http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/local/8537375.htm
Posted on Wed, Apr. 28, 2004
WSU profs fume over ads in
paper
In them, a woman
offers research services to students. But faculty say using such a service
is dishonest -- and that the student paper should reject the
ads.
The Wichita
Eagle
The ad in Wichita State University's student newspaper asks college students who "hate research" whether they are willing to pay someone to do it for them.
It ran four times this month -- including Monday -- and touched off what Glen Sharp, the Sunflower's editor, calls a "faculty furor."
"This is not illegal; it's just immoral," said Faculty Senate president and physics professor Elizabeth Behrman.
"I can see how a student might think, 'Oh, I can use this.' But they might get thrown out of the university."
The Faculty Senate wrote a letter to the newspaper saying it was "appalled" a student newspaper would encourage violation of the school's honors code.
Sharp said the newspaper reserves the right to print the ad.
"What they do with that knowledge is their own business," Sharp said. "It's no different than going to the university bookstore and picking up Cliffs Notes."
If the ad had advertised to write papers for a fee, it would have been rejected, he added.
The Faculty Senate cited university policy on academic dishonesty, which states that "students who compromise the integrity of the classroom are subject to disciplinary action." Examples of violations include cheating, plagiarism and misrepresentation of work done for class.
Sherri White, the woman who placed the ad and owner of "Research Rocks," said she doesn't write papers. She sees nothing wrong with her service, in which she compiles research using Internet search engines and encyclopedias.
She uses her $20-an-hour fee to fund her own education. She's earning a two-year degree online.
White submitted a rebuttal to the Faculty Senate that was printed in Tuesday's Sunflower. She said her services are neither "corrupt, dishonest or decadent."
"They sit up in their little ivory towers in their little academic world and think they know it all," White said. "I'm just trying to do something I... enjoy."
Since the ads ran, White said she has received two or three inquiries a day. She described her clients as working adults with families who don't have time to go to the library.
"I've done papers on the Reformation," she said, then corrected herself. "Don't say 'papers.' I've done research. I would never write a paper for a student. If they don't write their own papers, why are they even there?"
Kansas State University's student newspaper has a policy that bars any ad that "promotes academic dishonesty."
Matt Fisher, sales and marketing adviser to the University of Kansas' student paper, said that when an ad presents murky ethical issues, he encourages students to not run it.
Last semester a company approached KU's paper, the University Daily Kansan, wanting to place an ad offering research services, not papers.
"Our business manager picked up the phone and called the number, as a student, and asked for a quote on a paper, and they did that for her," he said. The Kansan did not run the ad.
The issue is clearly an ethical one, not a legal one, points out Susan Huxman, director of WSU's Elliott School of Communication. She said that since the ad's appearance, students have been asking faculty members whether it's wrong to have others do such research.
"It's been a good educational experience," she said.
Sunflower adviser Randy Brown emphasized that every ad submitted to the newspaper is reviewed. Brown said he would handle it on a case-by-case basis if a student were to use such a service.
"Students research these days generally by going on the Internet," he said. "Instead of paying 20 bucks an hour, I would tell them to turn on the Internet."
Reach Katherine Leal Unmuth at 268-6357 or kunmuth@wichitaeagle.com.