The Value of a UMass Degree

If students can graduate from this university without recognizing the importance of academic honesty, what do their diplomas mean? We are all human, and we all make mistakes. Students who plagiarize are not bad people, but they have demonstrated a failure to understand the most fundamental of academic principles. Perhaps they plagiarized out of ignorance, perhaps out of laziness, and perhaps out of fear of failure. We may sympathize with them, but we must also recognize that these are not the qualities we desire in our UMass graduates. By filing a formal charge of plagiarism, we affirm that we expect all students to leave UMass with the ability to complete their work without cheating and with an understanding of the critical importance of academic honesty.