Students who have committed academic misconduct may soon have the option to enroll in an informative class instead of receiving a suspension.

In the spring 2010 semester, OU piloted the “Do You Understand Integrity?” course, which was offered to students pending suspension due to some form of academic misconduct.

The class is an opportunity to turn a bad decision into a learning opportunity, said Breea Bacon, Academic Integrity Systems assistant director.

To take the class, students have to be offered the course, said Bacon, who serves as an instructor.

“Often, it is in lieu of suspension, and this gives them the option to take the course and not be suspended, or they can opt to be suspended,” Bacon said.

If a student opts to take the seminar, but does not complete the required assignments and community service, the student will immediately receive suspension, Bacon said.

“Typically the situation is not quite worthy of suspension, but not worthy of a censure either,” Bacon said.

OU previously offered a program called shelf reading as punishment for academic misconduct, where students would read the numbers on the binding of books in the library and ensure they were in numerical order.

The class is a step up from checking bookshelves, said Robin Tipps, a peer educator for the seminar.

Students may not learn from punishments such as shelf reading, Tipps said.

“If anything, students simply learned that next time they better not get caught cheating,” Tipps said. “In [the new course], students accept the seriousness of their academic misconduct while learning how to build a stronger academic community.”

Peer educators are UOSA Integrity Council members who volunteer to work with the students in between classes.

They act as guides, giving help with assignments as well as give advice and feedback, peer educator and former integrity council chair Josh Chesser said.

“Going through the pilot program last spring, I found I enjoyed being a resource for the students and working with them one-on-one and seeing the difference from the first class to the final class in how they approached things,” Chesser said. “Of all of the work I’ve done with the council over the years, being a peer mentor is probably the easiest way I can tell that I’ve made a difference on campus.”

The program is in its third semester, and Integrity Council Chairwoman Elizabeth Miracle said she wants to see the seminar transform into a condensed version that educates incoming students as early as possible.

“I hope the infractions grow fewer and further between, thus reducing the enrollment in the program overall,” Miracle said.

The council held an integrity forum last semester to inform students of the importance of integrity, Tipps said.

The Integrity Council will be accepting membership applications later this spring.