"I don't think we can enunciate policy at the FAS-wide level that would take care of the special circumstances of all the disciplines," says Buell. "It has to be up to the course head in some cases to explicitly enunciate what the bounds of collaboration are."

Moreover, Buell says, students not only hurt themselves by stretrching the parameters of cheating, but also create unfair disadvantages for other students.

"I can only say," continues Buell, "that there are all sorts of different ways where students can be 'unfairly' advantaged. They may be networked in one way or another amongst their peers.

"To me the blame, if we are to ascribe blame, doesn't rest with the entrepreneurial student, but with the failure of introducing sufficient variety into the pedagogy."

The answers to this difficult question, according to professors and administrators, lie in students' individual responsibilities.

"Each student needs to have a code of ethics about their individual behavior," Jewett said. I would hope that [students who cheat] would understand that they are not getting much out of their education."

At the same time, students say that the concerns of getting a good grade often overshadow ethical questions about stretching the boundaries of acceptable behavior.

One student summed it up: "It is your GPA that ultimately matters here, when it should be how much you learn."

Cheating MIT poll

Dec. 1992, released 1993

83% admitted to cheating at least once during their college careers.

66% confessed to some sort of plagiarism.

40% misrepresented or research projects.

11% said they cheated on an exam.

Rutgers poll

15,000 students at 31 universities polled

87% of business-related majors admitted to cheating in some form.

67% of humanites majors admitted to cheating in some form.

Source: Ethics Resource Center, Washington, D.C.