Academic Integrity
The maintenance of academic integrity is the responsibility of both faculty and students. Current and prospective students are expected to adhere to the values of intellectual and academic honesty and integrity. Academic dishonesty is a violation of the Student Code of Conduct. Any charge of academic dishonesty shall be substantiated by the preponderance of the evidence.
Definition:
Academic dishonesty describes a wide range of behaviors to include, but are not limited to..
1. Cheating-Intentionally using unauthorized materials, information or study aids in any work submitted (e.g. copying another's work during a test or assignment, collaborating with others on an assignment without the Instructor's permission, using crib notes.)
2. Plagiarism-Deliberately reproducing or adopting ideas, works or statements of another person as one's own without acknowledgement (e.g. paraphrasing or summarizing a source without proper citation, turning in a paper written by another person, buying a paper from a commercial source, failing to properly attribute quotations within a paper or submitting the same paper for credit in more than one course without the Instructor's permission).
3. Fabrication-Intentionally falsifying or misrepresenting information derived from another source in an assignment (e.g. citing a source that doesn't exist, citing information from a source that does not contain the information, intentionally distorting or inventing data, statistical results or their meaning).
4. Other Academic Misconduct-Includes but is not limited to such actions as planning with another to commit an act of academic dishonesty, inappropriately providing or receiving information or academic work to gain an unauthorized or unfair advantage over others (e.g. stealing, buying, selling or otherwise obtaining all or part of a test or assignment, allowing another person to access and complete required online work).
Procedure:
1. The Faculty member will review the evidence to ensure it is sufficient to warrant a charge of academic dishonesty.
2. The faculty member will contact the student regarding the incident. If the student is unable to satisfactorily explain the discrepancies, the faculty member will collect/acquire any additional evidence of the incident.
3. The faculty member will report suspected incidents to the appropriate Associate Dean. (The College reserves the right to require students to come to campus to complete verification of the authenticity of any work submitted online or in the classroom).
Consequences for academic dishonesty are enacted at the discretion of the instructor and may include the following...
- failing the test, assignment or paper
- failing the course (course failures must be approved by the Associate Dean).
Any action taken by the Instructor must be clearly communicated to the student and reported in writing to the Associate Dean and the Provost.
Students should refer to the Instructor's course syllabus for additional details regarding specific course policies.
Appeals:
If a student disputes the facts constituting evidence of the infraction, a written appeal may be filed with the divisional Associate Dean within 30 calendar days of the consequences being communicated by the faculty member. The divisional Associate Dean will then convene an ad hoc Appeal Board consisting of two faculty members. If the course in question is online, the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs may also be included.
If either the student or the faculty member disputes the decision of the Appeal Board, and has new evidence bearing on the case, they may submit an additional written appeal to the Chief Academic Officer (or his/her designee) within one year after alleged infraction took place. The decision of the Provost shall be considered final and binding on all parties.