Yeshiva University's students and administration continue to develop and implement remedies aimed at eradicating cheating in the University's undergraduate schools. Ranging from altered proctoring protocols to academic and halachic symposia, a number of approaches were discussed at a Yeshiva College Faculty/Student Senate meeting.

Understanding that any plan should account for the cultural problem of cheating on a conceptual level as well as practically combat pervasive cheating methods, student senators Josh Sturm and Josh Klarfeld presented an informal plan broaching the subject at a Student-Faculty Senate meeting on November 1st.

Described as an attempt to launch a protracted discussion on the subject, the proposal touched the three key areas: exam security, proctoring, and mesorah. Although discussion was brief and inconclusive, Sturm and Klarfeld did take the responsibility to report back to the Senate with a more elaborate sketch focused on restructuring proctoring.

The task for these senators remains to prevent cheating in the exam room. Large rooms with multiple proctors often have the commotion associated with large crowds, including students talking and walking around. Conversely, smaller rooms with lesser crowds often have only one proctor, and tightly configured seating.

Exam security, not a major issue in the past, has been pushed to the fore since cheating scandals rocked the Sy Syms School of Business last spring. With a dozen exams reported stolen before test-time, exam security became the number-one issue in combating cheating in the business school. According to Sy Syms Dean Charles Snow, "Students should be comfortable that the administration is on top of the situation and is making sure that the problems will not recur."

However, Snow was unable to divulge specifics, inasmuch as doing so would "jeopardize the security and effectiveness" of the proposed measures. Whether Snow is sharing his planned security measures with the Yeshiva College administration remains unclear.

Eliminating the reusing of tests, a key issue when combating problems caused by the use of mesorah, rises as an integral component of Snow's plan. The dean testified that he "would personally monitor the new exams based on prior ones to assure that instructors won't replicate exams that have been used previously." However, Yeshiva College seems hesitant to adopt this plan, which would force its professors to create new exams each semester. Nevertheless, Sturm and Klarfeld did propose to establish a mesorah bank in the library, which in reality would force professors to continually create new tests.

Not a new idea, a mesorah bank was actually voted on and established by the senate a number of years ago. In fact, last year, faculty members on the senate chided their faculty colleagues for not complying with the initiative. One senator remarked after the meeting, "if the professors would just follow their own guidelines, the issue of mesorah would be dead."

Attempting to affect change within the student body, the faculty has made a number of recommendations outside of the Senate. One of the prospects under consideration is the possibility of running a mini-course during freshman orientation outlining the academic responsibilities of Yeshiva students. Discussions regarding the rules and moral implications of cheating and plagiarizing would be included in the course. One professor cautioned however, "This course is only in its nascent stage and we will have to wait and see how it will develop."

The University wide crusade to root out cheating seems to have been adopted following a late-August statement by the Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr. Morton Lowengrub, who charged each undergraduate dean with the task of addressing the cheating problem and presenting each respective school's methods of combating the corruption. "Dr. Lowengrub clearly expressed the administration's and the university's concern that exams be administered in a sterile environment. After the meeting it was clear that each of the deans had responded affirmatively to the issue," remarked Dr. Snow.

Because of this, the Yeshiva College administration has already revised the exam system, increasing the penalties for cheating and charging their professors with greater responsibility towards the effort to eradicate cheating. "We have told faculty that if there is an incident of cheating they must report it to the administration," said Dr. Nada Beth Glick, Yeshiva College's Director of Academic Advisement. "We have become more assertive in our resolve that it's not something to be negotiated privately, but rather an administrative matter."

This attitude worries some students who are uncomfortable with the institutionalization of anti-cheating measures. "There is no system in place," explained one concerned junior. "There is a definition of cheating and there is a punishment for cheating, but there is no process that says how you are tried and convicted. So much power in the hands of the professor and deans is dangerous."

However, Glick insisted that, employing a "get-tough" stance on cheating does not mean that the administration intends to implement "caging" tactics. Measures such as bathroom monitors, collecting pagers during testing, prohibiting cell-phone use during breaks, and subscribing to services that check papers for plagiarism on the net, are not in the spirit of a college environment, although they were discussed in-depth at the Senate meeting. "College is a community and should have its own understanding of the rules, a social contract," maintained Glick.

While students and the administration are working together to improve the situation, Yeshiva College Dean Norman Adler is quick to remind students that controlling cheating ultimately lies with them. "At some point we need to have a change in attitude," he said. "We need students to report each other, either to the teacher or to the administration. And if they don't want to do that, they should at least talk to their fellow students about it…I don't care that nationally it's an issue. If one student is cheating here at YU, that's a problem."