Frank Furedi describes departmental meetings deliberating about a simple example of plagiarism - "an essay containing five paragraphs of copied material". Like the "dirty dossier", this is obviously plagiarism since the author has failed to attribute the source.
Where do honourable members find the time to discuss issues that are surely a matter for course lecturers? It is part of their job to make clear what plagiarism is, why it is unacceptable and to police it.
The real problem is that lecturers do not make (or have) time to build the necessary relationships with students to enable confident judgement of their work.
Richard Wilson
Bicester