The plagiarism policy draft should stand the test of time. It should not need to be rewritten for years to come.

The policy needs to possess the clarity for future administrators to be able to understand the policy without additional explanation of the 11-page policy.

This policy must cover the entire university community. No double standards should be written in for anyone – not for students, not for faculty, not for staff and not for the administration.

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Vice President for Academic Affairs John Haller wrote, in a column published in Monday’s paper, that parts of this policy would be written into the Research Misconduct Code, the Non-Research Misconduct Code, the Student Conduct Code and the Staff Handbook. The Daily Egyptian implores the members of the committee to consider simply making this policy applicable to all members of the SIU community.

The language used in this must also stand the test of time.

Part of Haller’s column seems to equate the word frivolous with the word false. ‘These types of protections (against retaliation or frivolous and malicious charges) encourage good faith allegations but protect individuals and their reputations and careers from false or improper allegations,’ Haller said.

An accusation that falls under the category of ‘frivolous’ – something that seems silly or lacking seriousness – could still be true.

While we don’t believe Haller meant to equate the two words, it does raise the question of whether the wording is clear and straightforward enough to be understood by future SIU generations. The current wording may scare people with legitimate concerns from coming forward and preserving our university’s academic mission.

The plagiarism policy committee must also strongly reconsider the ethical nature of the section allowing for unintentional plagiarism.

Clifford Christians, a media ethics professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign – one of the aspirational universities SIU uses to model its own policies – said one of the responsibilities of academia is to tell the truth.

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Inadvertent plagiarism, he said, may happen, but is nonetheless not truthful.

This policy must also require all of the SIU community to be ethical, honest and truthful.

Unfortunately, many administrators seem less than enthused about speaking with the Daily Egyptian about the policy, and it wouldn’t be surprising if the policy has been whisked through all the hoops it must jump through by the time class reconvenes.

Regardless of what happens, the Daily Egyptian will continue to try to contact anyone and everyone who is working to write this policy, and everyone who will be affected by the policy, to bring the most accurate stories on this incredibly important issue.

The Daily Egyptian will also continue to express its opinions – meant to help improve the policy and this university as a whole – even if the administration thinks they aren’t worth the ink it costs to print them.