Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (March 3, 1981)
Emerald Vol. 82, No. 112 I Eugene, Oregon 97403 -1 Tuesday, March 3, 1981 Photo by Erich Boekelheide Was a sunny day Although sunny skies and blooming trees may have lured some Eugen eans into a false sense of spring Monday, the National Weather Service predicts lower temperatures and cloudier skies for the rest of the week. Today’s high is expected to be in the low-to-mid 50s, almost 10 degrees less than Monday’s high of 62. The chance of rain today is about 20 percent, growing to 60 percent tonight. Photo by Steve Dykes Prof upbraids paper peddler By LOIS YOSHISHIGE Of the Emerald "Term Paper Blues Cured! Research service offers college students long sought relief. Order one Pacific Re search catalog for just $1 Sound familiar? Companies providing students with research papers have been around for a long time, but no promotion has been as blatant as Pacific Research's, says Stan Greenfield, former chairer of the Acade mic Standards Committee. The company’s advertisements have turned up on dormitory bulletin boards and classroom walls all over campus. English Prof. Glen Love even found ads placed on his students’ desks one morn ing when he walked into class. Love says he is appalled at Pacific Research for spreading the ads on cam pus. “They’re the scum of the earth. They’re trying to turn an institution based on the integrity of a student into a kind of perversion of that.’’ Pacific Research, a Seattle-based operation, offers research papers, cus tom research for topics not listed in the catalog and an outline service. Catalog topics include: "The Social Satire of Mark Twain,” "The Difference Between China and Russia in the Area of Foreign Policy” and “Behavior Modification Techniques in Retarded Children.” Pacific Research representatives repeatedly refused to comment on their service when contacted by phone. Dean of Students Bob Bowlin says authorities aren’t cracking down as hard on the sellers of pre-packaged term papers in Oregon as they are in Wash ington. However, a bill has been introduced at the Legislature that would ban term paper sales in Oregon. Supported by the Oregon Student Lobby and the ASUO, the bill would "prohibit the sale of as signments for higher education credits.” If the Legislature approves the bill, violators will be fined up to $1,000 for a first offense and up to $10,000 for a second offense. The law would affect persons selling or promoting the sale of term papers, but would not affect typists, tutors or those offering legitimate forms of tutoring University student conduct coordina tor Vernon Barkhurst says any University student caught selling term papers will be expelled. Students purchasing a term paper could face suspension, usually for one to three terms. But Bowlin says punishment depends on a student’s prior record and can progress from failure in the class and a warning, to probation, then suspension No University student has been pun ished yet for plagiarism from using Pacific Research material. The difficulty is the instructor must produce proof — such as an original custom-made draft — to press charges against a student, Barkhurst says. A teacher who suspects a student can bring charges against him, but without proof of plagiarism the charges must be dropped, he says. But once a student is suspected of plagiarism, professors “usually give the calf a little more rope to hang himself with," Barkhurst says. "Typically a student falls into the same pattern.” It’s important that faculty members report incidences of plagiarism, Bark hurst says. If the first incident goes unreported and cheating occurs again, officials probably will be more lenient since it will look like a first offense, he says. And Barkhurst adds that while students who cheat tend to be those concerned about flunking out of school, “it’s just as possible for a very bright student to cheat as a dumb one ” These students “set a self-imposed standard for themselves,” and it becomes very important for them to get a good grade, he says. Everybody’s trials part of an RA’s job By JIM GERSBACH Ol the Emerald Few jobs compare with that of a University dormitory resident assistant. Most people cram their workday into the hours between nine and five. But an RA may begin the day at 4 or 5 a m., awakened by some student in need of a dorm key after staggering back from an all-nighter University RAs often while away the wee hours of the morning quieting row dies or talking residents out of suicide. In between there are hours of meetings, duty rounds and paperwork, with time thrown in for refereeing room mate conflicts and providing a shoulder for troubled residents to cry on. For all that, resident assistants end a month’s work with a total stipend of about $4.40 a week. So why do more than 130 University students vie for the 48 available jobs each year? Besides free room and board in University housing — valued at $3,000 by the housing department — most resident assistants mention the job’s emotional rewards. "It’s nice to see somebody come in with a girlfriend or boyfriend problem, a pregnancy or financial problem and to help them solve that,” says Pat Hanlin, RA of University Inn’s fourth floor "You can’t solve all the world’s problems, but for those you can it’s real nice." The ability to work with some 80 residents and their assorted problems is Continued on Page 3
