Though there were only two incidents of cheating and plagiarism reported in 1998, last year there were a total of 16 reported cases, including four cases of plagiarism and 12 of cheating.
"One of the questions that College Council is trying to answer is, is this an anomaly or is this a trend?" said Dean of Students Ben Lieber. "It's too early to say."
Many of the cases of cheating may be attributable to a single class, German 49: "Witches: Myth and Historical Reality." As many as 10 of that class' 65 students were accused of plagiarism in the fall of last year.
Several students in one economics class were also accused of cheating last year.
Administrators would not comment on the pursuit or outcome of individual disciplinary cases, but, Lieber said, "My sense is that [cheating in a few classes] certainly played a role" in the dramatic rise in cheating and plagiarism.
"It may not indicate any particular trend," said Associate Professor of Chemistry David Padowitz, who chairs the Council. "One or two cases can make a big difference."
Padowitz noted that the numbers only reflect the number of reported incidents.
Lieber cautioned, however, against attributing the recent spike exclusively to a few classes with a high concentration of cheating.
"There were many separate instances [of cheating] as well," he said. "It wasn't exclusively a small number of classes."
"The [College's Statement of Intellectual Responsibility] says that faculty should report all suspected incidents to our office," Lieber said. "We're all pretty certain that doesn't happen 100 percent of the time. But at this point, how much is reported is anyone's guess."
"Professors need to make sure that cheating is not just opposed in principle but resisted in practice," said President Tom Gerety.
"It's likely that faculty often deal with things without going through the whole procedure," added Padowitz.
Lieber said that he believes reporting cheating to the dean of students' office acts as a deterrent to future cheating. Students are placed on disciplinary probation on their first offense; a second offense can result in suspension or dismissal.
The Student Senate discussed the issue of cheating at its meeting on Monday.
"As a freshman, in my few weeks here, I've had no sense that there are consequences for cheating," said Robbin Williams '04.
"The problem lies with the faculty," said Ben Armour '01. "They're not willing to invoke penalties."
Currently, the College's Statement of Intellectual Responsibility governs students' responsibilities in their academic work. "The College considers it a violation of the requirements of intellectual responsibility to submit work that is not one's own," the statement reads.
Many students indicated that faculty have never spoken about the intellectual responsibility, said College Council Representative Will Johnson '03.
"A lot of students don't know the policy," Johnson added.
But the Statement requires "every member of the Faculty ... to explain the implications of the statement for each of his or her courses."
"Many students said that faculty have never spoken about intellectual responsibility," said Johnson. "That is true for me."
Lieber said that the College expects faculty to make their expectations clear to students at the beginning of each semester, and students to respect the statement.
Lieber cited the example of unproctored exams. "It is not as if exams are patrolled on the expectation that cheating occurs routinely," Lieber said. "Essentially, we do trust our students."
The College Council plans to conduct a survey of the faculty to evaluate how they treat incidents of cheating and find out if they are following the policy, according to Johnson.
"We're also particularly interested in how people are beginning to use the web," said Padowitz.
In addition, Lieber said that the Council will look into whether the availability of information over the Internet confuses students or makes plagiarism more likely.
Students may not understand clearly what plagiarism is when it involves information that is available online, Padowitz added.
"The Internet makes it easier to plagiarize then before," Student Government Organization President Steve Ruckman '01 said.