This year there have been approximately 100 incarcerated men from Otisville Correctional Facility who applied to the John Jay Prison to College Pipeline Program that would allow them to earn college credits while still being in prison, but there were only fourteen slots available.

The program is oriented towards men who are within three years of release to get a head start on earning college credits for their education. The program’s goal is to make these men prioritize college as a positive reinforcement back into society and in doing so, the program aims to reduce recidivism.

Baz Dreisinger, an English professor, offers and teaches a class at the prison. She said that the program “offers incarcerated men, and eventually women, an opportunity to take college classes while in prison and then transition directly into college upon release.”

The pipeline program is funded by a private organization called the David Rockefeller Fund. Dreisinger, along with teaching the prison inmates, is also the director of the program alongside Ann Jacobs.

Dreisinger hopes that the fourteen slots available will double as the program grows but, “Money is what keeps it small,”she said

Yet Dreisinger points out that funds should be increased because the more money spent on the program the more money, through the prison system, will be saved. Less people going back to prison will ultimately save more money.

“Education saves us money because for every dollar spent on incarcerating someone, you can spend fifteen cents educating them, so it costs twice as much to incarcerate as to educate,” she told The Sentinel.

Before being accepted into the program, however, the men have to take the CUNY assessment test for reading and writing and those who pass must then submit an essay.   These essays are then read by the program personnel, who select the men they want to interview. The men who are accepted into the program are guaranteed a slot into any CUNY school of their choice.

Once a month, the men participate in a learning exchange program with John Jay students who go to the prison and engage with the men on various subjects.

“It’s an opportunity for the John Jay students here to see what goes on inside a prison environment, and meet these guys who probably don’t fit the image of a stereotypical inmate, so the students get to question their notions of what a stereotypical inmate is,” said Dreisinger.

Michelle Tsang, a junior majoring in Criminal Justice, is one of those students who is currently participating in the learning exchange program with the inmates of Otisville Correctional Facility. 

She said that the program has allowed her to gain a new perspective of an inmate, “These individuals who are incarcerated are extremely intelligent but society does not see that,” said Tsung, who is glad to be part of the pipeline program and, surprisingly, has learned that these men have much to say.

She believes that these men deserve a second chance, and by helping them, we are preventing recidivism.

This program has increased Tsang’s interest in the prison system.

“I definitely want to help these individuals to start over and start some type of mentor-ship or something for them because I do see that they have a lot of potential, and they also have more motivation,” said Tsang, who hopes to continue helping these individuals to rehabilitate.

Krystlelynn Caraballo, a senior majoring in Forensic Science, is another student who volunteers in the learning exchange program with the inmates of Otisville Correctional Facility.  This program is giving her an opportunity to interact  with inmates on a personal level.

“When I entered the classroom for the first time, I was extremely nervous not because I was fearful of the inmates, but rather I was afraid I may say something stupid and offend them,” said Caraballo, about meeting the inmates for the first time.

Caraballo wants to help these individuals in prison because “there are both economic and moral reasons to wanting to educate these individuals,” Caraballo said.  “First, if we do not educate these individuals, there is a strong likelihood that they will not fully understand the societal impact they are making.”

Dr. Kimora is an Assistant Professor in the Interdisciplinary Studies Department, who teaches criminal justice.  She taught a class on ethics at Otisville Correctional Facility in December, 2011.  Like Tsang and Caraballo, she also agrees that these incarcerated men are quite brilliant.

“I have come to learn that these men in prison are usually bright, creative, and deeply insightful,” she said.

Kimora believes that many of these men want to change, but they do not have the tools,  that is when people like her come in to help.

Kimora has been teaching in various facilities for 23 years.

“The work is challenging and so interesting,” she said.  “The clients are precious.”

Both Professors  Kimora and Dreisinger agree that people should care more about educating people in prison.

“We are one family,” Kimora said. “We just need to realize all the folks in prison and jail and on probation or parole are our brothers and sisters who need to heal.”

After a month-long campaign for the student council presidency, the incumbent has been deposed and Mehak Kapoor now holds the coveted office.

“It is about the students and it will always be about the students and that is why I serve,” said Kapoor, who, after a fierce competition, dethroned Whitney Brown in an election that for the first time in John Jay’s history included the option of voting online . 

Kapoor, although new to the position, is not without experience–she currently serves as Vice President on Brown’s Council for the 2011-2012 year.

Although the turnout was poor, Kapoor’s percentage margin of victory was great–she received 904 votes to Brown’s 502. Alexandria Geis came in third with 58 votes. Of the 1490 students, 24  did not vote on the president ballot.

“It doesn’t matter who runs against me or who I ran against,” said a confident Kapoor.

Whether badly run campaigns or student apathy is to blame, turn out at the polls has consistently been less than stellar. The college, which has a student population of 12,887 undergraduates, only had 1,490 of our fellow students running to their computers to vote through the new online election system. So why would over 10,000 students decide not to avail of this collegiate democratic process?

“Simple… I didn’t care, I didn’t vote,” said Leon Moore, a junior. ”What does student council government have to do with me? It doesn’t benefit me in anyway.”

But others were simply unaware of the ongoing electoral process.

“What campaign? – I got an email saying don’t forget to vote, and all I saw were two posters down the hall. Hey, perhaps I just don’t care and it doesn’t benefit me, but I do prefer to vote.”  said Nikoletta Despedova, senior

Most of the students that were interviewed, however, maintained that student elections are important, especially at John Jay, believing that politics is important , since we are a school dedicated towards justice.

To her friends, Kapoor is known as an active student with varied interests.

“I voted for Mehak because she approached students personally and also because I know her,” said Stephanie Rojas, a senior.

But one of her first tasks in office will be to convince students that Student Government matters.

Kapoor invites the challenge. Some of her potential projects include a graduate networking gala, a professional committee that would help students craft cover letters and resumes and a student government open house that would allow students to get acquainted with their representatives for one week at the beginning of each semester.

Students line up to complain about Public Safety's recent conduct. Photos by Toby Chong.

By Eric Jankiewicz and Taja Whitted

A large group of students bristling with anger stormed into the last town hall meeting of this semester. They were ruffled up about, what they saw as, John Jay’s security abusing power.

On the listening end of the meeting sat President Jeremy Travis, Student Government President Whitney Brown and Faculty Senate member Karen Kaplowitz for the town hall meeting on April 18. Although these three were officially the ones responding to the aggrieved students, most of their comments were directed at the newly appointed Public Safety Director Stephen Hollowell, who sat in the audience.

Among the many sometimes biting criticisms, there were a few women in the audience that complained about the Peace Officers making unwanted sexual advances to them.

“I come to school to be free from stop and frisk, but when I’m being looked at and sexually harassed, I don’t feel safe with CUNY officers and Public Safety officials, “student Alyssa Rodriguez said.

One of the main critics was student Geraldine Denasty. Due to many problems she had over the school year with the Public Safety department, Denasty decided to corral students with similar problems into the town hall meeting.

Denasty, who is also president of the Radio club, said to The Sentinel, “At first it started with little things like lack of customer service” and then she noticed that her club events were being tacked with a higher than usual security bill.

As a requirement for events, clubs must have a security presence. This presence comes with a price billed directly to the club holding any event. Last semester a security presence would cost somewhere around $800 but this semester it was raised, without any notice to clubs, to around $1,200.

Stephen Hallowell, director of Public Safety, sitting in the audience during the town hall meeting.

The town hall event wasn’t Denasty’s first attempt to seek out answers. She contacted David Rivera, assistant director of Public Safety, and Brown. But neither gave her a “concrete answer.”

Denasty then began to talk to other students who were part of clubs and they all came to a consensus.

“We all realized that Public Safety was the core problem,” she said.

Like Denasty, student Clinton Dyre felt as though Public Safety’s actions were not being properly articulated to the student body.

“Student’s feel as if they are not getting their voice heard,” Dyre said during the town hall meeting. “We need to eliminate the animosity between public safety and students. For example, an event was held in the multipurpose room and it required 13 officers for 120 people. How does that match up?” He felt as though this high presence of security was unduly overwhelming.

After patiently listening to all of the students who wanted to talk, John Jay’s leaders responded.

“This doesn’t feel like our home anymore,” Brown said, echoing the sentiments of students like Rodriguez and others. In the same breath she added, “I think our Public Safety Officers have been doing a good enough job.”

Yet it is this exact “good enough job” that led estranged students like Denasty and Dyre into action in the first place.

Travis saw the need to further pursue this issue and suggested, “If the student’s would like, we can hold a separate meeting to address the issue.”

Vice President Berneca Johnson Eanes, who had been in the audience, was appointed to serve as something of an intermediary between Denasty and Dire, who were chosen to represent the student body, and the school.

Eanes said, “Were still getting used to the new building and turnout. More people are coming to events which lead to more public safety officials. Dr. Hollowell has been discussing it with student affairs, and we will try to solve the issue soon.”

John Jay's Leaders. Left to right: Karen Kaplowitz, Jeremy Travis and Whitney Brown.

Travis set a deadline of two weeks for the two students and Eanes to try and devise some sort of solution to ease tensions and pacify student complaints.

After the meeting, Denasty seemed pleased with the meeting. “Today was a breath of victory,” she said. “It’s a sweet success that will hopefully turn into something.”

On April 19, something rarely seen in John Jay occurred. More than 200 students gathered on the second floor Atrium, excited by the opening of the New Building cafeteria.

“Everyone’s talk about it,” Jesse Nia said at the opening ceremony.

The cafeteria has a holding capacity of 449 people and is armed with more than 40 tables and an array of food to match the number of people it can hold. The opening of the New Building marked the ending of the small café on the third floor. This small café, owned by Guest Services, Inc., was originally the only source of food in the New Building since it opened in November 2011.

Joaquin Vasques owns the new cafeteria. Vasques, CEO of MBJ, had been the college’s food vendor since 1970 until their contract ended in December 2010. In the November 2011 issue of The John Jay Sentinel Vasques never thought he would come back to John Jay, “Wherever I end up, I will remember you all with love,” he said at the time.

At the opening ceremony, there was buzz that free food would be served. But instead, little candy bars and chips was the only thing that didn’t have a price tag.

Daishawm Harris, a junior, had expected this so he brought his own food from Dunkin’ Donuts. “This place makes you feel like it’s a college,” Harris yelled as his voice competed with the Artist United club’s rendition of “Purple Hayes” by Jimi Hendrix.

Harris’ friend, Cavita Khan thought that it took too long to open the new cafeteria and that the dalliance between the small café and the new cafeteria was unnecessary.

John Jay’s Republican club invited former congressman turned author, Joseph DioGuardi, to speak. He came to John Jay to inform students on the problems he believes occurs within the government due to the financial scams that are hidden from the public.

DioGuardi plainly presented his main concerns with what he saw as the “unsustainability of our growing debt.” He came not just to present what he saw as problems but also to motivate students to make a difference. The event was funded through the club’s budget. Overall, they had $1,000 to spend for the semester.

He said, “America has the capacity to make more successful people and companies, you should be part of that. Don’t let anyone tell you different.”

A crowd of mostly republican students waited for his arrival, excited to learn more about his book Unaccountable Congress: It Doesn’t Add Up.

Danny Oliva, president of the Republican club, was happy to have a political figure to promote financial stability of the US.

Oliva said, “We always want to bring Politicians to John Jay. DioGuardi is not the most conservative republican.”

Oliva urges students to take more responsibilities and use resources that are available. Oliva, along with other members of the club, organized for DioGuardi to speak.

Eli Lubin, a member of republican club was excited to hear him speak and wants John Jay students to become more involved in learning of “His fiscal policies; how the federal government doesn’t show where the money is going, like DioGuardi said, the army and military doesn’t report where the money is going.”

DioGuardi mentioned how we must not let labels of parties like Democratic or Republican dust off the real problems within the government, which are due to deficit spending, “Forget your party- your party is America”.

DioGuardi covered what he saw to be problems with America’s fiscal policy, and how 895 billion went towards defense last year.

America’s defense is growing but government officials have set aside the real issues we are facing which are education.  Sally Abdel, a junior ideologically placed with a Democrat’s point of view, thought that instead of spending money on the defense budget, America should be putting more money towards education.

He said, “Education is always what US should invest in even if we don’t have the money; distributing money towards education is number one priority which all states should have.”

DioGuardi’s concerns lie in American tendencies of quantitative easing (spending) rather than producing. “America needs a sense of hungriness,” he said.

DioGuardi raised concerns about our currency.  “The dollar might collapse because we don’t have enough productivity,” he said.

“We got to be competitive; Brazil is there. South America is getting there. Look at Germany, they have one tenth of the workforce in the world and ten percent of the manufacturing productivity, they’re a tough country. Productivity. We must remain technologically superior and we have to prevent countries like China from stealing it. They don’t invest in money the way we do but they take it.”

By Jason Chester

The Midnight Run Organization was started primarily for individuals who were either too sick or too weak to fend for themselves in homeless shelters. So instead, those who had nowhere else to turn chose the streets over the shelters. This almost seems counterintuitive at first.

“Shelters are worse than prisons,” Sarah Shattuck, president of the John Jay chapter of Habitat for Humanity’s club, said. She explained that unlike prison, there are no guards around in shelters to make sure nothing bad happens. It was only a little over a month ago when I walked into the Habitat for Humanity’s office wondering what they did. The humanities club hosts a midnight run every month except January. The club began to participate in the run almost immediately after its creation in 2010 but the Midnight Run, a separate entity, began in the mid-80’s. The founder of the run, who goes only by Dale, was once homeless himself.

Shattuck told me that the run involves going out to different locations to give food, clothing and toiletries to the homeless.

Declan Walsh, the director for Community Outreach, greeted me with a warm handshake and an honest smile. I told him I was interested in the Midnight Run, an event I was informed about through one of those general announcements.

Before joining the run, I had always perceived the homeless to be leeches of society that had every opportunity that I did. Shattuck said this was a “common misconception” and that “most of them are regular people, like you or I.”

But after that night, my view of the homeless changed drastically.

A Choice

Declan guided me to a room where sandwiches were already packaged and clothes were folded on a table and I took out the two shirts and one jacket I donated.

In the room there were two other young men. One was Declan’s son, Ceamus Walsh, (pronounced Shamus) a freshman in high school volunteering on a school night. Then there was Joshua Belmonte; his enthusiasm could be seen through his endless stream of words.

“It’s good we’re going out to feed the homeless, a lot of them out there are around our age,” was all I was able to catch from Belmonte.

Aside from those guys there were some women volunteering as well. Shattuck, Vidivel Espino, Gabrielle Maraj, and Caryn Quinteros.  We were later joined by two other guys, Joseph Vargas and Gerry Fervier. They were all John Jay students.

At 9.30pm we packed all the stuff up to be loaded up in the midnight run van. The driver Jace has been involved for 11 years; he was polite and kind, but straightforward.

Before we left, Shattuck gave us a pep talk; she thanked everyone for coming out. She said, “We have freedom when we go places. We have a choice” but for the most part, the homeless we would soon visit didn’t.

“Tonight, when we greet the people, ask them, what would you like? Whatever they need let them know they have a choice.”

The Tired and Hungry

When the van was loaded with coffee, chili, turkey and ham sandwiches with Swiss cheese and the toiletries, we were off to the first stop on 28^th street and 11^th avenue, which was a dark street corner with no one around.

Jace and Shattuck left to see if there were homeless people hanging around on the corners, while the rest of us waited in the van.

A few minutes later they returned with a group of about 20 homeless people.

There were mostly men with a few women in the crowd. I was surprised by their appearances. They didn’t look homeless. I expected the deranged types you see on the trains and laid out in street corners begging for change. But surprisingly, they were all sane and well kept. I wouldn’t have known they were homeless if I was standing next to them on the street.

They really were just people who for some reason or another had fallen on hard times and were thankful for what we were doing.

We began distributing the donated food, toiletries and clothes from the back of the van, which was where I was located. I felt good that I was able to give them something that they considered valuable.

Fervier, Belmonte and I worked together. Because Fervier and Belmonte were more experienced, I just assisted them whenever and however I could. And when I saw the clothes that I donated being handed out, it made me feel like I had made a small difference, especially when I saw a guy looking at the shirt like it was made of gold.

The next stop was 26^th street and 6^th avenue. There was a bigger crowd there but still the same set of polite calm individuals. When we first drove up, the crowd rushed over to the van and peered in through the windows like children opening gifts on Christmas morning.

They were excited to be getting new clothes and fresh food and who wouldn’t be?

The third and last stop was on 28^th street and 9^th avenue. There was a group also waiting for us there.  It was the same situation, except here there were more women than I expected.

They reminded me of my mom. It was eerie, looking into those maternal faces. I did my best to give them anything they wanted. Maraj was running around making sure she took their orders for whatever clothing they needed and got back to me.

I think, right there it hit me:

All the dance clubs, the girls, the hip-hop songs, the comics books, my hobbies, meant nothing compared to standing here and helping out those who were in need. Everything came down to sharing. I could have as many things as I wanted, but sharing was what brought me the most joy.

Shattuck seemed to embody this idea the most. After the last midnight run in February, her club was out of money, so the majority of food brought for this run was provided through her own funding.

She gave her time and money, while the majority of us wouldn’t even give these people a thought.

“We can learn a lot from them,” she said.

John Jay celebrated its 49 years of existence on March 27 with a homage video followed by a panel discussion in the New Building lecture hall. The Founding Generation Symposium, as the celebration was officially called, had been put together by The Founding Generation Committee and the Alumni Board. This generation of “founders” indicates alumni that graduated between 1962, when it was first opened, and 1977. With the New Building vents pumping in cool air, the symposium’s atmosphere became informal as the former John Jay students turned the symposium into an ode between old friends reminiscing about the past.

“I went to school here when it had just become a shoe factory,” Linda Gimlett said in reference to the North Hall.

Gimlett, along with about half of the members in attendance, were credited with John Jay’s survival and continued existence into the twenty first century.

“We would not have been here without you,” John Jay’s president, Jeremy Travis, said. “Because of some actions you took, we’re still here.”

In the mid- 70’s New York’s fiscal crisis clamped down on John Jay and almost caused it to close down. The students at the time, mostly police officers, did something that most of them were trained to prevent. They protested. Coupled with the efforts of the faculty and staff, John Jay survived the blade of budget cuts.

“The student body of John Jay stood up” when it was under threat, Richard Ward said. Ward was one of those early students, when the school was filled with only about 1,000 students.

Along with the members of the founding generation, the audience was filled with current students. But they weren’t there for the celebration. For  them, this was class time that their  Professor, Ernest Richardson, had made them do. When the students had first came in, Travis had had become excited and expressed a desire for the new students to “mingle” with the old ones. But when the time came to ask questions to the founding generation, Richardson’s students opted, without exception, to quietly slide out of the room. They had no questions and expressed no desire to mingle.

This was the second debate held before the opening of the polls which was at 5p.m. The first was held on March 14 at 5 p.m.

The audience consisted of about 15 students and various faculty members of Student Life.

On the debate panel was Nana AkubaChinebuah, running for Secretary, Lewquay Williams and Jeffery Aikens running for Treasurer, Whitney Brown, MehakKapoor and Alexandra Gies, running for President.

There is no candidate running for Vice President.

Aikens and Brown are currently on Student Council and are rerunning for their positions. Kapoor is also currently on Student Council but as Vice President.

The candidates spoke about their platforms and their goals for the next school year.

The questions asked by the Moderator, Bianca Macpherson, Chief Justice of the Judicial Board, and by the various students in attendance centered on what the candidates planned to do in efforts to encourage student awareness of college events, as well as promoting general student camaraderie. These things were also a large concern in last year’s Student Government elections.

The common theme shared by the candidates also mirrored the desires of the students in attendance. They all intended to bring the college community closer together in similar ways. Utilizing the new televisions throughout the buildings was one proposed strategy by Kapoor. Another was using social media.

Chinebuah has plans to “utilize community hour” as well as increasing an “active presence of Student Council on campus.”

Brown answered by saying she will continue sending “out a survey to see what events students would like student government to hold.”

Gies believes “organization” as well as “social media” will aid in bringing together students.

While most of the candidates were talkative and exuberant some shied away from questions. Gies and Williams didn’t answer as many of the student’s questions as the other candidates.

Many of the answers the candidates gave mirrored each other’s.

One of the answers that differed from the other candidates was Aikens’s plan to add special features to the student identification cards. He wants to include a food plan as well as a method to pay for books using the ID cards.

The results of the vote were revealed on March 22 at 5 p.m. in the New Building Atrium and via email. Kapoor was elected president. Aikens became the treasurer. Chinebuah, with no contestant, became the secretary.

By Diana Lydia

The average John Jay student carries up to three wireless devices.

The drastic increase in the use of wireless devices this semester resulted in the much needed expansion of Wi-Fi on March 1st, 2012.

The Department of Information Technology (DoIT) at John Jay, headed by Praveen Panchal, studied trends in the usage of the wireless network at John Jay for the past five years. They noted a gradual increase in the wireless link up from 500 devices per day to soaring 2,500 per day even before the creation of community hour. The department sent out a general email stating the need for expansion due to the over usage.

Both the Math and Science Resource Center (MSRC) and Laptop Loan Center have witnessed students flocking in to use computers and laptops.

“It gives me something to do on my never-ending breaks,” said John Jay Senior George Davidson.

Davidson represents a new wave of students that are going to the MSRC to use their open computers.

The new MSRC has removed blocks on social networking sites and YouTubewhich might explain the new wave.

Now a minimum of about 200-300 students use laptop loan center plus the students in the MSRC daily and then another 2000 bring devices from home. You don’t need to be a MSRC tutor to know that’s a lot.

Omatie Ramrattan, a sophomore, said, “With the amount of time I spend at John Jay, I might as well bring my laptop and get some homework done.”

Three years ago, when plans for the New Building were being finalized, the DoIT department stepped in to create a facility which was more technologically advanced than originally planned. The infrastructure of the New Building was created keeping in mind the overwhelming demand for a stronger wireless network, a network which the old building was not capable of handling.

Once the building was completed, it was time to implement the expansion plan. The expansion enables students and faculty to connect multiple devices to the John Jay Network without slowing the network down.

According to DoIT Network Manager, O’Neil Hinds, “The expansion simply fills the needs of faculty and students at John Jay, providing them with the latest in Wi-Fi technology.”

As a result of the expansion, student are not only able to connect multiple devices to the network with ease but are able to keep those devices connected to the Wi-Fi until their password expires, saving the student the hassle of having to connect to the wireless network every time they step into the building.

This expansion, like every other IT upgrade, was conducted during “downtime,” which is determined by studying the patterns of usage during the day. Downtime usually occurs during the late afternoon, early evenings or on weekends, when the majority of the students are not present in the building. During this expansion, the college Wi-Fi was disabled so IT could make the necessary changes.

Alicia Ramoutar, a senior and Math teacher’s assistant at John Jay welcomed the change as a sigh of relief.

” I constantly use Blackboard and with the network being so slow, it was hard to keep track of things and some places in the old building barely had a phone signal; at least now I’ll be able to get work done faster,” she said.

While some students take positively to the change, others haven’t noticed any changes to their network connection.

According to Matthew Angeles, a sophomore, the change makes little to no difference, “I can’t tell what the difference is. There are still some places where the Wi-Fi on my phone won’t catch a signal.”

Overall, students showed mixed feelings towards the expansion. Some welcomed the change, hoping it would make their lives easier while others barely felt that change had taken place.

It may just take a bit more work to make believers out of them.

All student names have been changed to protect their identities. Even though their names are made up, their stories are real.

When an essay is due, students have very few choices; they can choose to either write the paper or receive help. The most alluring of choices, however, is hiring someone to write the paper for you.

Tempted by the advertisements of professional essay writings, students lose control of their essays to companies that often employ writers of a Master’s or Doctorial standard.

Claiming to write original top notch essays from scratch, Andrew, an employer at the professional writing site samedayessay.com, says that there are 3000 writers, from the US and the UK, who are willing to compete for high salaries. A three-page undergrad paper is $66.84, and that is if you are ordering 10 days before your deadline. If you want your paper within 24 hours, a three page is worth $108.84.

“There are 200 students coming for help every day. One customer usually orders from 5-7 papers every term,” said Andrew. According to Andrew, samedayessay.com writers have been in the writing field for more than seven years, and are well experienced. Andrew declined to give his full name.

Yaser, a sophomore, bought an essay from customwritings.com; he described the process of receiving his effortless paper in one statement, “it’s like ordering sushi and finding it on your doorstep, that’s just how easy it is …. Except I kinda have to dumb it down a little so it wouldn’t be too suspicious.”

The Allure of Buying Papers

Students sometimes delay their college work load because of stress.

“I feel pressured because I procrastinate,” Aaron, a full time student, said. “But that’s because I have a bunch of college work, a full time job at Subway, family issues, and on top of that I have to worry about my papers.”  Aaron purchased three papers from samedayessay.com.

The companies that market professional essays promise students that their identity will not be revealed, which makes it comfortable for students to purchase the essays without the fear of being caught. Dan, who has purchased two papers already, says, “Those essay writer people won’t ever rat out anyone, you don’t even have to give them your real name for them to do your essay.”

Students say that they rarely have the extra time to sit and write the papers that their professors assign. The English Department Chair, Allison Pease says, “It is often students who have received low grades on papers early in the semester that then turn to plagiarism, because they feel it is the only way to raise the grade in the class.”

Catherine Kemp, a Philosophy professor, said that students resort to such services if they are taking a course outside their major and think that they “‘don’t know what the professor wants’, and that a made-to-order assignment will get them a better grade.”  Students often order their papers in order to meet deadlines.

These questionable companies convince desperate students that they can help them with any type of service work, including research, thesis, and term papers.

According to Jane Gilon, a representative of essaywriter.org, it is mostly college and university students attending to such help. “We only write papers from scratch,” she said “only original papers.”

Professors Fight Back

Professors, however, are catching onto students, who are buying their papers online, and some have even developed methods to identify these fake papers. According to Kemp, professors are well aware of students that are plagiarizing. “Many of us try to devise assignments that will make using canned papers impossible,” she said, “it’s the reason I require so much in-class writing and in-class essay exams.”

There have been students who have been caught for using such services, and their plagiarism has led them to receiving academic punishment.

“The penalty is an F for the assignment and being reported for plagiarism,” Kemp says. Furthermore, websites, like Turnitin.com, are strong weapons against these fake essays.

Turnitin.com is a website that many professors use to detect plagiarized work. The writers of these fake essays claim that their papers are one-hundred percent original, but that is not always the case.

According to Adam Wandt, who is the Deputy Chair for Instructional Technology of the Department of Public Management, “Turnitin.com makes it much easier for me to spot plagiarism.”

“These services might advertise their work as original work, but in their sloppy writing, they plagiarize a little bit,” he said, “turnitin.com is so good at picking up shortcuts these professionals use.”

Professors are definitely aware when their students plagiarize, because the writing styles of these professional writers differ from the writing styles of the student. “Professors are very intelligent when it comes to knowing that that student couldn’t have written that paper,” he said.

Just recently, professor Wandt caught a student who purchased his paper. When questioned about the paper, the student could not identify the writing as his own. “He understands not a word,” Wandt said.

When students are caught plagiarizing, there are two possible outcomes: temporary suspension or expulsion.

One student describes his plagiarism experience as horrid. “I felt like I was getting arrested and hadda’ go through this whole process with my professor,” Sebastian said, a sophomore. “I’m never gunna’ do that again, for real.” He further explained that his professor gave him an “F” for the course, which will now be a permanent figure on his transcript.

The Alternative

The writing center is a much safer alternative to these paying services, but students continue to complain that going to the writing center requires too much time from their busy schedules. “I don’t need help with my paper, I just don’t got time to write it,” William said.

John Jay offers its students unlimited and free tutoring sessions for both undergraduate and graduate students who need help, a privilege that many outside of the college academia do not have. The tutors in the writing center are trained to help students with the writings specific to their discipline.

With one call or visit, students can schedule an appointment to the writing center. It is unfortunate that some students do not have the “I’d grab it while you can, since it’s free!” drive, as professor Kemp puts it.  Students prefer to order the fake papers because it’s the easier alternative, as Dan says, it’s like “one-two-three.”

Faculty interested in the genuine success of their students would hate to see them succumb to such plagiarism services. “I hate the idea that students, who are already paying good money to learn, would pay more money not to learn by having someone else write their papers for them,” said Allison Pease.