Effective Date Jun 22, 2018

Eight Rules of Academic Integrity

1. Know your rights—Do not let other students in your class diminish the value of your achievement by taking unfair advantage. Report any academic dishonesty you see.
2. Acknowledge your sources—Whenever you use words or ideas that are not your own when writing a paper, use quotation marks where appropriate and cite your source in a footnote, backing it up at the end with a list of sources consulted. See section on plagiarism.
3. Protect your work—In examinations, do not allow your neighbors to see what you have written; you are the only one who should receive credit for what you know.
4. Avoid suspicion—Do not put yourself in a position where you can be suspected of having copied another person’s work, or having used unauthorized notes in an examination. Even the appearance of dishonesty may undermine your instructor’s confidence in your work.
5. Do your own work—The purpose of assignments is to develop your skills and measure your progress. Letting someone else do your work defeats the purpose of your education and may lead to serious charges against you.
6. Never falsify a record or permit another person to do so—Academic records are regularly audited and students whose grades have been altered put their entire transcript at risk.
7. Never fabricate data, citations or experimental results—Many professional careers have ended in disgrace, even years after the fabrication first took place.
8. Always tell the truth when discussing your work with your instructor—Any attempt to deceive may destroy the relationship of teacher and student.

For more information on academic dishonesty, please the policy on plagiarism. Academic dishonesty is taken very seriously by the university and is not condoned by any member of the university. Examples of academic dishonesty include (but are not limited to):

Academic Cheating

1. Intentionally giving or receiving help on written assignments, examinations or any work without prior permission of the instructor.
2. Looking at another’s test paper or other material (i.e., texts, notes or papers) with intent to gain or give unfair academic advantage, without permission of the instructor.
3. Walking or signaling to a person while taking a quiz or examination with intent to gain or give unfair academic advantage, without permission of the instructor.
4. Collaborating with another person in preparing written work with the intent to give or gain unfair academic advantage, without prior permission of the instructor.
5. Substituting for another person or permitting another person to substitute for oneself during an examination.
6. Turning in a paper or other work that has been previously written for another class or for another purpose, without prior permission from the instructor.
7. Assisting others in act of academic dishonesty through the use of course material, including graded exams, quizzes, homework answers, test banks, graded assignment materials, computer code, project materials, research papers, and/or other items.

Digital/Electronic Cheating

1. Engaging in computer fraud, trespass, theft, embezzlement, changing of information or invasion of privacy.
2. Tampering with digital or electronic files or information belonging to another.
3. Digitally/electronically examining, modifying or copying programs or data other than one's own, without prior authorization.
4. Using digital/electronic information in violation of copyright agreements.
5. Attempting to degrade computer hardware or software performance or to circumvent its security.
6. Depriving or attempting to deprive other users of resources or access to a computer.
7. Uploading/sharing any material such as listed above through any electronic format may be seen as not only an academic dishonesty issue but also a copyright violation.
8. Using an electronic device to retrieve or capture data or information in the completion of academic work, without prior permission of the instructor.

Plagiarism

1. Handing in as one’s own a paper or assignment, a document purchased from a term paper service or any other source.
2. Copying another’s paper or work and handing it in as one’s own.
3. Taking a paper or work from a file not one’s own and handing it in as one’s own.
4. Intentionally footnoting an incorrect source.
5. Appropriating passages or ideas from another and using them as one’s own without proper documentation.
6. Quoting a written source on an exam, paper or homework without citation when it is requested by the instructor to present one’s own work.

Procedures for Handling Suspected Violations (Undergraduate)

When a suspected breach of academic regulations involves cheating or plagiarism, the following sequence of events will be initiated:

1. The instructor and the academic unit head responsible for the course will meet to decide whether charges should be made or not.
   • (a) If both agree that no charges should be made on the basis of the evidence available, the matter will be dropped pending further incidents involving the same student in the same course. If no other such incident occurs, the matter will be dropped permanently and no reference will be made to it.
   • (b) If both agree that charges should be made, the case will proceed to step (2) below.
   • (c) In the absence of agreement between the instructor and the academic unit head, the dean of the school or college responsible for the course will decide whether to proceed according to (a) or (b) above.
2. The student will be notified promptly in writing of the charges, given an opportunity to meet with the instructor and academic unit head (accompanied by the faculty advisor if the student wishes) and/or to submit a written statement explaining or refuting the charges.
   • (a) If the meeting takes place or a statement is submitted, the case will proceed to step (3) below.
   • (b) If the student chooses not to meet with the instructor and academic unit head, the case will proceed to step (4) below.
3. Based on the meeting with the student and/or review of the student’s written statement, the instructor and academic unit head will make a preliminary decision regarding the student’s guilt or innocence.
   • (a) If both agree the student is innocent, the matter will be handled according to step (1)(a) above.
   • (b) If both agree the student is guilty, the case will proceed to step (4) below.
   • (c) In the absence of agreement between the instructor and the academic unit head, the dean of the school or college responsible for the course will decide whether to proceed according to (a) or (b) above.
4. In the case of a finding or as a result of (2)(b) above, it will be necessary to determine whether this case is a first instance of cheating/plagiarism. This determination is to be made by the Dean of Students, based on the file of documented previous incidents.
   • (a) If a previous case is on file, the matter must be referred for disciplinary action through the Office of the Dean of Students.
   • (b) If no previous case is on file, the case will proceed to step (5) below.
5. If it is established that no previous case is on file for this student, the student will be given the option of either accepting the charges or having the case referred to the Dean of Students for a formal disciplinary conference. The maximum penalty that may be imposed on the student in the absence of a formal disciplinary conference is failure in the course in question and denial of the right to withdraw from the course or have the grade replaced for any reason (e.g., the forgiveness policy or a change of major). If the instructor and academic unit head both feel that a stronger penalty is called for, they also have the right to refer the case to the Office of the Dean of Students.

If the charges are accepted by all parties concerned without benefit of a disciplinary conference, the charges will not be made a part of the registrar’s official student file, but a record of the incident will be forwarded to the Office of the Dean of Students and kept on file in accordance with the University Code of Conduct. This record will include both a description of the incident and a statement signed by the student waiving his right to a formal disciplinary conference and accepting the penalty imposed. It is not necessary that the student formally acknowledge his agreement with all aspects of the description of the incident. (In the absence of this statement, the case must be referred to the Office of the Dean of Students for a disciplinary conference.) The facts pertaining to the incident, including the name of the student, will not be made public, but will be made known to: faculty members in the student’s academic unit; the academic unit offering the course; and other faculty and university officials, as required, to guard against future incidents of cheating and plagiarism.

Procedures for Handling Suspected Violations (Graduate)

Suspected breaches of academic regulations involving cheating, plagiarism or academic misconduct at the graduate level will be handled as outlined in departmental handbooks and online in graduate policies. Students should contact their college/school dean or department head for complete information.