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TORONTO (CUP) -—- The Coun— cil of Ontario Universities (COU) may resort to legal action to stop the use of pirated term papers and es— says by students.

Options now being con- sidered by a special com- mittee of COU, the official collective organization of Canadian universities,in— clude laying criminal for: ‘ gery charges against the companies who sell the pa— pers, student newspaper ed— itors who run the ads for the companies, and students y who submit purchased term papers for academic credit.

‘ But an analysis of the legal options open to_uni— versities presented at the May meeting of the COU states that "prior publici— ty and appropriate warning must be given before sanc- tions are applied," and before court action is con— templated.

The legal analysis was prepared by professoriT.P. Chen, a member of the spec- ial COU committee studying the problem of pirated es— says. The committee con— sists of legal and non—le— gal academics and was set up after an earlier committee of Law Faculty Deans failed to reach agreement on how to stop the use of pirated es— says by students.

In his report, Chen had rejected the idea the deans had considered —- asking ethe government to enact leg- islation to regulate the re- search business and declare illegal the sale of papers for plagarism purposes —- _on the grounds that the ser- iousness of the problem did

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not justify special legisla- tive action.

According to a letter from COU secretary Grant ' Clarke, the COU council rejected his argument be— cause "even if the number of fraudulent papers being submitted is small, the per— ception that the practice exists is very deleterious to the morale of the stu— dents, undermines the cre- dibility and integrity of the academic process, and can drive the system back to an increasing reliance on examinations."

But the.council apparent— ly did accept Chen's alter— nate reason for rejecting legislative action -- that other existing remedies be exhausted before recourse is had to special legislative action. A

According to Chen's anay lysis, the possibilities of universities being success- ful in breach of contract suits against students who use pirate essays, and com- panies who sell them, is low. The problem with tak— ing such an action, Chen says, is that it is ques— tionable that an enforcible contract exists between a university and a student which would rule out any claim of contract violation.

As for the possibility of charging the student or the companies with a common fraud, Chen said the diffi- culty would be to identify the injured party. American courts have ruled in the past that pirate essays con— stitute fraudulent action a— gainst the public, but Chen doubts that Canadian‘courts'

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would uphold thiS‘judge- ment. '

Chen said the problem here is preving someone suf- fered damages from pirated papers, explaining that the legal definition of damage "must be personal injury or financial loss of some sort." He continued, "It seems to be farfetched to claim that the public, or eventhe educational insti- tution involved, suffers such a damage when a term paper company engages in plagarism activities."

Chen does feel, however, that "the educational au- thorities ahd the attorney general may be able to rely on the forgery provisions and the conspiracy sections of the Criminal Code to sup— press plagariSm activities of term paper companies."

Chen says in his report that forgery, under the Cri- minal Code, consists "in the making of false document in order that it may be used as genuine" and that "this deéi finition certainly includes a student term paper.""

A company which prepares and sells such a paper "is therfore committing forgery under the Criminal Code, and thus, is guilty of an in— dictable offense liable to imprisonment for 14 years of

less." * Additionally, a student

who uses suchga paper may be charged with uttering a ‘

"forged document, according

to Chen, and is liable to the same penalty. And "a student newspaper editor, or whoever for that matteg knowingly publishes an ad— vertisement soliciting pre- paration or purchase of such term papers may be held to be guilty of criminal con— spiracy to commit forgery, and is liable to two years imprisonment." '

Chen says that another avenue might be open to uni— versities when Ontario Bill 55, dealing with "unfair business practices" is passed. This argument rests on an American precedent which indicates that pirate essays are unfair business because» they deceive the educational'institution, foster an unequal relation— ship between students, are unfair to employers who se— leet students on the basis of academic achievement, and compete unfairly with firms involved in the legitimate sale of research aids. ;

Another possibility sug- gested by Chen is to apply to the Postmaster-General of Canada to issue a mail-stop order against companies in-

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"to. Legal Action to Stop Pirated Term Papers

pers under the Post OffiCe Act. Chen argues that a

mail-stop order would "ef— fectively intercept the 11— legal mails and, thus, nip 'these plagarism activities in the bud." _

Such action would be li- mited in its effectiveness, however; because most term paper companies are American based, and therefore, "be- yond the reach of Canadian courts," according to the report. , ‘

Chen urges that univer— sities not rush into serving writs against university students, or the companies. The first step, he suggests, is to publicize and warn a— gainst plagarism activities‘ and its possible consequen— ces. Next, universities would seek court injunctions ordering term paper compa- nies to desist in these ac- tivities. Only if these in— junctions were violated would writs be served.

The COU council received the report of the special committee at its May meeting and has instructed.the com— mittee to further research its report and report back. According to COU spokesmen, no one knows for sure when the final report will be ready. '

'The ad below does not reflect Cadre policy. We are most adamantly opposed to the practice of falsify— ing term papers. However, in a society which feels that everything should be rdone for a reward (e.g. a student works for marks, the Cadre wdrks for ad money) then we are forced into a position where, in order to survive as a news- paper, we not only have to deny our principles, but~r» possibly break the law. Be it known to all.that we do‘ not enjoy being forced to transgress legal, and mo— ral principles in order to

I gain the satisfaction of, , 1 putting this newspaper out. We condemn the society which forces its members into such contradictions.

Cadre Editorial Board

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