“You’re not supposed to cheat,” said Stephen Canfield, chair of the foreign languages department. “It’s dishonest and it doesn’t do any good.”

This strong view of cheating is shared throughout the college.

“Students are doing themselves a disservice,” said Barbara Carlsward, botany professor.

However, students still chose to cheat, and many of them suffer for it.

Failing students for the assignment or exam they cheated on is common, which can have massive effects on a student’s grade.

“When a student cheats in my classes, it’s an act of desperation,” said Noel Brodsky, economics professor. He has encountered several cases in his time at Eastern, mostly students copying other student’s exams.

Carlsward attributes cheating to not properly learning the material or preparing for further study.

Brodsky wants students to admit that they were cheating because he said cheating creates “a teachable moment.” he or she were cheating or contests the allegation, he will send the student to judicial affairs.

Other professors avoid referring students to judicial affairs and choose to resolve the issue on their own. Many choose to fail the student on the assignment or examination in question, as well as speak to the student privately.

Cheating occurs on both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Eight cases of graduate student academic misconduct were reported to the judicial affairs office last year and two of them were dropped from the program. In comparison, only one undergraduate was dropped from a program and one other was suspended.

“At the graduate level, (cheating) is particularly egregious,” said Shane Miller, coordinator of graduate studies.

This is because they are training the students to operate in academic fields where plagiarism is an extremely serious charge, Miller added.