SDSU Wants to Slice the Academic Baloney

A legitimate research service? Or a knife in the heart of academic integrity?

San Diego State University may be the arena for a fight between college professors and a West Los Angeles firm described as one of the nation’s largest suppliers of custom-made term papers.

At issue is whether officials at the California State University system will seek a court order to force the student newspaper, the Daily Aztec, to stop running ads for Research Assistance. The Aztec editor says 1st Amendment rights are at stake and hints the newspaper might resist in court.

“We get complaints all the time about our ads for cigarette rolling papers, triple-X (movies), alcohol, phone-sex, abortion services and other things,” said editor-in-chief Matt Dathe. “If we let the Research Assistance ad go, people will be after us to drop other ads they don’t like.”

For several years SDSU officials have asked Aztec editors to drop the term paper ads, noting that the state Education Code prohibits the marketing of phony term papers for academic credit. The code carries no penalty.

However, in February a judge issued an injunction against a free-lance term paper writer who supplied a paper for a student at Cal State Los Angeles.

Emboldened, the SDSU administration then asked that the university system seek a similar injunction barring Research Assistance ads from the Aztec. The general counsel is mulling the request.

“I have recommended that the general counsel take whatever steps are needed to make sure that such services are not marketed or employed on our campuses,” said Lee Kerschner, the system’s vice chancellor for academic affairs. “These firms are a threat to the very nature of the university, the integrity of the relationship between student and faculty member.”

Research Assistance, which boasts 16,000 papers for sale at $7 a page, protests that it only sells research and that the papers are not meant to be submitted in total. Administrators say that’s baloney.

Short of legal action, the Aztec could be ordered to drop the ads by the Publication Authority, a 12-member campus group which sets editorial and advertising policy. The issue will be discussed May 4.

Michael Carr, SDSU judicial officer, has not seen any cases of plagiarism involving purchased term papers. But he suspects some are slipping through.

“There has got to be a reason the firm keeps advertising here,” he said.

Street Smarts for 2 Bits

As their numbers grow, the panhandlers in downtown San Diego are developing distinct styles to stay competitive.

One young fellow advises would-be jaywalkers “that’ll cost you $25 if the cops are watching.” Then he asks for 25 cents: “Isn’t my advice worth something?”

Towering Over Adversity

Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) was a fierce supporter of the failed nomination of John Tower to be secretary of defense--even writing an in-your-face letter to a Tower detractor.

But Wilson knows to abandon a sunken ship. His standard stump speech now employs a Tower joke to warm up the crowd.

Take his speech at the Sheraton Harbor Island on Friday to a law-enforcement luncheon hosted by the district attorney. Wilson began with a gag about a sign in a foreign hotel that advises in fractured English: “Guests are invited to take advantage of our chambermaid.”

Added Wilson, “You should be careful not to arrange accommodations there for Senator Tower and certain others.”

Question Jogged His Ire

Sheriff John Duffy doesn’t talk much to reporters these days, but when he does he sees no reason to pull punches. The topic last week was $36,000 in loans that Duffy says he forgot to list on his required disclosure forms until a reporter’s question jogged his memory.

The sheriff does not see such matters as a fit topic of inquiry for the press:

“What you want to do is fill up the space with juicy gossip . . . like this to pump your circulation so you can sell more ads. I’ve studied your business.”