Academic Integrity

To ensure the honesty, fairness and fundamental values of the intellectual environment at Â鶹ÊÓƵ, students are expected to pursue learning with integrity, dignity, and responsibility toward others. Students are expected to be attentive to proper methods of documentation and acknowledgement in all academic work. Any situation involving violation of Academic Integrity Policy demeans the violator, degrades the learning process, deflates the meaning of grades, discredits the accomplishments of the past and present students, and undermines the integrity of the degree and the University. Acts of academic dishonesty are serious offenses and are of major concern to the University.

The Use of Artificial Intelligence

The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for academic work and research has legitimate purposes and is a learning and research tool. Unethical use of AI, however, reflects on the student, the degree and the university. This includes the misuse of AI and AI-related tools to generate academic work and/or complete assignments. Durable skills such as critical thinking, analysis and communication applied in the workplace are crucial for employer and student success. Unethical use of AI will undermine the foundation of durable skills. Unethical behavior cannot only undermine an individual’s integrity, it may also put the employer and employee at risk for copyright, patent and other fraudulent implications. Student success requires the legitimate and ethical use of technology as we move rapidly into a future that will include even more access to technological changes.

Types of Violations

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is defined as the submission of information without properly acknowledging the source through complete, accurate, and specific references. Plagiarism applies to the use of published and unpublished sources. Examples of plagiarism include, but are not limited to the following:

  • Directly quoting another person’s words without the use of quotation marks and/or acknowledgment of the course - should be source
  • Paraphrasing, or restating, another person’s ideas, opinions, or theories without acknowledging the source
  • Using facts, statistics, or other material taken from a source without acknowledging the source
  • Submission of the student’s own work which has previously been submitted for other assignments (self-plagiarism)
  • Unethical submission of work from crowd sharing platforms or sites involving the sharing of previous academic work and materials

Students are urged to consult with individual faculty members, department heads, or recognized handbooks in their discipline if they are in doubt as to whether their work may contain plagiarized material. This should be done before the work is submitted.

Fabrication

Fabrication is the intentional use of invented information or the falsification of research or other findings with the intent to deceive. Examples of fabrication include, but are not limited to the following:

  • Citing information not taken from the source indicated
  • Inventing data, facts, or sources for an academic assignment
  • Listing sources in a bibliography or reference list that were not used in that assignment/project
  • Listing hours worked or activities performed during a clinical or service-learning experience that did not occur
  • The misuse of AI to generate a partial or an entire work product/assignment submitted as original work without authorization.

Cheating

Cheating is an act or an attempted act of deception by which the student seeks to misrepresent that he or she has mastered information on an academic exercise. Examples of cheating include, but are not limited to the following:

  • Attempting to use unauthorized materials, information, or study aids in an academic exercise
  • Copying from another person’s work or allowing another person to copy your work
  • Collaborating with another person during an examination or graded assignment without permission by the instructor
  • Utilizing online paper mills and/or study websites for the purpose of buying, selling, or bartering exams and assignments
  • Unauthorized sharing of examination answers with others
  • Falsification of data such as constructing data results as if statistics were genuine data
  • Misuse of AI or AI-related tools to generate academic work and/or complete assignments.

Grade and Test Tampering

Test tampering is obtaining, distributing, or receiving a test or examination without consent of the instructor. It is also a violation of the Academic Integrity policy if a student takes a test for another student.

Tampering with grades in a grade book or assisting with changing any academic record in the university is prohibited.

Violation of the Academic Integrity Policy

Faculty members are given the freedom to discern which level of academic integrity infraction requires formal intervention. For example, students who exhibit minor levels of plagiarism in freshmen courses may benefit more from a personal conference during which the faculty explains the infraction and offers the student an opportunity to redo part or all of an assignment.

First Violation:

  1. The faculty member shall confer with the student regarding the violation of the Academic Integrity Policy.
  2. In consultation with the specific Program Chair of the college in which the course is offered, the faculty member is to select one or more of the following sanctions:
    • Require that the student repeat any work affected by the violation of the Academic Integrity Policy.
    • Assign the student a lower grade for the assignment (this is not necessarily a grade of (0) zero).
    • Assign the student a failing grade for the course (this is not necessarily a grade of (0) zero).
  3. After a sanction is selected, the Program Chair will inform the Dean of the College in which the course in question resides and what action was taken. Objective evidence of the violation must be submitted to the Dean. The Dean shall inform the Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs who will notify the student in writing that his or her continued enrollment at Â鶹ÊÓƵ is provisional; the Assistant Vice President may require the student to complete the course ENG 310 (Research Writing). The Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students will receive a copy of the letter.
  4. The Dean of the College has the discretion to immediately forward any violations directly to an Assistant Vice President or Vice President of Academic Affairs to be considered for review by the Student Discipline Committee.

Second Violation:

In the event of a second violation related to academic integrity, the Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs shall inform the Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students and submit materials related to any previous offenses. Depending on the nature of the violation, the Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students may temporarily suspend the student from university activities and convene a meeting of the Student Discipline Committee.

Review of Academic Code Violations; second and subsequent allegation

Upon receiving notice and documentation of a second or subsequent allegation of academic misconduct the Office of Student Concerns will conduct a review and will determine the final disposition of the case in cooperation with the referring academic body.

The affected student will be notified when the review process will be conducted by the Office of Student Concerns. Students are welcome to attend this review but their presence is not required.
The decision rendered by the Office of Student Concerns may be appealed following the process outlined in Part IV Policy and Procedures, subsection III Appeals.

Resources for Upholding Academic Integrity

Plagiarism Detection Software

Plagiarism detection software is offered through the Learning Management System (LMS) and is designed to aid in educating students about academic integrity, plagiarism and the proper citations of any borrowed content. Plagiarism detection software is a proactive tool for students and faculty to use together to review student work and to allow for students to have an opportunity to assess their efforts prior to submitting an assignment. Faculty may also use the University’s plagiarism detection software as a tool to affirm the originality of assignments.

University Writing Centers and Tutors

The Student Success Center is designed to provide students with the support and resources necessary to achieve their goals. The Student Success Center is committed to all Â鶹ÊÓƵ students’ academic success by providing personalized tutoring, mentoring, writing and learning resources, as well as multiple workshops and seminars. In partnership with other University offices, the Student Success Center offers a broad set of programs and services, empowering students to achieve academic excellence.