class is asked to identify who is at
fault, and they quickly accuse the instructor.
Are the students at fault? The results of quiz question 9 are introduced
at this point. The analogy to insider trading and tipping is identified. Students quickly accept the liability of the tipper even when the tipper does not
trade personally. The tricky issue is liability of the tippee and whether it is
wrong if the tippee does not know the information is confidential. The obvious solution is disclosure so everyone has the same information. The disclosure requirements of the securities regulator are reviewed.92
This demonstration is concluded with an announcement that previous exams are on file at the library. If only some people access them, it is
not an unfair advantage as long as all are capable of doing so.
Intellectual PropertyFCopyright
Highlighting the difference between copyright infringement and plagiarism gives students a better understanding of both concepts.93 This topic
can be introduced with quiz question 1. Copyright protects the expression
92
Insider Trading is dealt with in Chapter 28 and 29 of SMYTH ET AL., supra note 72; MILLER &
JENTZ, supra note 73, at ch. 31.
93
Intellectual Property: SMYTH ET AL., supra note 72, at ch. 22; MILLER & JENTZ, supra note 73, at
ch. 5.
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of an idea not the idea itself.94 Plagiarism covers any expression of the
author’s idea. Rewording another author’s idea is plagiarism and requires
attribution to the source. Copyright is automatic and arises on creation of
the work, not publication as students often believe. Plagiarism also applies
irrespective of publication to the wider community. Students are surprised
that they must cite themselves when referring to work that they previously
created. The differences between the two concepts can be demonstrated to
students using sample paragraphs describing well-known concepts, ideas,
plots, expressions, and quotes with various levels of attribution ranging
from none to full footnotes. Students use clicker technology to indicate
whether plagiarism or copyright infringement has occurred.
Next, students are asked to look at the Copyright Act95 for exceptions
to infringement. Fair use or fair dealing exceptions include private research
or study, review or criticism.96 In Law Society of Upper Canada v. CCH Canadian Ltd., the Supreme Court of Canada held that the fair dealing provisions
allow persons to use or copy copyrighted judgments for commercial business/legal research.97 Do these exemptions also apply to plagiarism? Obviously, this would exempt every student from providing attribution in every
paper submitted in a course. The fair dealing exception allows the student to
copy the work on the library photocopier without violating copyright, but if
he or she uses the material in an essay without a footnote it is plagiarism.
The right to control the use of a work is protected differently than the
right to be identified as the author. Canadian copyright separates these
rights into basic rights and moral rights.98 The different protection of
94
Moreau v. St. Vincent, [1950] Ex. C.R. 198, at 202.
95
R.S.C., ch. C-42 (1985) (Can.); Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 101-1332 (1976).
96
Canadian Copyright Act, supra note 95, §§ 29, 29.1; U.S. Copyright Act, supra note 95. § 107.
97
(2004) 236 D.L.R.(4th) 395 (S.C.C.).
98
Moral rights are a part of Canadian copyright law that include the right of the author to be
cited as the author (attribution) and the right to integrity of the work (no distortion). Moral
rights are not assignable and expire with the copyright period (sections 14.1, 14.2, 28.2). The
concept of moral rights evolves from civil law and is included in the international treaty on
intellectual property. Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works,
Sept. 9, 1886, 25 U.S.T. 1341, 828 U.N.S.T. 221, available at http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/
berne/trtdocs_wo001.html (last visited Feb. 14, 2008). American copyright law does not include the moral right of attribution except in the area of visual arts (supra note 96, § 106a)
despite the fact that the United States signed the Berne Convention on November 16, 1988.
See Cyrill P. Rigamonti, Deconstructing Moral Rights, 47(2) HARV. INT’L. L.J. 353 (2006).
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moral rights reflects the balancing act between the right to own the work
and society’s need for the free exchange of information. The author of the
idea or quote must always be cited; plagiarism never expires, even once the
work has entered the public domain and copyright has expired.
The challenge of protecting intellectual property, given the increased
use of technology, is a popular business law topic. Music downloading is the
classic example of technology making the enforcement of law difficult.
Usually this involves a discussion about whether there is any point in having a law that is unenforceable or that the majority of people ignore. Prohibition is a popular nontechnology example. Academic integrity can be
linked with this topic by discussing the role of the Internet in student paper
writing and the use of enforcement tools such as turnitin.com.99 Students
often overestimate peer cheating as a way of justifying their own cheating.100 If everyone does it, does the conduct become acceptable? Universities face this issue when addressing academic integrity.
Submitting assignments through turnitin.com has become standard
practice as a means of detecting plagiarism. It raises both privacy and
copyright issues for a student. Turnitin.com uses the submissions of students to create the database against which new submissions are checked.
The issue is permission for such use. One McGill University student successfully lobbied the administration to waive the turnitin requirement
based on lack of consent.101 Requiring students to submit assignments to
turnitin can be an applied exercise in copyright education. As part of the
assignment, students should be asked to identify the legal issues raised by
turnitin and search the turnitin Web site, the course calendar, and
the course outline for policies in place to address these issues.102
99
Turnitin.com is a trade name operated by iParadigms, LLC. It is used here to refer generally
to text matching software commonly used by universities to prevent plagiarism. See http://
www.turnitin.com/static/home.html (last visited Feb. 14, 2008) [hereinafter turnitin].
100
Supra note 38.
101
David Wachsmuth, Rosenfeld-1, McGill-0, MCGILL DAILY 93(28), Jan. 19, 2004, http://
www.mcgilldaily.com/view.php?aid=2166 (last visited Feb. 14, 2008). McGill’s text-matching
software policy allows students to opt out if an alternative method of authentication of work is
completed. See http://www.mcgill.ca/files/integrity/Text-matching_software_in_courses_D0434_.pdf (last visited Feb. 14, 2008).
102
One particular source of information I expect students to find is the Turnitin Canadian
Legal Document that outlines the legal position of Turnitin, https://turnitin.com/static/pdf/
canadian_legal.pdf (last visited Feb. 14, 2008).
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Does the university have an effective legal risk management strategy
in place?
Privacy
Technology has revolutionized how business is done and increased
the security risks for private information held by businesses. In Canada,
businesses are only allowed to collect personal information with the consent of the owner and to use it for the specific purpose that it was given.103
Holding such information gives rise to an obligation to keep the
information secure. Ontario universities are governed by the Freedom of
Information and Protection of Privacy Act,104 which requires steps
be taken to protect students’ private information. Student identification
numbers are considered private information; student marks and academic
records are also considered private. Part of this protection effort will reduce the likelihood that academic misconduct could occur. The return of
group projects, essays, and midterms will now be a much more private
process. Identifying these new processes as they are adopted, together
with the reasons for them, will link the principles of privacy with academic
integrity.
What about violations of academic codes of conduct? The results of
question 8 of the introductory quiz present the initial student position on
privacy. Invite the students to consider what publicity could do for the academic integrity climate at the university. It could promote student awareness; it could deter academic misconduct; it could dispel any perception of
institutional tolerance; and it could assure future employers that academic
integrity is a high priority at the university. All of these benefit the student
and improve the value of the student’s degree in the future. What is the
university’s current policy on publication of academic misconduct and
what should it be? Asking students to consider the university as any other
business forced to balance the privacy rights of individuals with the priorities of the institution provides a student-centered example of privacy law
and policy in action.
103
Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, S.C. ch. 5 (2000) (Can.).
104
Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, R.S.O. ch. F.31 (1990) (Ont.). (applying to universities as of June 2006).
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International Business
The international business topic covers arbitration as a means of dispute
resolution.105 The major advantages of arbitration are party autonomy
and the right to design a dispute resolution process that suits the contractual parties’ needs; this topic provides a perfect opportunity to assign students a procedural design exercise similar to that done in the natural
justice exercise. Question 5 of the introductory quiz addresses student adjudicators and can be used to introduce the discussion about arbitrator
qualification and expertise. Students can compare the university academic
misconduct procedure with the templates for arbitration procedures and
panel structure, as set out in commercial arbitration legislation or the
UNCITRAL model law.106 In this way, understanding procedural fairness
is coupled with academic integrity education.
Another benefit of arbitration is privacy. Disputants often select this
process to avoid the negative publicity associated with a court action or to
prevent other potential litigants from learning of the complaint. Consumer
arbitration clauses can be presented as an example of competing public
policies: access to justice and party autonomy. Consumers are often unaware of arbitration clauses that are buried in contracts of adhesion. Business inserts these arbitration clauses because keeping consumer complaints
in the private forum can prevent massive consumer class actions. Various
jurisdictions deal with consumer arbitration differently.107 Does consumer
105
The first opportunity comes in the Machinery of Justice chapter as part of the discussion of
alternative dispute resolution. SMYTH ET AL., supra note 72, at ch. 2. The second opportunity
comes in the consumer protection section dealing with external terms and arbitration. See
(Canadian Cases) Dell Computer Corp. v. Union des Consommateurs et al., 2005 Q.C.C.A.
570, J.E. 2005–1136, (2005) 140 A.C.W.S.(3d) 608, (Q.C.A.) May 30, 2005. Leave to S.C.C.
granted January 19, 2006, [2005] S.C.C.A. 370 appeal allowed [2007] S.C.C.34; Smith v. National Money Mart Co., [2005] O.J. No. 4269 (C.A.); MacKinnon v. National Money Mart Co.,
[2004] B.C.J. No. 175 (S.C.), AFFD [2004] B.C.J. No. 1961 (B.C.C.A.); (American Cases):
Green Tree Financial Corp. v. Bazzle, 539 U.S. 444 (2003); Keating v. Superior Court, 31 Cal.
3d 584 (1982); Hubbert v. Dell, No. 5-03-0643 (Ill. Appellate Court, 5th District, 2005). International Business: SMYTH ET AL., supra note 72, at ch. 33; MILLER & JENTZ, supra note 73, at
ch. 39.
106
Commercial Arbitration Act, R.S.C., ch.17 (2d Supp.) (1985) (Can.); International Commercial Arbitration Act R.S.B.C.,ch. 233 (1996) (B.C.); R.S.O., ch. I-9 (1990) (On.); United
Nations Commission on International Trade Law Model Law, UNCITRAL Report on Work of
Eighteenth Session (June 3–21, 1985), 120(4) Canada Gazette, 1986 Supp. [Model Law].
107
Ontario and Quebec Consumer Protection Acts render pre-dispute arbitration clauses unenforceable: Consumer Protection Act 2002, S.O., ch. 30, §§ 7, 8 (2002) (Ont.); Consumer
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arbitration benefit society or would society’s interests be better served if
consumer complaints were handled in the public arena? This policy conflict can be linked with academic misconduct using question 8 of the introductory quiz. Should academic misconduct be dealt with privately
between the student and the instructor in order to protect the student’s
reputation, or would the university community be better served if sanctions for academic misconduct were made public as deterrence to others?
Students who may not feel strongly about the rights of consumers
always have an opinion on the issue of public disclosure of academic misconduct. A class discussion covering the pros and cons of private dispute
resolution is often much more lively when placed in the academic misconduct context.
CONCLUSION
The preceding ten legal topics integrate classic legal principles with academic integrity content. Presenting the legal concept within the academic
integrity context gives students a personal connection with the legal topic
while familiarizing them with the rules of academic misconduct.
There are strong institutional, pedagogical, and ethical reasons for
integrating academic integrity content into the business law course and a
host of topics capable of adaptation. When academic integrity content is
integrated into the course, students receive a more experiential learning
opportunity. Students will not only learn the substantive legal topic being
taught but also gain familiarity with the university academic misconduct
policy. Students will see faculty and the administration assigning a high
priority to academic integrity and research suggests that this will decrease
the incidents of academic misconduct. Faculty and the administration will
not be perceived as tolerant of academic misconduct. Research shows that
Protection Act, R.S.Q. ch. P-40.1 a. 11.1 (Que.). The U.S. Supreme Court has held such
clauses enforceable in Green Trees Financial Corp.; California heavily regulates consumer arbitration clauses and routinely finds such clauses unconscionable on a public policy basis:
Keating, 31 Cal. 3d 584; Szetela v. Discover Bank, 97 Cal. App. 4th 1094 (2002); Discover Bank
v. Superior Court (Boehr), 36 Cal. 4th 148 (2005) (the Supreme Court of California coming to
different conclusions about unconscionability when applying California and Delaware law).
See also Christopher R. Drahozal & Raymond J. Friel, Consumer Arbitration in the EU and the US
28 N.C. J. INT’L & COM. REG. 357 (2002); Jean R. Sternlight & Elizabeth J. Jensen, Using
Arbitration to Eliminate Consumer Class Actions: Efficient Business Practice or Unconscionable Abuse?
67 LAW & CONTEMP. PROBS. 75, 78–85 (2004).
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student academic misconduct is an indicator of future unethical business
behavior; therefore, reducing student academic misconduct may improve
the ethical performance of future business leaders.
APPENDIX I: ACADEMIC INTEGRITY QUIZ
1. Rewording another author’s sentence to express the same idea is plagiarism unless the author is identified in a footnote.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
Yes, always.
Yes, unless I have footnoted the author previously in the paper.
Not if all the words in the sentence are changed.
No, never.
2. How sure should a professor be that a student has committed academic
misconduct before a sanction is imposed?
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
Absolutely positive it happened.
Very sure it happened.
Believes it probably happened.
Suspects it happened.
3. Would you report another student that cheated?
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
Always.
Yes, but not if it was my friend.
Yes, if it was someone I didn’t like or who got better marks than me.
No.
4. What punishment do you think a student should get the first time he or
she is caught committing academic misconduct?
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
Kicked out of school.
Fail the class.
Zero on the assignment.
A warning.
Sent to an educational awareness seminar.
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5. Would you be willing to sit on an academic misconduct hearing panel?
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
Yes, under any circumstances.
Yes, only if I was appointed by the Dean.
Yes, only if I was elected by the student body.
Not if there was faculty on the panel.
Never.
6. Exaggerating the extent of an illness to get a deferred exam or midterm
is academic misconduct.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
Yes, always.
Yes, if the student is not sick at all.
Not if the student has a doctor’s note.
No.
7. Who is hurt by academic misconduct?
(a) The offending student.
(b) The offending student and the rest of the student body.
(c) The offending student, the student body, the university administration,
and the alumni.
(d) The offending student, the student body, the university administration, future students, the professor, the future employer, and the
alumni.
8. Should academic misconduct hearings be public?
(a) Yes, always.
(b) Yes, but not for first offenses.
(c) No, but the ‘‘convictions’’ should be published and noted on transcripts.
(d) No.
9. If student A helps student B with an individual assignment for a course
student A is not enrolled in, has anyone committed academic misconduct?
(a) No.
(b) Yes, only Student A.
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(c) Yes, only Student B.
(d) Yes, both Student A and Student B.
10. If a professor suspects a student’s essay is not his own, then:
(a) The student must show evidence that he wrote it.
(b) The professor must prove someone other than the student wrote it.
11. A student should still be sanctioned for academic misconduct even if
he or she did not know that the conduct was against the rules.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
Always.
Yes, but only for the most serious types of academic misconduct.
Not for the first offence but for all subsequent incidents.
Yes, if the student reasonably ought to have known.
Never.
12. Is talking to someone beside you before answering the questions on
this quiz academic misconduct?
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
Yes.
Only if the student gave me the answer.
Not if I gave the student the answer.
No.
13. I have read the academic and nonacademic codes of conduct.
(a) Yes.
(b) No.
APPENDIX II: NATURAL JUSTICE/DUE PROCESS/
ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT EXERCISE
Instructor’s Overview
Time Commitment:
One full 80 minute class plus 5 minutes of next class.
Objective:
Business Law: To gain an understanding of principles of natural justice and
due process; understand the role of a code of conduct; understand the
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279
different goals of civil, regulatory and criminal law; review the goals of
regulatory and criminal sanctions.
Academic Integrity: To gain an understanding of what conduct amounts to
academic misconduct; increase the familiarity with enforcement process
and sanctions.
Supplies:
In class assignment handout and disc.
Evaluation:
Mark out of 10 based on number of components dealt with in code.
Peer Evaluation 1–5 score worth 2 marks–Total out of 12.
Worth small weight in the class participation component of the final grade.
Overview:
Preceding Class
At the conclusion of the introductory class, the students are given an assignment to gain familiarity with the legal research tools they have just
reviewed.
They are asked to locate and print out a specific quote from a case and a
specific section of a statute.
In preparation for the natural justice exercise, the assignment is:
Canadian Case: Baker v. Canada (MCI) [1999] 2 S.C.R. 817, at para. 22.
Ontario Legislation: Statutory Powers and Procedure Act, R.S.O. 1990, c.
S-22, s. 9// Highway Traffic Act R.S.O. 1990, c. H-8, s. 175 (school bus
offenses).
Canadian Legislation: Charter of Rights and Freedoms (s. 11)// Criminal
Code, R.S. 1985, c. 46, s. 249 (dangerous driving).
Related text readings: Smyth, Soberman, The Law and Business Administration in Canada, 11th edition, Chapter 2.
Instructor’s resource: What’s legal and what isn’t? Best Practices in Student
Misconduct Hearings by Daniel Istl, University of Windsor, Canadian Conference on Student Judicial Affairs, March 2006.
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Possible American adaptation:
American Case: Levin v. Med. College of Hampton Rds., 910 F. Supp.
1161, 1164 (E.D. Va. 1996).
American Legislation: Due Process Clause in the Constitution.
Related text readings: Miller, Jentz, Business Law Today, 7th edition, Chapters 2 & 3.
Instructor’s Resource: ‘‘Strategies for Reducing Academic Integrity’’ by
Melaine Williams & William Hosek, Vol. 21 No. 1 Journal of Legal Studies
Education 87, 91–95, (2003).
In Class Assignment: 80 Minute Class
Students are placed into groups of four or five students. In my large class
format this amounts to 25 groups. One-third of the groups are
given the procedural assignment to design an academic misconduct
enforcement process; one-third are given the substantive assignment
to design an academic code of conduct, and one-third are given the
task of designing sanctioning guidelines. The students are given 30 minutes of class time to complete the assignment and email it to me. The class
then reconvenes and the balance of the class is spent discussing the components of each group’s plan based on legal concepts associated with natural justice and due process. Introduce this portion with multiple choice
quiz questions from day one. Introduce the legal issue raised by each
question.
Procedural Legal IssuesFRequired Elements
Right to a hearing.
Right to make submissions.
Right to counsel.
Right to cross-examine.
Burden of proof .
Standard of proof.
Impartial adjudicator.
Appeal rights.
Written reasons.
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Substantive Legal IssuesFCode of ConductFRequired Elements
Role of intention.
Parties to an offense.
AttemptsFlack of success still an attempt.
Types of offences: Misrepresentation, IP issues.
Substantive Legal IssuesFSanctions
Principles of SentencingFStakeholder AnalysisFWho Has Been
Hurt.
Deterrence, Responsibility, Rehabilitation, Denunciation, Protection
of Public, Compensation of Victim s. 718 Canadian Criminal Code.
Impact of Previous offenses, degree of participation, planning.
Has the student’s plan addressed each of these issues?
Assignment at the end of class twoFreview the university policy and process against the same criteria as above. Clicker questions at close of class to
address each group’s possible academic misconduct when completing this
assignment
For In-Class Use: Written In-Class Handouts:
Numbered Groups 1–10
Use the next 30 minutes to design an Academic Misconduct Code of Conduct.
It should define all types of conduct that amount to academic misconduct.
It should address the level of participation required and the level of intention. Is an unsuccessful attempt still academic misconduct?
At the end of the 30 minutes e-mail your code of conduct to (instructor email deleted) or submit on disc.
Numbered Groups 11–20
Use the next 30 minutes to design an enforcement process to be
followed when a student is suspected of committing an act of
academic misconduct. What steps need to be followed before a sanction
is imposed. What should be the role of the student, professor, dean or
administration?
At the end of 30 minutes, e-mail your procedure to (instructor e-mail deleted) or submit on disc.
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Numbered Groups 21–30
Use the next 30 minutes to design a set of sanctioning guidelines that set
out the penalties students should get for four types of academic misconduct: cheating on an exam, plagiarism, collaborating on an individual assignment, and misrepresenting circumstances to an instructor to gain an
academic advantage. The guidelines should address intention, previous
record and the goals of the sanction.
Relevant Quiz questions and results: 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.
Clicker Questions at close of class:
In designing your policy did you access an existing university policy?
(a) Yes.
(b) No.
Would accessing a university site for completion of this assignment be
considered academic misconduct?
(a) Yes.
(b) Only if we copied it in its entirety.
(c) No.