At Northern Kentucky University, artificial intelligence has become a flashpoint in classrooms, dividing professors and leaving students uncertain about what’s allowed. With no campus-wide policy, each professor sets their own rules on AI use, creating a patchwork of expectations that can shift from class to class.
“I had one professor who told us we could use ChatGPT for brainstorming ideas, and then another who said if we even touched AI it would count as plagiarism,” said sophomore marketing major Jasmine Lee. “It’s stressful because I don’t want to break any rules, but I also see how AI can save time and make me more creative.”
Computer science professor Dr. Richard Fox is among those who ban AI entirely.
“I disallow the use of generative AI,” Fox said. “The students who ignore that and use it to get answers—I consider cheating.”
Fox said his stance is about preserving the integrity of learning. He compared using AI to skipping foundational math concepts.
“Imagine you’re going to take a statistics class,” he explained. “You learn things like mean, mode, and standard deviation. Would you have any understanding of what those meant if you didn’t understand division?”
But not every professor sees AI as a threat. Some embrace it as a valuable teaching tool.
English professor Dr. Jonathan Cullick not only permits AI in his classroom but also uses it himself to guide instruction.
“One way that I use it for teaching is to actually use it myself,” Cullick said. “I use it to brainstorm, and it’s important that I use it myself because you can’t go in and teach something if you’re not doing it yourself.”
Other faculty admit they are still figuring out how AI fits into their teaching.
“So far, AI has shown up in my classroom experience in terms of fear,” said Dr. Rachel Robinson-Zetzer. “I think that neither students nor I, at the beginning of this wave, really knew how to talk about it. We didn’t know what to do with it.”
English professor Dr. John Alberti offered a broader perspective, comparing AI’s arrival to earlier waves of new technology.
“There was a lot of concern about television when that came around,” Alberti said. “You used to ask, ‘Is anybody here watching television?’ Nobody raises their hand. You’re all lying—everybody watches television. There was always this moral superiority, and it rubbed against our natural curiosity.”
That same tension now shapes conversations about AI. Some classrooms ban it outright, while others encourage experimentation. The lack of consistency has made navigating assignments confusing for students, who say they’re stuck in the middle of an unresolved debate.
Senior computer science student Ethan Ramirez said the mixed messaging could affect how prepared graduates are for the workforce.
“Companies are already using AI every day,” Ramirez said. “If we’re not allowed to practice using it in school, how are we supposed to compete when we graduate? But at the same time, I get why professors don’t want people relying on it too much.”
Freshman psychology major Maya Thompson said she wishes the university would give clearer direction.
“I’m just starting out, so I don’t even know what’s normal yet,” she said. “It feels like professors are making up rules as they go, and we’re the ones who have to figure it out. A school-wide policy would help a lot.”
Students describe using AI in many ways—from asking it to explain difficult textbook passages to generating practice questions for an exam. Others said they use it to polish cover letters or brainstorm social media campaign ideas. While most acknowledge AI shouldn’t replace doing the work themselves, many see it as a tool that helps them work faster and more creatively.
Professors who oppose AI worry that reliance on it will encourage shortcuts and weaken critical thinking skills. Those who support it argue that ignoring AI only leaves students unprepared for a world where businesses, nonprofits, and even newsrooms already integrate AI into daily operations.
The conversation extends beyond NKU. Universities across the country are wrestling with the same questions. Some, like the University of Michigan, have published guidelines encouraging “responsible use,” while others have left decisions up to individual instructors. At Purdue University, faculty have debated whether AI belongs in writing assignments at all, while at Stanford, some professors actively incorporate ChatGPT into coursework as an experiment in digital literacy.
That national uncertainty filters into NKU classrooms. For junior education major Alexis Moore, the lack of consistency is especially frustrating.
“In one of my classes, the professor told us AI could be used to outline lesson plans. In another, the professor warned us we’d fail if we used it at all. I don’t know how to balance those rules, so I just avoid AI completely. But then I feel like I’m missing out on learning something important.”
Students also worry about fairness. An assignment that might be acceptable in one class could be grounds for plagiarism in another. For those juggling multiple courses, keeping the rules straight becomes an extra source of stress on top of normal academic pressures.
What’s clear is that AI isn’t going away. As professors and students continue to grapple with the technology, many on campus are calling for clearer, university-wide guidance to reduce confusion and define AI’s role in higher education.
As Cullick put it, his role as a writing teacher ultimately goes beyond AI. “I just love to sit back with a cup of coffee and read your writing and hear your voice,” he said.
Until then, NKU students remain caught in the middle of a debate that shows no sign of slowing down.