Wichita State’s Office of Student Accommodations & Testing said it is catching more students cheating during tests. In response, the office sent out an email to students who use OSAT, and an announcement to the general student body regarding its testing policies.

The email lists more than 10 policies, including a list of items that students aren’t allowed to bring into testing rooms unless otherwise given permission.

These included that students will be asked to raise pant legs and long skirts to just above the ankle and pull back sleeves, will be waved with a metal detector wand and be asked to show that their pockets are empty. Prohibited items include cell phones, lip balm, hats or other headwear not worn for religious reasons, hooded jackets and hair ties not worn in the hair.

“(The) reasoning for the timing is because we’re getting close to going into finals, and I want our students to be aware that it’s going to be happening as far as the different things that we’re going to be asking them to do,” Isabel Medina Keiser, the director of OSAT, said.

Medina Keiser said that many of the policies were already in place. The only new policies are asking students to raise pant legs and long skirts just above the ankles and scanning students with a metal detector again upon re-entry to the testing center if they leave to use the restroom.

The other addition, she said, is that OSAT will provide emergency blankets if students require them. According to Medina Keiser, OSAT has “always discouraged” hoodies.

“But we’ve had students say that they were cold, so that’s why we’re providing them the blankie,” she said.

Just like faculty, OSAT can report suspected incidents of cheating to Wichita State’s Student Conduct and Community Standards office.

According to data provided by Kyle Wilson, the director of SCCS, OSAT reported 12 cases of alleged academic misconduct in the 2023-2024 academic year. Those 12 cases comprised about 4% of the reports SCCS received that year.

More than double the number of academic integrity reports

This year, so far, OSAT has made 19 reports, roughly 12% of the 156 that SCCS has received.

The more than twofold increase in OSAT reports in less than a year was due to the office being better able to monitor testing and catch people cheating, according to Alicia Newell, the assistant vice president of Student Belonging in WSU’s Student Affairs division.

OSAT moved into the new Shocker Success Center at the start of the academic year.

According to Newell, the office installed “additional and upgraded” cameras and improved systems for proctoring tests.

“This has significantly improved our ability to observe and document testing behavior,” Newell said in an email. “… The number of violations reported this year is directly tied to our improved monitoring — students are simply being caught more often because of the expanded visibility. The conduct being observed is not new; what has changed is our ability to detect it.”

Matthew Eimer, a graduate teaching assistant in the College of Engineering who uses OSAT for testing accommodations, said he was surprised by some of the policies listed and felt that the announcement didn’t provide enough explanation for students about the reasoning behind them.

“After reading the email, my first instinct was ‘Well, this seems a little much — it seems a little severe and harsh.’ It seems a little severe without more explanation,” Eimer said.

As a GTA, Eimer said he understands the need to protect academic integrity.

“But the way the email read was almost as if they’re assuming we’re trying to cheat,” he said. “These are kinds of procedures that you go through at the airport.”

Eimer said that while he recognizes he’s never experienced being an OSAT employee, he’s responsible for student instruction as a teaching assistant.

“I like to give students the benefit of the doubt,” he said. “If there’s reason for suspicion, if, for example, a professor or faculty came back and said, ‘There are inconsistencies on this exam,’ then that’s a different conversation. There are cameras in all the testing rooms so … I don’t understand where the uncertainty’s coming from.”

Medina Keiser said that OSAT wants to limit students’ ability to cheat on tests by adding some new policies and more strictly enforcing existing ones.

In the 2023-2024 academic year, OSAT proctored 6,000 tests, Medina Keiser said. Not all of the tests OSAT proctors are part of students’ normal WSU coursework; the office also proctors certification and licensing exams.

“The numbers (of students utilizing OSAT) keep increasing, and our staffing doesn’t keep increasing, and so we’re just trying to stop the problem before it becomes a problem,” she said. “… Let’s try to take care of it at the front and not have these students get into trouble.”

Newell said in her email that the message to students remains clear: “It’s (cheating) not worth it.”

“We strongly encourage students to uphold academic integrity and take advantage of the many resources available to help them succeed the right way,” she said.

Medina Keiser echoed this sentiment, saying, “Please don’t cheat.”

“I know this is not a good time for a lot of students, but don’t add getting in trouble for test integrity,” she said.

Medina Keiser pointed to many resources available for students struggling with classes, including tutoring through TRIO Support Services. Students can also utilize departmental tutoring, Supplemental Instruction and general tutoring for various subjects and courses.