Some students at the University of California, Davis, have fessed up to cheating. And as a result, they will help guide refinements to the academic code and disciplinary program of their campus and others. UC Davis is one of 21 universities and colleges across the country that participated in a fall survey on cheating as part of the Center for Academic Integrity's pilot project to foster academic integrity. Of the 400 UC Davis students surveyed, about 100 responded. Ninety percent or more said they had never handed in an assignment from a paper mill, plagiarized a paper using the Internet, turned in the work of another, written a paper for another student, copied with someone else's knowledge, used crib notes without permission or cheated on a test in any other way. Eighty percent or more said they had never plagiarized, copied a computer assignment, copied without the knowledge of another or helped someone cheat on a test. However, 44 percent of students admitted to cheating at least once by falsifying lab data, and 39 percent to collaborating without authorization. Plagiarizing a paper through the use of the Internet was considered trivial cheating or not cheating at all by 27 percent of the students, while only 7 percent said they had done so. "I'm pleased the results show a high percentage of students are aware of our policies, consider them effective and expect faculty members to report cheating," says Jeanne Wilson, director of Student Judicial Affairs at UC Davis and president of the Center for Academic Integrity. "However, I am concerned about the high percentages of students who falsified lab data and collaborated without authorization," she says. "The results will help guide our efforts to communicate with students and faculty about what's cheating and why it's a problem." About 95 percent of students reported awareness of outreach and prevention efforts. About 80 percent rated the likelihood of getting caught, school policies or penalties as important factors influencing their decisions to do honest work. And almost 90 percent rated the faculty's understanding and support of policies as high or very high. The recently released "Templeton Guide: Colleges that Encourage Character Development" recognized Student Judicial Affairs at UC Davis as one of 405 exemplary programs for the way it involves students as leaders in the disciplinary process and education. EDITOR'S NOTE: To receive the complete UC Davis results by fax, contact Student Judicial Affairs at (530) 752-1128. Aggregate survey results are being released by Professor Don McCabe of SUNJ-Rutgers at (973) 353-1409 or dmccabe@andromeda.rutgers.edu.