Incidents of academic dishonesty at the University have increased over the past several years, mirroring a national trend of web-driven copying.

A study released this month by the Pew Center for Research and the Chronicle of Higher Education, reported that 55 percent of college presidents saw increases in plagiarism in papers over the past 10 years.

Academic dishonesty – which includes plagiarism and cheating – increased substantially since the Office of Academic Integrity’s establishment in 1996, the office’s director Timothy Terpstra said.

“It’s as keen of a problem as has ever been,” he said.

The office’s case load has increased 10 percent since 2005, Terpstra said.

Last academic year, 100 cases of alleged academic dishonesty were reported to the office, he said. Although cheating continued to rise at the University last year, plagiarism dropped 10 percent in the 2010-2011 academic year.

The overall number of cases – about one third of which are cheating – was similar to the year before, despite the shift away from plagiarism.

Only five cases were reported in the first six weeks of this semester, Terpstra said, noting there are usually between 10 and 15 cases after midterms and 20 after finals.

About 86 students were charged with violating the Code of Academic Integrity during the 2009-2010 academic year, an 8.5-percent drop from the 94 students charged in in the 2006-2007 academic year.

The national survey is based on interviews with 1,055 presidents of two- and four-year private and public institutions. The vast majority of respondents attributed the increase to the Internet, Kimberly Parker, a representative at the Pew Center for Research, said.

“I would assume that someone will try to develop tools to prevent this kind of thing,” Parker said. “It’s going to be hard when everyone has access to the Internet in their hand.”

The Office of Academic Integrity increasingly encourages the use of plagiarism detection software in the classroom – including SafeAssign, a program run by Blackboard – and by adopting a modified honor code.

First-year University Writing courses and Writing Center resources serve to educate students about citation rules and preventing plagiarism, Terpstra said.

Online courses, increasingly popular at the University, have a higher risk of incidents of academic dishonesty, he said.

“We’re very concerned about [online classes].” Terpstra said. “The concern is, how do you really know the person taking the course is really that person?”

Terpstra estimated that the Office of Academic Integrity handles between five and 10 cases concerning cheating in online courses annually.

While the Internet may facilitate dishonesty, it also makes identifying plagiarism easier, especially as professors become more dexterous online, Terpstra said.

“Because of the Internet, we are catching more,” Terpstra said.