As plagiarism becomes easier with endless resources available online, professors began to use Turnitin, a web-based plagiarism program that references millions of journals and student work to find plagiarizers in the classroom. While this program seemed helpful to faculty, issues with student privacy have made the seemingly useful program questionable. A lawsuit at McMaster University called out the privacy problems of Turnitin procedure, which stores submitted student work on a database indefinitely.
Although officials claim that the collection of work would be safe, the abilities to abuse such a system or steal work from the consolidation is ever-increasing with this system in place. In addition, having such a central database of student work suggests the possibility that the government could access this and police thought in a "Big Brother's watching" sort of way.
Whether these possibilities are true or practical, the controversy swirling around this program cannot bode well for its future. With Turnitin having major student privacy concerns and problems, investing in such a program is the wrong choice for UB at the present time.
First, Turnitin would only be overkill for plagiarism detection. Professors are more than able to keep students in check without it. Professors always boast that they have a sixth sense for uncovering student plagiarism and discourage them to even test their ability, so why do they need this tool to catch copying culprits? According to multiple faculty members, Google is more than adequate in analyzing suspected papers.
Second, UB can also handle plagiarism with a little change in attitude. Rather than looking to punish plagiarism, faculty should make a better effort to educate. Students should be better informed and more properly warned of the consequences of plagiarism. A blurb in a syllabus read briefly on the first day of class just might not be enough in addressing it. Professors might try to kid themselves that their role in educating students about the offense, but a better effort to inform, rather than punish needs to be made.
Professors and the university on the whole need to be firmer on their stance from the beginning. Many professors glance over the topic assuming students understand, but unfortunately sometimes students need to be reminded of the obvious.
No Yankees jokes today
Plane crash tragedy deserves a period of mourning
After hailing air towers declaring his single-engine plane was encountering severe fuel problems, New York Yankee Cory Lidle and his flight instructor crashed into a 40-story condominium in Manhattan, killing themselves and shocking New Yorkers on their afternoon walk. As the smoke cleared and the initial shock dwindled, the Yankee rants and national security debate became the focus of news media and conversation, and this is far too soon.
People across the country are contemplating how was a plane allowed to be so low in the high-rise district? Who was monitoring the flight? Yes, Americans have been reminded of how vulnerable our skies are post 9/11. Sure, it is coincidental and joke-prone that Lidle was already on his way out with the Yankees, but none of these concerns will drive immediate change in national security policy or will ease the attitudes of concern New Yorkers.
There should be no fly zone issues addressed - no comparisons to terror attacks or Yankee jokes this week. Sometimes there are moments when we should only mourn; moments when we should give our respects to those who died and help those in need of consoling. The Manhattan plane crash is one of these moments. Save the political banter and security issues for another day.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
