The phenomenon of contract cheating presents, potentially, a serious threat to the quality and standards of Higher Education around the world. There have been suggestions, cited below, to tackle the problem using legal means, but we find that current laws are not fit for this purpose. In this article we present a proposal for a specific new law to…

Since its creation in 1992, the Public Health Service's Office of Research Integrity has not won a single case against a scientist accused of research misconduct. Cases are adjudicated by a panel of lawyers. Scientists and critics agree that the government's failure will have serious consequences for the research community. (MSE)

A University of Virginia student has successfully challenged his expulsion, which was based on an accusation of cheating on a test. The student claimed his initial trial was unfair and that he was poorly represented. Some feel the university's honor system has been compromised. (MSE)

For $800 Muscovites buy blank diplomas from established universities, bearing official stamps, with desired major and date of graduation; another $50 buys blank transcripts. Professors often require students to take courses outside the core curriculum in order to pass exams for which they demand cash payments or goods. Admission is often based…

A new business is using the Internet to sell compositions written by successful applicants to 60 competitive colleges and schools. Personnel of the service claim the essays are not to encourage plagiarism but to help disadvantaged or underprepared students compete. Admissions counselors disagree, and some are prepared to reject applicants…

Every day, decisions are made in universities that affect students. When a decision adversely affects a particular student, what means of redress does that student have? The circumstances in which a student has a legal claim against their university are generally unclear. Courts have traditionally tended to draw a distinction between "purely…

Campus computing officials are working to improve security against computer hackers because of concerns about privacy, accidental or intentional damage to systems, and impediments to legitimate system users. Increasingly, public law enforcement authorities are called in but do not always take the problem seriously. (MSE)