Diversity Awareness in Academic Integrity

Summary: "New Priorities for Academic Integrity: Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Decolonization and Indigenization" (Eaton, 2022)

• Indigenization and Colonization:

  • Indigenization is the work of indigenous people, while colonization involves everyone.

  • Calls for redefining academic integrity through indigenous values and traditions.

• Indigenous Ways and Western Constructs:

  • Indigenous ways of knowing complement existing frameworks; they don't compete.

  • Academic integrity is often presented as a Western construct.

• Acknowledging Indigenous Knowledge:

  • Suggests integrating indigenous knowledge into referencing practices alongside existing style guides.

• Diverse Perspectives in Research:

  • Acknowledges a lack of diversity in academic integrity research, with a need for more international and indigenous perspectives.

• Inclusion in Leadership and Research:

  • Calls for the inclusion of indigenous and international groups in leadership roles, research, projects, and working groups.

• Call to Action:

  • Advocates for self-education on equity issues; it's the responsibility of individuals from dominant groups to understand.

  • Recommends reading "Indigenization and Decolonization in Canadian Student Affairs" by CACUSS 2018.

  • Encourages becoming an academic integrity ally and activist.

• Dismantling Systematic Barriers:

  • Urges identifying and challenging systemic barriers to student success.

  • Promotes rectifying systems that contribute to overrepresentation of reporting among specific student groups.

• Amplifying Voices:

  • Calls for elevating and amplifying the work of individuals from equity deserving groups in academic integrity presentations, workshops, and publications.

  • Advocates reviewing reference lists to ensure inclusion of work from diverse groups.

• Social Media Advocacy:

  • Encourages celebrating and amplifying voices from equity deserving groups in academic integrity and student services on social media.

• Creating Opportunities:

  • Recommends creating meaningful opportunities for individuals from equity deserving groups.

  • Calls for inviting equity deserving groups to serve in positions of senior leadership.

• Conference Diversity:

  • Urges ensuring diversity in keynote and plenary speakers at conferences, including those who are not white or for whom English is not a first language.

• Resisting Colonial Norms:

  • Encourages resisting norms in citing, referencing, and writing styles that perpetuate colonialism.

  • Advocates against taking ownership.

• Policy Revision and Academic Imperative:

  • Calls for revising policy and practice documents with an equity focus.

  • Urges making equity, diversity, inclusion, decolonization, and indigenization an academic imperative.

• Advocacy in Academic Integrity:

  • Emphasizes the responsibility of those in academic integrity to advocate for equity, including decolonization.

• Equity-Focused Approach to Plagiarism:

  • Proposes a fourth approach to plagiarism, with equity as its focus, overlapping with moral, policy, and teaching and learning issues.

• Resource Allocation:

  • Institutions should allocate sufficient resources, including time, staffing, and professional job classifications with appropriate salaries, for academic integrity work.