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4 - Plagiarism and Fabrication

 Plagiarism in College Sports

You've all seen a show or movie that shows college athletes who have other students that do their schoolwork for them. In reality, collegiate athletes have a strict reputation to uphold. At Southern Arkansas most athletes are required a team study hall and coaches even go as far as to punish their athletes for missing classes. Athletes stay under the watchful eyes of their professors, coaches, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association(NCAA). The NCAA even has a Promoting and Protecting Academic Integrity compliance section on their website; they take academic misconduct very seriously. Being involved with the NCAA, student athletes not only risk backlash with a university for plagiarism, they also risk athletic ineligibility and the future of their careers. Even with scrutinous eyes upon them, some student athletes still attempt to find their way around the rules.

In 2014, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, after an investigation led by Kenneth Wainstein, a former U.S. Justice Department official, was caught sponsoring fake classes. These courses were giving credit to students for courses that were never taught by instructors. These "paper courses" were classes that never met in person and only required one final paper. A majority of the students enrolled in these classes over the course of 18 years were athletes. Even though the university admitted to engaging in academic fraud, they fought the NCAA's efforts to rule negatively in this case, and spend upwards of $18 million on legal and other fees. After years of investigation, the NCAA determined that they "could not conclude" if UNC Chapel Hill had violated NCAA academic rules as there were student other than student athletes who participated in these courses as well. Another case of plagiarism that occurred at the University of North Carolina at Chapel hill was committed by Eric Highsmith in 2012. Highsmith, receiver for their football team, plagiarized an article written by an 11-year-old in order to pass a communications class. 

In 2013, Florida State started an investigation against six of its top football players for academic malfeasance during the 2013-2014 football season. Christina Suggs, a doctoral student, complained that players enrolled in hospitality classes submitted plagiarized work and completed assignments well outside of required deadlines, and an investigation was started. Suggs also claimed that these students were allowed to do this as their professor, Mark Bonn, had ties with the school's football program. It was said that Bonn extended special treatment to these students to allow them to pass and remain athletically eligible. Florida State's investigation found no NCAA violations. 

Plagiarism is an issue that curses every field, but for collegiate athletes, plagiarism is detrimental to more than just their academic careers. Though it may seem that large cases if plagiarism can slip thorough the negative ruling of the NCAA, it is still something that should be completely avoided at all costs.

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