PAC students address academic cheating

By Kevin M. Johnson
Pulse Staff Reporter

According to a recent study conducted by Time Magazine, academic cheating is on the rise. This may create a big impact on the success of students.

Danny Hernandez, a sophomore English major at Palo Alto, thinks that cheating is not the easy way out.

“You might get away with it, but eventually you are going to get caught,” said Hernandez.

Many students make mistakes by cheating on an assignment and are not afraid to admit their mistakes. Samson Garza, a freshman Business Administration major at Palo Alto, regrets his dishonesty.

“I have cheated multiple times in my lifetime from when I was young. I am not proud of it, but everyone has done it before,” said Garza.

Danielle Fricke, a freshman Art major at Palo Alto, believes cheating hurts you in the long run.

“When someone cheats, they should feel bad about themselves. When you cheat, you are not putting in the work to get to your goal,” said Fricke.

Cheating is not going to make someone succeed in life, even if they don’t get caught the first time. Alex Santos, a freshman Kinesiology major at Palo Alto, thinks cheating will weigh down the cheater.

“I believe that cheating will change a person into someone they don’t want to be because the more you cheat, the more you lie to yourself,” said Santos.

Students come to college to benefit from knowledge that will help him or her succeed throughout their lifetime. Raquel Valdez, a sophomore Psychology major at Palo Alto, thinks you are cheating yourself.

“I think that cheating is one of the worst things to do while going to college because you are paying to be here and to learn from your work,” said Valdez.

Alamo Colleges takes academic dishonesty seriously. If a student is caught cheating or plagiarizing, he or she will be written up and turned into the Chief Academic Affairs Officer, Vice President Elizabeth Tanner.

The professor will meet with the student and let him or her explain the reason for the incident. After meeting with the student, the faculty member may dismiss the charge of a violation, issue a written warning to the student, reduce the grade on the assignment, or reduce the final grade for the class. The professor may fail student for the class if he or she feels it’s necessary.

Additional information about the rules of academic dishonesty at Alamo Colleges may be found in F.4.2.2 (Procedure) Academic Integrity Disciplinary and Appeal Process.