AS&E Academic Honesty Policy
Summary of key changes
Most relevant points for Pre-major
advisers
Section I. Introduction
“The students, faculty and administrators of the College comprise a
community of scholars who are committed to the pursuit of excellence in
learning, teaching, creativity and research.”
• Trust: Academic honesty creates the necessary conditions of mutual trust
and open communication that make intellectual inquiry and growth
possible.
• Shared obligation: students, faculty, staff, administrators.
• Courage
• Our overarching objective in designing specific policy measures: to
promote a just and trustworthy community, and to ensure equity, clarity
and consistency in our adjudication of all alleged academic dishonesty
cases.
Section II. Who is covered?
• NEW: Inclusion of AS&E graduate students
under the policy
• All ug and grad students, matriculated or nonmatriculated, who are enrolled in courses
taught in the College
Sections III, IV, VI . Educating the AS&E
Community
• A strong and consistent effort to educate all members of the AS&E
community about the policy is essential for effectiveness and fairness.
New sanctioning options (Section XI) are predicated on the education that
will occur through these measures, among others:
– Pre-enrollment communications with ugs:
• notice in orientation e-newsletter;
• Online summary of AH policy sent to all incoming students over the summer for
them to read and acknowledge. Check their records in Onbase for completion.
– Discussions addressing AH policy during ug orientation (more on this
later)
– Beginning of term announcement on Blackboard
– Inclusion of AH statement on all syllabi; in-class discussion of AH
– Honor Pledge
Section V. Violations of Academic
Honesty
• All violations contained in the current policy
remain.
• Newly defined violations:
• #4) Misconduct in group work
• #7) Unauthorized Recording, Distribution or
Publication of Course-Related Materials;
• #8) Misuse of a Student’s Username and Password;
• #9) Impeding the Investigation or Conduct of Any
BAH Matter.
Sections IX and X.
Procedures for Reporting Cases
• New: Addition of the “Warning Letter” option
(Section IX.A.)
• Instructor Resolution with Penalty (IX.B) and
Board Resolution (X) processes are equivalent
to the old Short Form and Long Form
processes.
Section XII. Sanctioning Guidelines (New Section
)
• Categories of offenses and range of penalties are defined.
Most reflect current sanctions determined by the BAH.
• Flexibility in sanctioning is still given.
• New sanctions:
– Academic honesty tutorial required after first responsible
finding.
– XE and XF grades, which appear on transcript and are
flagged as grades resulting from a finding of academic
dishonesty. Meant primarily for second offenses of a
moderate to major category.
– Academic Disciplinary Probation options are defined.
Section XV. Confidentiality; Internal and External Reporting
(New section)
• Under the new policy, a student’s BAH history may be
reported within the College and in response to requests from
external organizations under prescribed procedures. The
student whose record is requested must have submitted the
request, or signed off on a waiver that allows this reporting.
What to do if your advisee comes to
you with an AH concern
• A course instructor has not addressed AH or a
course instructor does not include honor pledge
on an exam, for example
– Encourage self-advocacy: Talk to instructor; file AH
Concern Report
• A student is accused of academic dishonesty
– Will the pre-major adviser find out?
– What if the student tells the adviser about a case?
• BAH website to review policy
• AH liaison (located in CETL)
• Attend hearing for moral support if requested by student
Orientation Group Meeting Discussion
• The group meeting remains the primary time during orientation
when AH is addressed.
• Prior to meeting, remind students about the online
acknowledgment form and the online AH quizzes (at BAH website)
• At the group meeting:
– Ask students why AH matters
– Mention that surveys show that employers rank honesty/integrity first
among qualities they seek
– Personalize the importance of AH in our community using your
experience
– Course instructors are best resource for specific course expectations
– Brainstorm examples of dishonesty (Section V of Policy)
– Brainstorm common situations—(Following page)
Common Situations
– Choose sample situations from AH Quiz for discussion, or
prompt a discussion of common situations—that do not
have one “right” answer. Focus on things that lead to
dishonesty, rather than details of our adjudication process:
– a friend asks you to look over an essay to proofread it;
– a friend asks to see your completed essay, lab report or math problem set
as a “guide” to doing it him/herself;
– you don’t have time to go back and complete your citations for a paper;
– when discussing how to solve a problem or analyze data from a lab, you
take notes (written or on computer) or copy your partner’s solution to
refer to later
– in a lab you do the experiment and collect all the data as a team. The lab
report is to be your independent work. How much can you collaborate on
the written report?
– you are pressured to do something that you know is dishonest to “help”
a friend. What might be the consequences of agreeing? Of refusing?
Numbers of cases reported, 5 years
• 2014-15
– Long Forms: 67 (5 exonerations)
– Short Forms: 68
• 2013-14
– Long Forms: 40
– Short Forms: 65
2012-13
– Long Forms: 36 (4 exonerations)
– Short Forms: 56
• 2011-12
– Long Forms: 44 (11 exonerations)
– Short Forms: 31
• 2010-11
– Long Forms: 25 (2 exonerations)
– Short Forms: 45