The College guarantees the integrity of the academic process. Cheating and plagiarism are threats to that integrity; therefore, everyone must work together to prevent their occurrence. Students are expected to perform honestly and to work in every way possible to eliminate cheating by any member of a class. Each faculty member has the responsibility to fairly evaluate the academic progress of each student and in doing so may use college provided plagiarism tools or other appropriate software to assist with his or her evaluation of written work.
Academic dishonesty is defined as any behavior or action in the classroom, laboratory, clinical site, or distance learning venue that attempts to deceive the instructor. Examples of academic dishonesty include cheating, plagiarism, or lying.
Cheating is the intent to deceive the instructor in his/her effort to fairly evaluate an academic exercise. It includes, but is not limited to, copying another student’s homework, class work, or required project (in part or in whole) and handing it in as one’s own; giving, receiving, offering, and/or soliciting, or attempting to give, receive, offer, or solicit, information on a quiz, test, or exam; or plagiarism. Electronic devices are prohibited during all testing situations, and other situations as determined by the instructor. The use of any such devices during testing may be viewed as an attempt to cheat and may result in serious academic sanction. See also Electronic Devices Policy.
Plagiarism is a form of cheating and lying. Plagiarism can be either deliberate or unintentional, but in either case it is the misrepresentation of another person’s ideas, words, or statistics as your own original work. The rules and regulations for quoting and citing material in college-level work can be complicated, but in all cases, it is the students’ responsibility to understand the citation methods appropriate to the discipline. Sometimes students make mistakes that technically result in plagiarism. When this happens, the College recognizes that it occurred unintentionally. However, intentional plagiarism is a more serious kind of plagiarism that involves a deliberate lie and an effort to cheat. Intentional plagiarism is a flagrant attempt to deceive the instructor of an assignment by presenting a whole assignment or parts of an assignment that were written by someone else as if it were the student’s original work. Examples of intentional plagiarism include but are not limited to:
- Taking passages from articles or books and including them in your paper without providing proper citations.
- Taking original ideas from sources and including them in your paper as if they were your own conclusions.
- Cutting and pasting material from the Internet into your paper without citing your sources.
- Letting someone else (a friend, classmate, parent, etc.) write parts of your paper for you.
- Buying a paper from a commercial source and submitting it as your own, or taking a paper from a classmate, friend, or anyone else and submitting it as if you wrote it.
- Submitting drawings, musical compositions, computer files or any other kinds of material created originally by someone else, and claiming or implying that you created it yourself.
Any student found by a faculty member to have committed academic dishonesty may be subject to the following sanctions. A faculty member may impose sanctions 1,2,3, and 4. The faculty member may recommend to the Associate Dean or Dean of Continuing Education and Sustainability that sanctions 5, 6, or 7 be imposed. All cases of academic dishonesty must be recorded on the Report of Academic Dishonesty form and sent to the appropriate Associate Dean or the Dean of Continuing Education and Sustainability who will forward a copy to the Dean of Student Development. The Dean of Student Development keeps a record of all cases of academic dishonesty, and if a student has repeated offenses, the Dean of Student Development may recommend additional actions and penalties. The maximum penalty is expulsion from the College.
- Academic Warning – A written notice to the student that he/she has violated the academic dishonesty policy.
- Grade Adjustment – Lowering of a score on a test or assignment, which could result in a 0 for that assignment.
- Discretionary Sanctions – Additional academic assignments determined by the faculty member.
- Course Failure – Failure of a student in the course where academic dishonesty has occurred.
- Disciplinary Probation – Continued enrollment of a student with written notice of the terms and length of probation. Any conduct in violation of these regulations while on probationary status may result in the imposition of a more serious disciplinary action.
- Suspension – If a student is suspended, he or she is separated from the College for a stated period of time with conditions of readmission to the College
- Expulsion – Permanent removal and exclusion from the College.
Appeal of Sanctions for Academic Dishonesty
Students can appeal sanctions imposed for academic dishonesty. Faculty member sanctions 1, 2, 3, and 4 may be appealed through the Grade Appeal Process found in the College catalog and website. Disciplinary sanctions 5, 6, and 7 may be appealed by following the Disciplinary Procedures outlined in the College Student Handbook and on the College website.