Written by Joseph Krzyston
A student determined to plagiarize a paper was deterred definitively through clever tactical deployment of a computer background. The potential offended, a sophomore, was way behind schedule, and figured he’d buy himself a couple more hours by lifting paragraphs of text from another source. The administration, however, had other ideas.
“It was wild,” said the student. “One minute, I was hell-bent of consciously copying a ton of text from another source and failing to give so much as an ounce of credit. Then I saw the little slogan on the background, and something in my head just clicked. My whole understanding of morality was shifted and re-framed, and I understood my actions very consciously to be wrong.”
“This is exactly what we’d hoped would happen,” said a representative of the administration. “By establishing fun reminders about academic integrity as an omnipresent feature of graphic design campus-wide, we’re able to meet students right before they do something wrong.”
When asked whether or not the constant reminders feel a bit oppressive, and perhaps contribute to the widely held feeling that the administration is in some way out to get them for mistakes, the representative ardently disagreed with the charge.
“No way. This is definitely not making anything worse. Nor are academic integrity violations generally a result of an under-motivated student body, half of which should probably have gone to a technical school and learned a real trade. It’s definitely a lack of banners.”
