West Chester University has no institution-wide policy on artificial intelligence in the classroom, leaving professors to set their own rules.

The gap, first reported by the WCU Quad student newspaper on Monday, Sept. 28, comes as roughly two-thirds of universities globally are developing or have adopted formal AI guidance, according to a UNESCO survey cited in the Quad report.

The university's Teaching & Learning Center offers faculty downloadable resources, including sample syllabus statements and guides on discussing AI with students. But the center's website, updated Sept. 17, stops short of any mandate. It states that the university does not assume all faculty will incorporate generative AI or do so the same way.

The result: professors set their own rules, and those rules vary widely.

Dr. Criswell, a WCU math education professor, encourages students to use AI for efficiency. His only requirement is that students disclose how they used it. Criswell told the Quad that making a lesson plan used to take him an hour; now it takes five minutes. Yet his enthusiasm has limits. He said AI has no place in research, idea generation or the core work of education, and that its broader harms may outweigh the benefits.

On the restrictive end, Dr. Carolyn Sorisio, a WCU English professor who teaches courses from first-year writing to the graduate level, maintains a near-zero-tolerance policy. She prohibits students from using AI for brainstorming, editing or revision. To enforce it, she requires all assignments be completed in Google Docs shared with her so she can monitor version histories in real time.

"I think that it's really important for students to develop the skills of critical writing and critical reading without the aid of AI," Sorisio told the Quad. "When you have undergraduates or first-year writers, they're learning how to write."

Sorisio is also a claimant in a legal action against AI company Anthropic over the use of her work in AI training materials, citing fair-use concerns.

Dr. Justin Rademakers, who teaches English and first-year writing at WCU, takes a similar approach. He allows grammar-checking tools like Grammarly but prohibits AI that generates original content. His perspective shifted after attending a summer conference where he learned about AI's copy-editing advantages, particularly for students who speak English as a second language.

Rademakers said he sees students use AI to cheat. He said the temptation is usually a response to a lack of preparedness.

Student voices reflect the tension. Brigid Imms, a third-year psychology major, wrote in a Sept. 14 op-ed in the Quad that AI use amounts to academic dishonesty and inhibits critical thinking.

A 2026 survey by the Higher Education Policy Institute found that 95% of UK undergraduates reported using AI in their studies, up from 92% the prior year. The same survey found only 36% felt encouraged by their institutions to use AI. No WCU-specific usage data was available.

WCU's administration has not publicly commented on plans to develop a formal AI policy. No upcoming meetings on the topic have been announced.