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Stockpiled test archives found in Greek row

Note: Below are the first and last stories in a four-part series published over two weeks that won first place in the Virginia Press Association’s Series of News Stories in 2004.

Honor Council declines to press charges against nearly 300 ASA, Zeta members

The Breeze, James Madison University

August 23, 2004

By Kelly Jasper / senior writer

Sparking a nearly month-long preliminary investigation, filing cabinets containing more than 50 years of tests were discovered in two sorority houses in mid-July. An ad hoc committee gathered by the Honor Council coordinator ended the investigation late Friday afternoon, declining to charge nearly 300 members of two sororities with any academic violations. Many of the test files were destroyed before Friday’s decision.

Inside the Greek Row houses of Alpha Sigma Alpha and Zeta Tau Alpha, hundreds of tests were found by a student working in the Office of Residence Life, according to employees of ORL and the council.

The files, which were sorted by professor and subject, date as far back as 1951, said ASA President Kathryn Murphy. Current members of both sororities have no memory of the files being in active use or new contributions being made, asserted Maggie Burkhart Evans, director of residence life, who is also honor council coordinator.

“There will be no formal charges filed,” she said regarding JMU’s Honor Code, “as there is no evidence that the files were used by any current students to obtain an academic advantage at JMU.”

Evans asserted the most recent files date only through the mid-’90s. Anybody who used or contributed to the files has already graduated, she said. Alumni were not brought into the investigation because “it would be a stretch for our investigation to go that deeply.”

The Discovery

The ORL employee, who was hired to inspect residence hall furniture, said he found the cabinets in ASA’s storage room and ZETA’s laundry room. Both cabinets were four or five drawers tall, though the employee said he doesn’t recall whether every drawer contained test files. A drawer of ZETA’s cabinet was ajar, he said, and hanging on the side of the cabinet was the sign: “New and Improved Test Files.”

“Just imagine a filing cabinet drawer stuffed full,” he said. “Files were stockpiled; any class you could think of. And the sign said you could be rewarded for putting tests or things in the cabinet.”

Cannie Campbell, adviser to Zeta and JMU staff member, said no drawers were opened when she later went to look at the cabinet, which also contained the chapter’s financial documents.

“He shouldn’t have been looking in our cabinet anyway,” she said. “I don’t remember any sign on the side, either.”

Zeta’s files were destroyed last week, according to Campbell, who said that she took them to the trash herself. Members of ASA planned to destroy the files this weekend, said the group’s adviser, Donna Harper. The files remained in possession of the sororities for the month following their discovery and never were confiscated by the Honor Council, Evans said.

Normally, the council has 20 days to conduct an investigation after receipt of a complaint. More than 99 percent of complaints are filed by faculty, Evans said. Here, no formal complaint was filed, but the student employee contacted the council and JMU President Linwood Rose the same night he discovered the files.

“The honor code does not account for a group or organization to be charged,” Evans said. Without any guidelines pertaining to systematic cheating by an organization, a committee was formed with council members, Greek life, academic affairs and individual advisers to the organizations.

Since her 14-year tenure at JMU and nearly four years on the council, a group never has been accused of code violations, Evans said.

Further Action

Whether action will be taken beyond the committee’s sudden decision is uncertain. Mike Citro, coordinator of fraternity and sorority life, declined to comment on the possibility of either group losing its charter.

“Test files are not specifically covered under any of Student Organization Service’s policies for any club or organization,” he said. Losing a charter is a “complicated process, involving the national office.”

Neither national office was available for comment.

Evans said the council plans to contact Student Organization Services to provide an “educational update” stating any organization that has inherited similar files should destroy them. The council has no grounds or interest in searching the dorms or offices of other organizations, Evans said. The update also is to inform students that “maintaining current test files is a violation of the JMU Honor Code,” Evans said.

No time element or qualification of the term “current” is included. In addition to sharing unauthorized materials, the Honor Code states “obtaining prior knowledge of examination materials (including using copies of previously given examinations obtained from files maintained by various groups and organizations) in an unauthorized manner.”

“The code elaborates that giving another student “unauthorized copies of any portion of an examination” is also a violation. Murphy did not comment as to whether the test files were authorized, but said, “If professors hand back tests, they should expect them to be used as study tools, and most encourage that.”

Faculty discuss Honor Council integrity

The Breeze, James Madison University

September 9, 2004

By Kelly Jasper / senior writer

The Honor Council compromised the integrity of the Honor Code, members of the Faculty Senate said Wednesday.

The council’s refusal to press charges against 300 members of two sororities in possession of test banks has damaged student and faculty perceptions of the code, members said.

“Students don’t seem to think there’s any validity to the Honor Code,” said Stephanie Chisolm, chair of the Student Concerns Committee, which will meet over the issue tomorrow. “And faculty will file a complaint, but they feel like the whole thing is a joke when they see the same student back in school next semester.”

Nikitah Imani, a sociology and anthropology professor, presented the concern in a senate meeting last Thursday.

“With an honor code, the way people perceive it may be more important than the code itself,” said Imani, who worked to rewrite the Honor Code several years ago. “You can’t have a code which you enforce on a by-convenience basis.”

The senate’s discussion focused on the lack of information released about the investigation and the “‘appearance’ of non-enforcement” of the code, said Dietrich Maune, a media arts and design professor who is a member of the senate.

“This most recent occurrence of finding the test bank is troubling,” Maune said. In mid-July, more than 50 years of archived tests were discovered in the Greek Row houses of two sororities.

Members of Alpha Sigma Alpha or Zeta Tau Alpha were not charged with academic violations due to a lack of evidence, said Maggie Burkhart Evans, honor council coordinator.

The council ordered the disposal of the tests before deciding not to press charges, advisers to the sororities said.

Evans also said only using, not possessing, tests was against the Honor Code.

This conclusion, Maune said, appears to be a “relaxed interpretation” of the code. “How can a organized process of sharing information be so easily dismissed?” Maune asked.

Some faculty said they suspected the investigation was dropped because of the inconvenience of investigating 300 students. “With the Honor Code, difficulty isn’t really an excuse to disregard it,” Imani said.“When an issue comes up with an individual, we find some way to enforce it. Why enforce the rules in ‘situation A’ and not ‘situation B’?”

In its meeting tomorrow, the senate committee will focus on determining current perceptions of the code rather than the specifics of the situation, Imani said.

“If you go to the University of Virginia or Virginia Tech, you know they take their code seriously,” Imani said. “Their response is to take a very hard line to enforce their code. I don’t see that happening here.”

Evans did not comment as to why the council’s integrity would be discussed by the senate, but added that discussion of academic integrity is routine.