A woke professor at the University of Cincinnati cried foul about the existing anti-cheating laws, which, according to him, disproportionately impact black students.
He suggested that invigilators always accuse black students of cheating during exams and that anti-cheating software is racist, which puts black students in trouble.
Professor Decried Anti-Cheating Laws
In his op-ed titled, ”Let’s Talk About Race and Academic Integrity,” an assistant professor, Antar Tichavakunda, noted anti-cheating laws need to be reformed immediately to eliminate racism.
According to the professor, black students are accused of academic plagiarism twice as much as other racial and ethnic groups.
Similarly, 9% of black students are accused of cheating during exams, compared to 6% of other groups, which indicates the problematic nature of anti-cheating rules, the professor added.
Antar quoted one incident in his recently published book, claiming he talked with a black woman who told him she never cheated during her school exams.
However, once another student was cheating near her, she moved somewhere else in the room, as she would have been accused of cheating otherwise.
Antar A. Tichavakunda, an assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati, recently argued that exam surveillance, zero-tolerance policies against plagiarism and fraternities and sororities harm 'Black and Latinx' students. Swear. https://t.co/MdEKoWBslS
— 🇺🇸Lionel🇺🇸 (@LionelMedia) July 20, 2022
While describing this tale, Antar asserted these types of events suggest that “racist and sexist” beliefs make “non-black instructors” think black students cheat more, so they should be treated differently. The authenticity of the story remains unproven.
Antar also slammed anti-cheating software, claiming these technological tools discriminate against people with “darker skin.”
Previously, some notable scholars, including Safiya Noble and Ruha Benjamin, have also decried the racial stereotypes in anti-cheating algorithms, Antar added.
The professor believes teaching methodologies need to be updated so no student should be failed for a small amount of plagiarism. He suggested the “zero-tolerance” plagiarism policy is detrimental to the education of black and Latinx students.
Antar Wants More Cheating Opportunities For Blacks
Policymakers who are in charge of crafting these types of anti-cheating laws, Antar continued, are not “race-neutral,” so they ignore some of the inherent prejudices in the system.
Opinion | Race has been missing from conversations around academic integrity even though the issue is racialized through and through, Antar A. Tichavakunda writes. #AcademicChat #AcademicTwitter https://t.co/Wnn3gp49KS
— Inside Higher Ed (@insidehighered) June 30, 2022
Thus, the professor stressed interrogating the beliefs of student affairs officials and faculty members to eliminate racism from the educational system.
Although Antar blamed the whole system for wrongfully accusing black students of cheating, he also complained about the lack of cheating opportunities for the same group of students.
According to him, white students sit with other white students, while Asians sit with other Asians during the exam, which helps them in cheating.
However, the professor noted only a few black students are present in every class, which disallows them to sit with each other during the exam.
So, racial majority groups end up doing their work with “unfair advantages,” as per Antar.
These comments of Antar are in line with other far-left activists who have campaigned on racist-driven software and algorithms in the past.
While certain racial discrepancies have been observed in some software previously, most of these differences have already been eliminated with the arrival of modern-day technology.
This article appeared in The State Today and has been published here with permission.
