Undergraduate Academic and Non-Academic Misconduct Policy

The School of Education and Human Sciences expects all members of its academic community to function according to the highest ethical and professional standards. Students, faculty, and the administration of the institution must be involved to ensure this quality of academic conduct.

Academic misconduct undermines the purpose of education. Such behavior is a serious violation of the trust that must exist among faculty and students for a university to nurture intellectual growth and development. Academic misconduct can generally be defined as all acts of dishonesty in an academic or related matter. Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, the following categories of behavior:

• ABETTING: or helping another student commit an act of academic dishonesty. Allowing someone to copy your quiz answers or use your work as their own are examples of abetting.
• CHEATING: use or attempted use of unauthorized materials, information, study aids, the answers of others, or computer-related information.
• PLAGIARISM: claiming as your own the ideas, words, data, computer programs, creative compositions, artwork, etc., done by someone else. Examples include improper citation of referenced works, use of commercially available scholarly papers, failure to cite sources, or copying another’s ideas.
• FABRICATION: presenting as genuine falsified data, citations, or quotations.
• MISREPRESENTATION: falsification, alteration, or misstatement of the contents of documents, academic work, or other materials related to academic matters, including work substantially done for one class as work done for another without receive prior approval from the instructor.

Violations of the Academic Code of Conduct are punishable by a range of penalties from receiving a failing grade on an assignment or examination to an F in the course. Any course grade of F for academic misconduct supersedes any other grade or notation for that class.

In the event of a suspected violation of the Academic Code of Conduct, the following procedure is followed:

1. Upon reaching the conclusion that academic dishonesty may have occurred and that action is warranted, the instructor should inform the student of the charge as soon as possible. The student has the right to hear the instructor’s reasons for making the charge, to inspect all relevant evidence in the instructor’s possession, and to respond to the charge. Based on the student’s response and all the evidence, the instructor will determine if a penalty is appropriate. If a penalty is deemed appropriate, the instructor informs the student of the action to be taken. If the student is not in agreement with the findings or the penalty, the instructor will provide the student with a written statement of the action taken and the basis for it. A copy of this letter will be sent to the chair of the department.
2. Within two weeks of this notification of a judgment of academic dishonesty, the student may appeal the instructor’s decision by letter to the chair of the department or his/her designated representative. The chair, acting expeditiously, should take testimony from the student, the instructor, and all appropriate witnesses and make a decision. If the chair reverses the finding of academic misconduct, the instructor must re-examine the work in question and assign credit without prejudice. In the event the chair is the instructor in the course, the dean will replace the chair in the appeal process.
3. In those cases where a grade of F is assigned in the course and the student has utilized the appeal process described above (#2), the student has two weeks to appeal the decision by letter to the dean of the school responsible for the course. The dean, acting expeditiously, should review the evidence, hear any additional information that may be forthcoming, and make the final decision.