‘There’s no half-cheating’: Wichita State University students favor consistent academic standards

WICHITA — Freshman Ryan Whalen briefly pondered whether a new academic benchmark was set when no sanctions were levied against Wichita State University president Richard Muma after it was revealed up to 5% of his doctoral dissertation was copied without quotation marks to recognize original scholars.

Whalen, a business administration student from Colorado Springs, Colorado, rejected the suggestion that the Muma controversy meant fresh precedent had been established for WSU students accused of plagiarism.

“What if we had a 5% rule like that?” he said. “No. In my opinion, you cheat or you don’t cheat. There’s no half-cheating.”

Kansas Reflector in October reported on Muma’s failure to properly credit more than 20 authors of books and journal articles in his 2004 dissertation that led to awarding of a doctorate from University of Missouri in St. Louis. At least 10 professors at public and private colleges outside of WSU said the lifting of more than 50 phrases, sentences and paragraphs without quotation marks amounted to plagiarism.

Muma said in an email to faculty and students that a university inquiry led by his administrative subordinates revealed no more than 5% of his dissertation lacked full attribution. He said the inquiry considered those to be “technical” omissions rather than academic misconduct. The president, who was a tenured professor when he completed the Ph.D., said he would submit a revised version of his 88-page dissertation to UMSL to address flaws regarding “reuse” of text.

Mathew Muether, president of Wichita State’s Faculty Senate, said the eight-member executive committee of Faculty Senate was given access to the confidential campus review of Muma’s dissertation. They examined the materials behind closed doors.

“The committee unanimously found that the University Misconduct in Research Policy (9.13) was appropriately and fairly applied in this matter following (the) process afforded to all WSU faculty,” said Muether, a professor of physics. “The committee is recommending no further action related to this matter.”

The Kansas Board of Regents, which hired Muma, accepted WSU’s analysis and didn’t order an independent, transparent assessment of the dissertation.

In campus interviews with WSU students, many said they read the October email Muma sent them in conjunction with publication of Kansas Reflector stories about his dissertation. Several said the university’s president was given a pass for apparently violating fundamental rules that could get a student flunked, suspended or expelled.

Cheyenne Englebright, a Wichita State student from Pittsburg, said standards of conduct ought to be consistently applied to students and faculty.

It would be folly to interpret the response to Muma’s dissertation as a declaration that academic theft should be tolerated as long as the offense didn’t exceed 5% of an assignment, thesis or dissertation, she said.

“I don’t feel like you should be able to do that,” Englebright said. “In public speaking class, definitely, if something is taken from a resource, we have to properly cite it or we could be plagiarizing.”

Half of the WSU students interviewed said they were convinced plagiarism shouldn’t be tolerated, but offenders ought to be given an opportunity to correct their work.

Ethan Vanderweide, who is studying chemistry at WSU, said students were routinely told at the start of each semester that it was improper to plagiarize. Students who crossed that line should be given a chance to redeem themselves, he said.

“I’m a firm believer in second chances,” Vanderweide said. “If you get caught doing this, you should still get at least one more chance to actually learn from your mistakes. If it’s a repeated thing, like if it’s multiple situations where they’re caught cheating, then that’s definitely not OK.”

Chemistry student Rylee Schaffer said what Muma did with his dissertation 20 years ago was improper.

“I think it was a mistake, and we all make mistakes,” she said. “It’s probably for the best that you don’t just let people cheat.”