Standards of Conduct - Academic Behaviors

POLICY ON ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
As affirmed in the Mission Statement of St. Francis College, “Both the Franciscan heritage and the Catholic tradition establish a cornerstone of academic excellence, social responsibility, and mutual respect throughout the entire College community.” Academic integrity (honesty) entails being truthful to oneself and to the larger College community, being original in thought and expression, and attributing honestly ideas and words taken from other sources. Originality of thought and expression is fundamental to academic discourse, as is honesty in giving credit to other thinkers when using their ideas and words. Academic integrity embodies the values of sound moral character and of excellence, social responsibility, and mutual respect which are upheld, in the College Mission Statement, as cornerstones of the College Community.
The academic integrity principle, broadly stated, means students have done or have prepared the work or research in or out of class that bears their names and that they have given proper acknowledgement for the use of materials and sources.
The Policy on Academic Integrity has been developed to provide students and faculty with guidelines to determine what conduct violates the academic integrity principle and procedures for dealing with conduct alleged to be in violation of the academic integrity principle. These procedures guarantee due process to all members involved in cases of alleged violation of academic integrity and protect the rights of faculty and students involved in such cases.
A violation of academic integrity takes place whenever anyone undermines the academic integrity of the College or attempts to take unfair advantage of others. Academic integrity is not simply a matter of conforming to certain rules; it must be understood in terms of broader academic purposes of a St. Francis College education. The following are given as examples of violations of academic integrity, but this list is not and cannot be exhaustive.
Cheating – Attempting to use or using unauthorized material or information as study aids in any academic exercise. When not specifically allowed by the instructor, visually or verbally receiving or giving information during and/or receiving or giving answers to tests, quizzes, examinations, and assignments is a form of unauthorized assistance and is defined as cheating.
Counterfeit work – Includes work submitted as one’s own that was created, researched, or produced, in whole or in part, by someone else. Turning in a report of another’s research, submitting a paper researched or written by someone else, having someone else take a test, and submitting joint projects as solely one’s own are all forms of counterfeit work and are unacceptable.
Falsification of academic records – Making any falsified or altered College document or record relating to a student’s academics at the College or altering any College document or record relating to a student’s academics at the College without authorization and/or in bad faith. This includes but is not limited to knowingly and improperly changing grades on transcripts, grade sheets, electronic data sheets, related documents, academic reports, tests and projects.
Falsification of data or creation of false data – Falsification, fabrication, or alteration of data in research or experimental procedures is considered an act of violation of academic integrity.
Plagiarism – Includes presenting as one’s work the work of someone else without properly acknowledging the source (in work, for example, for specific class assignments or for submissions to campus publications). Plagiarism is theft: using the words and ideas of another person as if they were one’s own. Exact copying should be enclosed in quotation marks and be appropriately documented in footnotes or endnotes that indicate the source of the quotation. Paraphrasing, when the basic sentence structure, phraseology, and unique language remain the same, is also plagiarism. When in doubt about these matters, it is the student’s responsibility to seek guidance from the instructor of the course prior to submitting material for course credit.
Theft – Communicating all or any part of tests or answer sheets, specifically prepared for a given course and as yet not used or publicly released by the instructor of a course, and theft of completed tests constitute violations of academic integrity.
Unauthorized reuse of work – Submitting the same work to more than one class without consent of the instructors involved constitutes a violation of academic integrity.
Disciplinary Procedure for Academic Misconduct
The Disciplinary Procedure for Academic Misconduct contains both an informal and formal process. The parties are entitled to privacy at each stage of the process, whether informal and formal. The faculty member who discovers the violation will determine whether attempting an informal inquiry is appropriate.
Students may not withdraw their registration from the course involved once the informal or formal inquiry process has begun. A formal inquiry must be initiated by the end of the semester following the semester in which the incident occurs.
A member of the faculty who discovers in a student’s work or conduct what he or she judges to be an act of academic dishonesty will deal with the matter as follows:
Informal Inquiry
A faculty member suspecting a student of a violation of academic integrity may attempt to deal with the situation in an informal manner. A faculty member may also decide that the matter is serious enough to bypass the informal inquiry and to proceed directly to a formal inquiry.
The informal inquiry involves the faculty member discussing the situation with the student suspected of the violation and informing the student of the penalty sought to be imposed by the faculty member. If the student does not challenge the penalty, the matter is resolved.
If the matter cannot be informally resolved by the faculty member and the student, the faculty member will notify the Department Chair, who will offer to meet with the faculty member and the student to assist them in informally resolving the matter. If either the student or the faculty member declines the meeting with the Department Chair, or no informal resolution is reached during the meeting, the matter will proceed to a formal inquiry.
Formal Inquiry:
A formal inquiry is held when a suspected violation of academic integrity is not and cannot be resolved during the informal inquiry process or if the faculty member determines that the matter is serious enough to bypass the informal inquiry and to proceed directly to a formal inquiry.
When a formal inquiry is necessary, the faculty member will report the matter to the Committee on Academic Integrity (the “Committee”). The Chair of the Committee will invite the faculty member and student concerned to submit a statement in writing detailing the incident and any evidence pertinent to the matter. The faculty member and the student should submit a copy of any physical evidence referred to in their statements along with their statements if possible, or explain why they cannot provide the evidence to the Committee. The statement and related evidence must be submitted to the Committee within seven (7) days of receiving the Chair of the Committee’s invitation.
The Committee will consider the statement and the evidence submitted by both the faculty member and the student. The Committee may interview the involved student and/or faculty member, but is not required to do so. The Committee also reserves the right to seek additional relevant information from other pertinent sources.
The Committee will determine whether the student has committed a violation of academic integrity and what, if any sanction will be imposed for this violation. Possible sanctions are discussed in the next section. The Committee will inform the student and the faculty member of its finding within ten (10) business days of receiving the statements and evidence from both the student and the faculty member.
The decision of the Committee on Academic Integrity shall be final and binding on both the faculty member and the student. Records of student violations of academic integrity confirmed by the Committee will be maintained by the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Academic Dean.
Possible Sanctions
If the Committee determines that the student has committed a violation of academic integrity, it may impose any of the non-exhaustive list of sanctions below. The Committee may impose more than one of the below sanctions if deemed appropriate. The sanctions described in numbers 4, 5, and 6 are only available for more serious or repeated offenses.
1. A grade of F on the paper, examination, or assignment.
2. Reduction of final course grade.
3. A grade of F for the course.
4. Disciplinary dismissal from the College for at least one semester following the semester in which the offense has occurred.
5. Immediate disciplinary dismissal from the College for not longer than the remainder of the current and the following semester.
6. Permanent disciplinary dismissal from the College.
7. A grade of F for the course.
8. Disciplinary dismissal from the College for at least one semester following the semester in which the offense has occurred. Immediate disciplinary dismissal from the College for not longer than the remainder of the current and the following semester.
9. Permanent disciplinary dismissal from the College.
Students may not withdraw their registration from the course involved once a report has been made to the Committee on Academic Integrity. A formal inquiry must be initiated by the end of the semester following the semester in which the incident occurs.
Committee on Academic Integrity
A. Organization

• The Committee shall be composed of five faculty members, elected from each of the four divisional groups and one at-large, and two students (one from senior year and one from junior year) appointed by the Student Government.

B. Duties:

• To foster the values of academic integrity among students, faculty, administrators and staff. To act as a board of review in all cases concerned with violations of academic integrity in accord with the established policy and procedures on academic integrity.

Students may not withdraw their registration from the course involved once a report has been made to the Committee on Academic Integrity. A formal inquiry must be initiated by the end of the semester following the semester in which the incident occurs.