EDITOR ALEX ANTROBUS | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2021 | THE VOICE 3 Campusnews Return to campus fails to curb elevated academic misconduct Faculty are worried but understand the challenges that students are facing = By LAUREN VANDERDEEN tress and difficulty adjust- ing to the return to campus may explain the high level of cheating among students that has contin- ued at Langara College since the COVID-19 pandemic. Erin Hagen, a student conduct officer at Langara said last year’s rise in academic misconduct cases at Langara was extensive. She said there was about a 30 to 40 per cent increase across the college. That number has not gone down since students returned to in-person classes on campus. “Numbers are pretty high still, like pretty similarly high to what they were last year,” Hagen said. At post-secondary schools all over the world, cases of cheating, plagiarism, unacceptable collabo- ration and other forms of academic misconduct rose drastically during the pandemic. But Langara is doing better than most schools. Sarah Elaine Eaton, an associ- ate professor at the University of Calgary who researches academic integrity, isn’t surprised by the high numbers. “To be honest, if you've had a 30 to 40 per cent increase, compared with what I’ve heard globally, that’s nothing,” she said. Hagen offered two explana- tions for the high numbers. She said more instructors might be aware of Langara’s student conduct and academic integrity office, so they are reporting more incidents. Sarah Elaine Eaton ACADEMIC INTEG- RITY RESEARCHER Students and staff talk in the library of Langara College. :4uren vANDERDEEN PHOTO She also suggested students had learned bad behaviours during the pandemic that are continuing now. Marianne Gianacopoulos, the chair of Langara’s management programs division, acknowledged the difficulties students faced with the sudden shift to online learning. “The pressures with the pandemic for many people were insurmountable, so we saw an increase in misconducts,” said Gianacopoulos. Jerica Yoon, a recreation management student at Langara, said it made sense that cheating became more common during the pandemic, but she said Langara has done a good job of making resources available to students. Two of her classes included a mandatory module on avoiding plagiarism. “If I found someone cheating, I wouldn't think it’s because Lang- ara didn’t teach students or didn’t provide enough support,” Yoon said. She added that with all the information given to students, it would be wrong for them to cheat. Chris Schmidt, a computer science instructor at Langara, agreed. “[Students] have some responsibility to know the basic expectations here.” Schmidt sees a common theme throughout the plagiarism cases he reports. “The higher stress a student is under the more likely they are to have issues,” he said. When it comes to dealing with students’ academic misconduct, some Langara faculties said empa- thy is important. Gianacopoulos believes that the misconducts aren't always inten- tional. She said many students feel they do not have the help they need. She noted that students have other stressors and challenges in life other than school, and it is OK to ask for help. “Coming to [students] with compassion would be such a huge, beneficial change for them,” Gianacopoulos said. B.C. academia embraces indigenization Indigenous art- work can be an effective avenue of education = By CHRIS MACMILLAN he first Indigenous chancellor of the University of Victoria says Indigenous art can have a key role in promoting indi- _ “I think they make people think, they make people feel, and make people react. And that’s very impor- tant.” Buller was appointed as UVic chan- cellor on Nov. 5. She said that while it is an honour for her to be appointed chancellor, she is joining two other Indigenous university chancellors in B.C.: Steven Point at UBC and Judith Sayers at Vancouver Island University. She said her focus will be building the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, both within campus and throughout genization and decoloniza- tion at schools like Langara. Marion Buller, the first Indigenous woman promoted as a provin- cial judge in B.C. and the chief commissioner of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, says the recent red ‘— dress exhibit seen around Langara's campus can be both shocking and moving. COURTESY OF UBC YA southern Vancouver Island. Buller came to national attention as the chief commissioner on the “Tt doesn't take much to open a book UBC HYDROGEOLOGIST AND EDUCATOR National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. She said that “the work that [she] did at the National Inquiry is going to provide a focus for [her] at UVic.” Buller said she will be looking at decolonization with the university. “Where can we decolonize? How can we indigenize curricula in addition to relationship building?” Shandin Pete, an Indigenous hydrogeologist and science educa- tor with UBC’s department of earth, ocean and atmospheric sciences, said — one of the biggest chal- lenges facing Indigenous people within post-second- ary institutions is feeling outnumbered. and read about your “I’m a part of just a very : " small cohort of Indigenous neighbours[...] scholars,” he said, — SHANDIN PETE Pete said post-second- ary institutions can better represent and connect with — Indigenous cultures and people. “It doesn’t take much to open a book and read about your neigh- bours and [...] understand the norms of a community.” The recent red dress exhibit at Langara campus was part of the REDress project created by artist Jaime Black. Similar exhibits were seen across Canada and the U.S., beginning in 2010. According to Black’s website, the project consists of red dresses hanging to commem- orate the loss of more than 1,000 Indigenous women as a result of A red dress display hangs in front of Langara's campus. CHRIS MACMILLAN PHOTO “the gendered and racialized nature of violent crimes against Aboriginal women.” Paisley Samoil, a first-year fine arts student at Langara, noticed the month-long red dress exhibit on campus. “It drew my attention. I knew what it was about, too, so ] thought it was a good representation or a good thing to think about,” Samoil said.