Educational institutions, especially colleges and universities, regard plagiarism as a serious breach of academic honesty and integrity. They warn their students of serious consequences for plagiarizing the work of others. Students who are guilty of plagiarism face at the least a failing grade in the course for which they committed the offense. Other possible consequences include suspension or even expulsion from the school they attend.
College students who commit plagiarism face the loss of their degrees upon discovery of the offense. College faculty members who plagiarize the work of other scholars face serious consequences as well. Professors who commit plagiarism may lose tenure and face the loss of their jobs and reputations. An academic found guilty of plagiarism faces the permanent loss of her credibility as a scholar. Plagiarism also may damage the reputation of schools as places of learning and intellectual inquiry.
Plagiarism poisons the relationship between students and teachers by undermining the mutual trust that is an important element of the learning process. Widespread incidents of plagiarism, such as students taking work from the Internet and presenting it as their own, force teachers to act as police investigators, constantly searching for wrongdoing. All students become suspect in such an environment, and learning becomes impossible. Suspicion and mistrust replace intellectual curiosity and trust. Plagiarism also damages relationships between students who plagiarize and those who earn their grades honestly.
When students or instructors present others' work as their own, they fail to develop and use critical thinking skills, which are necessary for learning and success in life.