Interview: Academic Integrity Comittee Coordinator Kathleen O'Neill

Kathleen O'Neill is the coordinator for the AUC's Academic Integrity Committee (AIC) which is responsible for dealing with plagiarism cases. Professors submit the names of students who are accused of plagiarizing to the committee and through intense investigation and questioning, the AIC issues a verdict, either proclaiming the student innocent or, if found guilty of plagiarism, charged with several consequences (the AIC's website has the full list of consequences as well as what constitutes plagiarism). Here is a part of the interview with Ms. O'Neill and be sure to listen to the promo for 'Plagiarism in Egyptian Universities in Egypt.' and to attend the Listening Session, at AUC's New Cairo campus on Sunday, December 9 and Wednesday, December 12 at 10 a.m. each day in the BEC building, room 1060.

                                                                              Kathleen O'Neill. Photo Courtesy of AUC's website

Transcript:
(Note: The text in bold is O'Neill speaking. The italicized text is the interviewer):

O'Neill: Before we start, just so we- there’s a lot I’m  not going to necessarily be able to tell you about…*hand gestures in the air*

Interviewer: That’s fine. As much, as much as you can tell me.

Okay, do you want to sort of know what areas… I mean, we can’t necessarily talk about specific cases.

Specific cases?

 I can’t talk about specific cases. I can’t necessarily give anything that’s going to give away *pause* any student or anything. A lot of this is confidential. I can talk about general…*hand gestures* 

Okay.

Okay.

I expected that to be honest with you   (0:00 - 0:30)                  

 *fade out*

So, how many cases, roughly, does the AIC get roughly in a semester or in a year? If, if you can tell me. Just rough number in the year...In the year that you’ve been…

Um….We had over sixty cases last year. (0:30 - 0:42)

 *fade out*

I mean there are, every case is an individual case…Um…and there are certainly…um…you know, the ramifications that don’t get heard...uh..because discussing it also means admitting something, so I’m not surprised that when... *pause* ...the more serious penalties get …uh… handed down that they’re not necessarily heard about. Um...because nobody really wants to admit that either.  (0:42- 1:20)


Um… but... *pause*... I think it’s all it’s all  relevant to... to…you know, the sanctions are relevant to the case, to the... to the violation. Umm... and, well, I don’t vote [on the AIC]. You know, I can’t necessarily answer in terms why certain punishments get handed down and others don’t. (1:20- 1:45)

You sit in in meetings correct?

Mmhmm

Um…*pause*..From your information, has anyone like ever reached that full consequence? Like…you can choose not answer that question.

Very severe consequences have been…*pause*

  

Administered for plagiarism?

Yes. For violations.  I’m not going to..I mean, we do more than plagiarism so I’m going to say for violations. For… In the past, degrees have been...um... withdrawn. Uh …not since I’ve been here, but for plagiarism, yes. So, to say…um..so there’s... there definitely is a history of very severe consequences. (1:45- 2:39)

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The…There’s no such thing as big or small plagiarism is is one of the things we are trying to… convey. Um..But I think th-the real battle right now is trying to to dispel some of these misconceptions...um...which are...um...rather rampant on campus.   (2:39- 3:01)

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Professor learning turnitin.com  Photo Courtesy of AUC's Center for Learning and Teaching

There’s definitely effort to spread the word via the website and via...um...you know, reminding students that most of them should have signed the pledge when they entered campus and I think most of them sign it without actually reading it. (3:01- 3:18)


 Um...looking at… you know a syllabi as a contract between you and your professor and that there’s a lot of information in the syllabus that may not be explicitly addressed...um...when discussing the syllabus but is written there that often goes overlooked sometimes related to ramifications for cheating or for plagiarism. (3:18 - 3:43)

Um… so, I think trying to make students aware that you are responsible for the information that is given to you in the syllabus and that it can have…um...*stutter*... that not because you haven’t read it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist and doesn’t mean that you’re not held to it. You may have signed the pledge and the code of ethics without reading it but you’re still bound to it. (3:43- 4:27)

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