Academic Honesty, a necessary foundation of a learning community is expected of all students. Violations are unacceptable and are subject to academic penalties including failure of a course. A record of the violation is submitted to Academic Affairs; repeated violations may result in suspension or dismissal from the college. Violations of academic honesty include cheating on examinations, plagiarism, and submission of papers for credit in two or more courses.
Examinations
Violations of academic policy with regard to examinations consist of the following:
- Receiving assistance or assisting others while the examination is in progress.
- Obtaining or attempting to obtain prior to an examination, copies of the examination or the questions to appear on the examination.
- Obtaining or attempting to obtain any unauthorized knowledge regarding the examination or the questions to appear on the examination from another student who possesses information regarding the contents of the examination.
- Disseminating any written or verbal information regarding the contents of an examination to students who have not yet completed or taken said examination.
- Utilizing or consulting any unauthorized information, such as notes or books, during an examination.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is an act of presenting the intellectual work of others (words, ideas, artwork, computer programming code, etc.) as if it were one's own. Some common forms of plagiarism are submitting someone else's paper as one's own; copying a passage from another source without citing the source; or expressing a published idea or theory in different words without crediting the source of the idea. Plagiarism constitutes intellectual dishonesty and undermines trust between members of the college community.
Multiple Submissions of a Single Paper
A student may not submit the same paper or presentation or other work for credits in two courses within the college without prior written consent from both instructors.
Disciplinary Process for Charges of Academic Dishonesty
The summary that follows is intended to provide students with the information that they need to make an informed response if they are accused of academic dishonesty. The actual policy in full may be obtained through the Office of Academic Affairs.
Violations of the Academic Dishonesty Policy may be resolved by the instructor of the course. Faculty are encouraged to reach a settlement with the student accused of dishonesty. As part of the settlement, the faculty must obtain a voluntary signed admission of guilt, from the student, to be submitted to the Office of Academic Affairs and kept on record. Faculty may take action within their normal responsibility for evaluating and grading student work.
If the faculty and student are unable to reach a settlement, charges may be filed with the Associate Vice President, Adacemic Affairs (or the Associate Vice President of Graduate and Continuing Education if the student is enrolled as a DGCE student), who will schedule a hearing of the case before the academic honesty hearing committee. Specific details about the structure of the hearing committee, the timing of the hearing, the hearing process itself, and the student's rights during the hearing are discussed in the full policy.
The members of the hearing committee will determine the guilt or innocence of the student charged and discuss recommended sanctions with the Associate Vice President in the event of a guilty verdict. Sanctions will be imposed by the Associate Vice President. For a first offense a range of sanctions may be imposed including failure of the course. For a second offense the range of sanctions may include suspension from the college for one semester. For a third offense the range of sanctions may include a permanent suspension from the college.
A student may appeal the decision of the hearing committee and/or the sanction imposed. Appeals must be submitted in writing, within seven days of the notification of the outcome of the hearing, to the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs.
Students accused of academic dishonesty are protected by the following rights: (1) The student is presumed innocent until proven guilty; (2) The student retains student status until the conclusion of the proceeding, though no degree will be awarded until the matter is resolved; (3) The student may be advised by counsel though counsel may not speak for the student; (4) The student will be notified in writing of all charges, as well as the date, time, and place, of any scheduled hearings; (5) The student will be permitted to examine all evidence to be used against the student not later than seven days prior to the hearing.
Official records of disciplinary action will be maintained in the Office of Academic Affairs. Access to these records is restricted to the Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs (or designate), the Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs and Associate Vice President of Graduate and Continuing Education, and all faculty, provided that the request is made in writing and states the reason for the request. All files must be viewed in the Academic Affairs Office and may not be copied in whole or in part.
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