Several notices printed in Chinese, offering a cheat service for students, were posted on bulletin boards around Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s (KPU) Richmond campus last week.
A member of the public, who was on the campus to meet someone, contacted the Richmond News about the ghost-writing operation and expressed his shock and disgust at seeing such notices on university bulletin boards.
The man, who asked not to be named, first spotted the offending advert last Tuesday. By Wednesday evening, university bosses had been alerted and, after the notices had been translated, they were all removed from the boards in question.
The notices claimed the service provided “professional writing” by both Caucasian and Chinese staff for subjects such as English language, Asian studies and philosophy and also offered a plagiarism detection service.
They also appeared to have an official KSA (Kwantlen Students Association) stamp in the top corner, giving the impression the notices were approved by the KSA.
However, a member of staff at the KSA in the Richmond campus told the News the stamp had been faked, before pointing out that all notices need to have some English content so that everyone can understand what’s being communicated.
The member of staff, who didn’t want to be named as he wasn’t the official KSA spokesperson, said the organization is still trying to figure out how their stamp was duplicated.
Corry Anderson-Fennell, Kwantlen’s manager of media and communications, said material posted on bulletin boards is, in general, done on an honour system.
Dr. Jane Fee, KPU’s vice-provost, students, said upon learning of the notices last Wednesday, the university immediately had them translated and subsequently removed — a process, said Fee, which took around two hours.
“KPU would consider a ghostwritten essay an example of cheating, which is a serious educational offence that is subject to discipline, ranging from a grade of zero being awarded for the paper to expulsion from the university,” added Fee in a written statement to the News.
“It is unfortunate that someone decided to promote ghostwriting services on our campus. Essays, papers, lectures, practicums, exams, class discussions, and projects all contribute to our students’ cumulative learning.”
