Academic Integrity Policy

Cheating and plagiarism are serious violations in the academic community. Such acts interfere with the ability of instructors to teach and of students to learn, and therefore these acts are directly discordant with the goals of education. Students are responsible for understanding and following the policy and penalties as indicated on their course syllabus. Students found guilty of violations of academic integrity will be penalized accordingly:

1. The course instructor will investigate instances of suspected academic dishonesty; the instructor may ask the Department Head for help determining if an act of academic dishonesty has taken place; the instructor may decide that a student is responsible for academic dishonesty and assign an appropriate penalty. Appropriate penalties may include the following: a warning; a resubmission of the work in question; a reduced grade or failure of the work in question; failure of the entire course.
2. A student assigned a penalty of failure of the entire course may not withdraw from the course.
3. All departments will report acts of academic dishonesty to the Office of the Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs using the format designated by that office.
4. Students who commit numerous or egregious acts of academic dishonesty (in the same or additional class/es) may be suspended or expelled at the discretion of the Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs in consultation with appropriate Department Head. Final appeals of those sanctions may go to the Student Conduct Committee.
5. A student who facilitates academic dishonesty while not enrolled in the course in which the academic dishonesty took place will be referred to the Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs for appropriate sanctions.

Academic Dishonesty includes, but is not limited to the following:

1. Use of any unauthorized assistance in any assignments.
2. The acquisition or use of aids and/or sources beyond those authorized by the instructor, including but not limited to the following:

• • Test bank material
  • Tests, quizzes or answer keys
  • Other academic material belonging to a member of the college faculty or staff

3. Plagiarism, which includes the use, by paraphrase or direct quotation, of the published or unpublished work of another person or agency without clear acknowledgment.
4. Sabotage of another’s academic work.
5. Facilitation of academic dishonesty, including but not limited to giving a student unauthorized aid, providing work to another student, providing test answers to another student, or taking an exam or doing an assignment for another student.
6. Alteration and resubmission, without permission, of an academic work (paper, test, quiz, for example) after it has been graded.
7. Submitting papers written by another person or persons
8. Buying, selling, soliciting, downloading or exchanging term papers, examinations or other written assignments, or any part of them.
9. The use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) to be presented as one’s own work, will be considered a breach of academic integrity. This includes using AI to pull content, complete assignments, or manipulate data without properly citing sources. If students are unclear about the appropriate usage of AI for academic purposes, they should seek guidance from faculty.

Academic Dishonesty Appeal Procedure:

1. Students may appeal an instructor’s decision to the Department Head, within five business days of the assigning of a penalty. During the course of an inquiry, the student retains any and all existing privileges until the matter has been resolved. If the instructor who brings the charges is a Department Head, then the appeal will go to the Dean. If the instructor who brings the charges is a Dean, then the appeal will go to the Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs. Final appeals of the VP’s decision will go to the Student Conduct Committee.
2. If a student is found responsible for academic dishonesty, the Dean, Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs or Student Conduct Committee may not change any grade penalty for a course, as long as it is within the guidelines of the course outline.
3. Students may not use the determination of academic dishonesty as a basis for appealing a final grade to the Academic Appeals Committee.