Plagiarism as the Language of Ownership: Aligning Academic Liturgy with Christian Virtue

[...]many faith-based institutions connect their honor codes to their religious mission, such as my alma mater, Azusa Pacific University, which requires a pledge from students that begins, "As a student at this Christ-centered university, I will uphold the highest standards of academic integrity. Kelly Ritter, for example, suggests that the rhetoric of paper mills is "proeconomic" and participates in the treatment of writing as a commodity, mirroring the language of autonomy and ownership found in many university's enjoinders against plagiarism.7 In an article with pedagogical suggestions, Margaret Price argues that plagiarism policies should be "context-sensitive" and she outlines her own classroom practices for presenting the issue as a reflection of conventions that arise from a particular culture and historical moment.8 In the Chair's Address at the 2005 Conference on College Composition and Communication, Douglas D. Hesse draws attention to the consumeristic and capitalistic implications of teaching writing when he refers pejoratively to "property rights, the buying, selling, and leasing of textual acreages. Many consider mainstream perspectives on plagiarism antithetical to their goals, often political ones, and they have made pedagogical changes based on those considerations.11 For moral rather than political reasons, educators at faith-based institutions seeking to form students according to Christian virtues may share concerns with rhetoric and composition specialists about plagiarism. The first section of this article will consequently examine language, specifically explanations and definitions of plagiarism in handbooks and honor codes from selected colleges and universities to understand what is communicated to students in the United States about this offense and academic dishonesty more broadly.