JAMES DICKSON: WHY NICE
IS OVERRATED
OPINION, PAGE 4
HENSICK SNUBBEDCHEADLE CARRIES
'REIGN OVER ME'
° ~ COLVIN: TJ. DESERVED HOBEY BAKER SPOT SPORTS, PAGE 8 ARTS, PAGE 5
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(.NE.-*[-UI.?NDR ED->,,'.'.)SEVEINT FN CE R FE IORA R EO
Ann Arbor, Michigan
www.michigandaily.com
Friday, March 30, 2007
A VIEW FROM THE BELLS
ACADEMIC ETHICS
Engin school
confronts
cheating
BENJI DELL/Daily
University alum Steven Ball plays the carillon in North Campus's Lurie Tower in celebration of the opening of the new Arthur Miller Theatre, part of the Walgreen Cen-
ter. Ball is a teacher in the University's carillon program. Twenty-five students are enrolled in the program, the first of its kind in the country and the only to offer a mas-
ters degree in the carillon.
A master's in
Study: 88 percent of
engineers cheated
By ARIKIA MILLIKAN
Daily StaffReporter
When students in the College of
Engineering finish an exam, they
are required to write out the Uni-
versity honor code.
They sign their name to pledge
that they didn't cheat. But accord-
ing to a new study, more than a
third of them are lying. In the Col-
lege of Engineering, cheating on
exams is particularly easy, espe-
cially if the people you're taking the
exam with don't mind - tests there
aren't proctored.
More than 50 engineering pro-
fessors gathered in the Lurie Engi-
neering Center Wednesday to learn
why their students seem to be
cheating at an alarming rate.
Cindy Finelli, the managing
director of the Center for Research
on Learning and Teaching's branch
on North Campus, presented data
from seven years of research and
showed videos from ABC's Prime-
time at the conference to show
professors that cheating is a wide-
spread problem in pre-professional
colleges like business and engineer-
ing moreso than in humanities and
sciences.
Inone sample ofengineeringstu-
dents at the University, 88 percent
admitted to cheating at some point
during their college careers.
David Munson, dean of the Col-
lege of Engineering, said he found
it interesting that students in some
schools and colleges are more likely
to cheat than students in others.
"Sometimes I think our students
at the freshman and sophomore
level might be concerned with
grades at the expense of learning,"
Munson said.
Engineering junior Scott Allen
said he found Finelli's presenta-
tion shocking. "I've never cheated
in a class, nor have I observed any
cheating during an exam," he said.
Other students weren't the least
bit surprised.
One mechanical engineering
student - who said she prefers to
remain anonymous because she
doesn't want to be ostracized by
fellow students - said she was
the victim of an elaborate cheat-
ing operation during a final exam.
A group of students in the exam
room, which had no proctor, copied
her answers on the test and passed
their exams around to one another,
she said.
The Engineering Honor Council
- which looks into alleged viola-
tions of the honor code - investi-
gated the case. Some ofthe students
accused of cheating were expelled.
But the first-time offenders in the
group were put on academic proba-
tion and allowed to remain in the
college.
"It's really discouraging because
they're here and there's no reason
they should be," the student said.
Engineering alum Amanda
Kirsch said one of her professors
had to change the way she collected
tests because students were copy-
ing answers on the way to hand
them in.
Engineering junior Chris Van
Deusen, who serves on the Honor
Council, said he heard that one
engineering student ripped the
cover off her blue book and stapled
it to another student's exam.
See CHEATING, page 3
School of
Information creates
graduate program to
study networking sites
By EMILY BARTON
DailyStaffReporter
Sameer Halai, a student in the
School of Information, said he
checks his Facebook.com account
between seven and eight times
each day.
Halaiis afirst-yeargraduatestu-
dent who plans to join the School
of Information's social computing
program. For Halai, Facebook isn't
just a way to keep in touch with
friends. It's also his homework.
With social networking websites
like Facebook, myspace.com and
secondlife.com growing in popu-
larity, the School of Information
has created a master's program in
social computing for students to
study the social impact and tech-
nological design of the sites.
The University is one of the first
colleges in the country to create
such a program.
Students in the program will
study the social trends that have
led to the popularity of the web-
sites, their design features and
what makes them successful, said
Judy Lawson, the School of Infor-
mation's director of academic ser-
vices.
School of Information prof. Paul
Resnick said the School of Infor-
mation is trying to create an inter-
disciplinary undergraduate major
that would include social comput-
ing.
Although no official announce-
ment has been made, the school
hopes to have a program ready by
fall of 2008, he said.
The school already offers sever-
al classes about social computing,
Lawson said.
"We feel like it's an important
statement," she said. "It exempli-
fies the school as being out on the
forefront."
Halai said he's interested in
learning how people use the Inter-
net to express themselves and
interact in part because of the
differences he sees between com-
munities in India and the United
States.
Halai was raised in India where
community is based largely on
family and religious beliefs, he
said.
American society is becoming
increasingly centered on online
communities, he said.
Halai said social networking
sites are important to understand
because an increase in online com-
See SOCIAL SITES, page 7
SWEATSHOPS
WASHTENAW WIRELESS
By end of year, expect wireless
BENJI0DELL/Daily
Union organizer Yenny Perez talks about her experience at the BJ & B baseball cap
factory in the Dominican Republic. The event was sponsored by Students Organizing
for Labor and Economic Equality.
Dominican
worker tells tale
Pilot program
underway;
University system
won't be replaced
By KATHERINE MITCHELL
Daily StaffReporter
Bytheendoftheyear,AnnArbor
residents will be able to walk out-
side, boot up their computers and
log onto the Internet for free.
Wireless Washtenaw, a $26-
million project that would give
a free wireless Internet to all of
Washtenaw County, came closer
to completion this month as 20/20
Communications, the project's
Internet service provider, finished
testing wireless networks in three
cities - Saline, Manchester and
Ann Arbor.
The wireless signal is designed
not to be available indoors,
though.
Although the wireless signal
might penetrate some buildings, it
won't be strong enough to be used
inside most buildings, said Andy
Palms, the University's informa-
tion technology communications
director.
Technicians need to make sure
that the wireless network doesn't
interfere with existing wireless
networks before the company
can launch the service, said Dan
Skratek, Wireless Washtenaw
project manager from 20/20.
Key: University of Michigan campus
Network range
_
N
s (/
K
N
Huron St.
William St.
WIRELESS WEB
Wireless Washtenaw coverage areas currently running as part of the plan's pilot program
A
d8
St'
Madison SOr
SOLE hosts union
organizer in
sweatshop push
By KELLY FRASER
Daily News Editor
Yenny Perez stood quietly in
front of a group of students yester-
day morningin the Michigan Union
as a translator related her experi-
ence working in a garment factory
in the Dominican Republic.
Perez, age 31, who said she sewed
hats in the BJ&B baseball cap fac-
tory in the Dominican Republic
until it closed in February, briefly
told the group of 20 students about
her experience trying to establish a
union in the factory.
Students Organizing for Labor
and Economic Equality arranged
the event, which was held in the
Parker Room of the Union, as part of
its continuing Sweatfree campaign
to pressure the University to agree
to abide by the Designated Suppliers
Program. The program, developed
by the Workers Rights Consortium,
would required the University to
only purchase apparel from suppli-
ers that allow union representation
of workers and pay a living wage
See SOLE, page 7
The company aims to go live
with limited wireless service by
May or June.
James McFarlane, a project
manager of Wireless Washtenaw,
said the company is now looking
for buildings and towers at least
80 feet high throughout the coun-
ty it can use as mounting points for
wireless transmitters.
But some municipalities - par-
ticularly those in rural areas
- don't have obvious places for
transmitters.
Although that has posed a prob-
lem for the company, McFarlane
said he expects service tobe avail-
able throughout the county by the
end of the year.
Skratek said existing wireless
providers could be concerned
about service interference because
they want their signals to remain
dominant. Washtenaw County's
agreement with 20/20 stipulates
that the wireless signal will not
penetrate more than a few feet
into buildings, Skratek said.
Although 20/20 and the Univer-
sity are still discussing who will
provide wireless to campus out-
door areas - like the Diag - not
currently serviced by University
wireless, the University's exist-
ing wireless network will not be
replaced, Palms said.
The Ann Arbor area pilot group
included some areas of campus.
There are now wireless transmit-
ters at intersections on State Street
between South University Avenue
and Huron Street.
Because the technology has not
been launched, though, only stu-
See WIRELESS, page 3
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