In Copyright’s Highway, Goldstein briefly touches upon a concept that is brought up so often on college and university campuses: plagiarism. Goldstein writes, “True plagiarism is an ethical, not a legal offense and is enforceable by academic authorities, not courts” (Goldstein 8). Lafayette has a strict policy against plagiarism and is found in the Student Handbook, the Faculty Advising Handbook, and on the website of the Dean of the College, to name a few sources. I was shocked to discover that this concept, which I had for so long believed to be illegal, was not in fact supported by any court, but rather only upheld by academia.
What do you think? Should plagiarism be illegal, or is the upholding of rules against plagiarism by colleges and universities unnecessary, as it is technically considered legal in the United States?
Academics has a big responsibility in stamping out plagiarism. The main point of higher education should be to encourage new ideas, new debates, new conflicts. Plagiarism has a way of making us lazy. Although, new ideas cannot be had without the examples of the past. But here, this is what the transformative use of copyrighted works is for.
I agree that is is important to have new ideas, but the ways in which people come to such ideas should not always have to be on their own. A lot of great learning happens in groups through cooperation and collaboration of students. But this is usually seen as plagiarism too. It is a shame that we can’t be trusted to be truthful about what is our own and what isn’t.