Despite the tools at instructors’ and school officials’ hands to combat academic dishonesty — such as essay collections in schools’ databases — cheating still happens. Initially, it was left up to the professor or instructor, acting in loco parentis, to decide if cheating happened and to adjudicate punishment. Students had little recourse or ability to appeal. Some schools used proctors to watch over students taking exams, usually another professor or school official, but students still had little opportunity to defend themselves.
Students eventually rebelled over this inequality, and several schools changed policies in response to their self-advocacy. Another issue arose when students found their school information was in no way protected from anyone who wanted to look at it. In 1974, the United States Congress passed the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA or the Buckley Amendment) to partly address this. It limits the ability of future employers, other educational institutions, or foreign governments to access students’ information and records.