Dean of Students Randy Boeglin said he does not know how many UNM students plagiarize or cheat on final examinations.
Boeglin said faculty members are not required to notify his office when students are caught cheating, but said he suspects there are at least double the number of cases than are documented.
Boeglin said six cases of academic dishonesty were referred to his office in 2003. This semester, UNM faculty reported four cases. On average, no more than six or seven students are reported to his office each semester, he said.
"If an instructor encounters a student being academically dishonest, they can take action just at the classroom level," he said. "They can give them a zero. They can fail them in the class. They don't have to apprise us of that."
Boeglin said this has been standard practice for many years despite UNM's policy that directs instructors to report alleged cheating to his office.
The UNM policy states: "The faculty member should report the matter in writing to the Dean of Students Office using the faculty adjudication form provided by that office, and indicate if he/she wishes the Dean of Students Office to pursue any additional disciplinary action against the student. A copy of such report shall be sent by the Dean of Students Office to the student."
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According to Duke University's Center for Academic Integrity, academic dishonesty at most universities is a growing epidemic. In 1999, CAI's president and founder, Donald McCabe, conducted a study showing that of 2,100 students on 21 campuses, about one-third of participants admitted to test cheating. Half of the participants said they had cheated one or more times on written assignments.
In a separate study, CAI found Internet plagiarism on campuses increased from 10 percent in 1999 to 41 percent in 2001. The center says universities can significantly reduce academic dishonesty by instituting honor codes - statements of academic honesty that arriving students affirm.
UNM student Jeramiah Leonard, a music composition and theory major, said he has cheated on tests, but now rejects it.
"It's just the nature of what I'm studying," Leonard said. "I don't want to disappoint my peers."
In a 1999 survey conducted by CAI, of over 1,000 faculty members on 21 campuses, one-third of faculty members who were aware of cheating in their classrooms refrained from disciplinary action during a two-year period.
One UNM senior, who asked not to be identified, said he copied his friend's test answers in his biology 110 class.
"I did it because of the fact that I don't like biology," he said. "But I wanted a decent grade and it was something I had to take (to graduate)."
Because of the heavy pressure involved, he said it is unlikely he will cheat again.
"It's such a stressful hassle," he said. "The amount of work and stress you put into cheating, you might as well put it into studying."
