The Michigan Daily-Saturday, April 21, 1979-Page 7

Ofjicials says 'U'free
of ethical problems

By TOM MIRGA
Most of the nation's colleges are in
the midst of an ethical crisis, according
to the Carnegie Council on Policy
Studies in Higher Education. But
University officials generally discoun-
ted claims that symptoms of the crisis
exist here.
The council asserted that increases in
student cheating, vandalism and theft,
grade inflation by faculties, and sub-
stantial abuse of student financial aid
indicate a nation-wide ethical crisis.
LITERARY COLLEGE (LSA)
Associate Dean Judith Bardwick, who
could not be reached yesterday, said
last October, "We would like students
to understand that academic
dishonesty is judged severely. There's
a sort of a myth that offenders will be
slapped on the wrists and things will
just go by, but clearly, this is not true."
The LSA Academic Judiciary, a sub-
division of the college's administrative
board, has jurisdiction over University
cheating cases. In the 1977-78 school
year, 38 cases of student academic
dishonesty were tried, compared to 18
cases the year before.
LSA Assistant Dean Eugene Nissen,
who was also unavailable for comment
yesterday, last October said in addition
to facing up to a possible penalty, con-
victed students have the violation
recorded on their transcripts. If the
students have cleaned up their records
the violation can be erased from their
transcripts, Nissen added.
BUT NISSEN went on to explain the
students' troubles begin when trying to
apply to professional or graduate
schools. Almost all these institutions
ask the question, "Have you ever been
found guilty of academic dishonesty? If
so, describe."
"Even with nothing on the tran-
script," he said, "the student must face
up to that question."
Like a stained academic record, van-
dalism and mischievous destruction of
University property is another problem
that will not disappear. "Vandalism
and destruction of property are a recent
phenomenon, something unheard of 10
years ago," University Manager of
Security Services for Housing David
Foulke said yesterday. Despite the
original increases over the last decade,
Foulke claimed the situation has
stabilized.
"WE KNOW that a good deal of thefts
that occur on campus are committed by
non-students," he said. Students are

prone to -grab things like lounge fur-
niture for the duration of the school
year, Foulke continued. While some
pieces of furniture are returned at the
end of the year, other pieces disappear,
he added.
Foulke also said much of the van-
dalism is the work of party-goers who
have gotten out of hand and leave
broken windows in their wake. "Graf-
fiti is another less serious form of van-
dalism," he said, "but there is a
tremendous cost in scrubbing the walls
and repainting them."
More serious forms of vandalism
have occurred in the bathrooms of
some residence halls. "These instances
took a great exertion of effort," Foulke
said, "and cost us $800 to $900 to
repair."
WILLIAM GROTHE, assistant direc-
tor of the Office of Financial Aid, said
there has been "precious little abuse"
of that system. The major area of
financial aid abuse is student loans, he
said, which in turn has two faces :
management and student default.
"We have a published default rate of
11 per cent, and the national average is
somewhere around 17 per cent, so I
would say we are in good shape,"
Grothe said. "We have a sound loan
collection system, plus a traditional,
goal-oriented student body coming
from sound financial backgrounds."
Grothe said he personally takes a
hard stand against students who try to
cheat the department with malice and
forethought. "But in most cases," he
said, "cheating is the result of forms
being filled out incorrectly by an ap-
plicant's patents." Less than one-half
of one per cent of all students cheat on
financial aid deliberately, Grothe said,
and he doubted that most students have
any idea of how to cheat successfully.
Vice-President for Academic Affairs
Harold Shapiro claimed there was a
trend to inflate grades during the early
1976s.
"But we brought that to the attention
of the faculty," he said, "The trend is
now reversed. The average grade is
declining."
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ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S 1935
THE 39 STEPS
ROBERT DONAT and MADELEINE CARROLL in the comic thriller that still sets
the standard for fast pace. onat, as a young Canadian in England, is the
victim of every circumstance imaginable by Hitchcock, including having a
stranger stabbed in his apartment, stumbling to the podium of a political
rally to escape the police, and being hand-cuffed for the night to a woman
who can't stand him. Thank you Mr. Memory.
SHORTS: FOR THE ROAD-John Robertson (Multiple Documentation) &
READOUT-Robert Zieball. (Stimuli on overload).
MARX BROTHERS DOUBLE FEATURE
SAT: DUCK SOUP (PLUS KRAZY KAT CARTOONS AT 7 & 10
A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (AT 8:30 ONLY)
* Look for CINEMA GUILD'S spring-summer schedule *
FIRST WEEKEND OF SHOWINGS:
(FRIDAY) MAY 4: Chaplin's LIMELIGHT
(SATURDAY) May 5: Bogart in THE MALTESE FALCON
(SUNDAY) MAY 6: MR. HULOT'S HOLIDAY
CINEMANGUILDAT OLD ARCH. AUD.