Academic Honesty

Colby-Sawyer College is committed to high standards of academic honesty. Such standards are central to the process of intellectual inquiry, the development of individual character and the maintenance of the college community. The integrity of academic life depends on cooperation among students, faculty and staff.

Forms of Academic Dishonesty

Plagiarism

• Plagiarism is the submission of material as one’s own work that is not the result of one’s own effort. It is the use or imitation of the work of another author or artist and the representation of the work as one’s own. Examples include:
  • Quoting paragraphs, sentences or parts of sentences from other sources without the use of quotation marks and without the use of citations. Sources include but are not limited to the following:
    • Printed sources such as books, essays or articles;
    • Video and audio sources, such as taped interviews or television programs;
    • Papers, videotapes and audiotapes by other students;
    • Electronic sources such as internet, World Wide Web and CD-ROM.
  • Paraphrasing pages, paragraphs or sentences without acknowledging the source.
  • Using other people’s ideas without giving them credit.
  • Writing a paper based on outside sources without using citations and a complete bibliography.
  • Acquiring papers or academic work and submitting it as one’s own.
  • Using artificial intelligence to generate academic work and submitting it as one’s own.
• Cheating
  • Giving, as well as receiving, aid on papers, laboratory experiments, quizzes and exams when not authorized by the faculty member.
  • Handing in papers that are the product of another person’s work.
  • Using notes during a quiz or exam without authorization to do so.
  • Copying from another student’s paper for an assignment or during a quiz or exam.
  • Using one paper for two different classes without prior arrangement with the faculty member(s) involved.
  • Accessing online sources, sites, information during a test, quiz or other assignment when not authorized by the faculty member.
  • Giving papers or academic work to another student for submission without prior arrangement with the faculty member(s) involved

General Violations

The above lists are examples and not meant to be comprehensive. Misrepresenting information to faculty members as well as forging information and/or signatures is considered dishonest behavior and subject to penalty.

Responsibility of Students

• Students are responsible for knowing what constitutes plagiarism and cheating.
• Students are expected to cultivate a working understanding of creative integrity and to act accordingly as an ethical practitioner. Students are expected to consult with their faculty about permissible appropriation in the arts or about the nuances of inspiration versus influence versus imitation.
• Students are not permitted to submit the same paper or project for credit in more than one course without prior written consent of all faculty members and proper citation of the work itself. Students using elements of one of their prior papers/projects in a subsequent paper or project should properly cite the original. Occasionally, a student may wish to use the same research in the fulfillment of assignments for more than one course. In such cases, the student must obtain the permission of each of the faculty members involved.
• No student shall procure, without the written authority of the faculty member, the questions or answers of any exam to be given at a subsequent time or employ unauthorized aids while taking an exam.
• No student shall aid another in violating the academic honesty policy (sell or give a paper, take another’s test, etc.).
• Students and all members of the college community are expected to maintain high standards of academic integrity.

Responsibility of Faculty and Staff

Faculty and staff shall take reasonable steps to reduce the possibility of cheating and shall exercise caution in the preparation, duplication and security of examinations. Faculty members who have evidence that a student has violated the academic honesty policy and have penalized the student for such action must report the violation to the appropriate school dean(s) (hereafter: dean).

Procedures

If a faculty member believes the policy on academic honesty has been violated, the following procedures shall be followed:

• The faculty member may choose to discuss the incident and/or the process to be followed with the appropriate school dean.
• The faculty member discusses the incident with the student.
• Responsive options:
  • After discussing the incident with the student, if the faculty member determines that it is more likely than not that an honesty policy has been violated, the faculty member may decide the penalty, which should be consistent with the course syllabus specifications. Penalties may include but are not limited to: failure of the examination, assignment or course.
  • The faculty member will submit the student’s name, a written description of the violation with supporting evidence, and the penalty to the appropriate school dean and to the student.
  • If the student is not enrolled in the class in which the alleged violation occurred (e.g., the student provided a paper from a previous term or took a test for another student), the appropriate school dean, once notified, will meet with the student to discuss the incident and decide on the penalty.

Responsibilities of the Dean and AVP Office

• Upon receiving the report from the faculty member, the dean will send a letter to the student to explain the policy and review the process. A copy of the letter will also be sent to the Academic Vice President (AVP), who will maintain a record of the academic honesty violation.
  • If the student chooses to appeal the faculty member’s finding, the academic honesty appeals process will be implemented.
  • If a student withdraws from a course prior to or following an act of academic dishonesty, the decision concerning the penalty for the act of academic honesty supersedes the withdrawal; thus, the student may be deemed to have failed the course for academic dishonesty and therefore assigned a grade of “F.”
• Single/Multiple offenses
  • If the academic honesty violation is the first for a particular student, the dean may require an educational component.
  • An academic honesty violation may impact a student’s eligibility for certain college awards, honors or scholarships.
  • If the academic honesty violation is a repeat offense for a particular student, the dean may levy an additional penalty beyond the penalty issued by the faculty member. This will be reported to the student in the aforementioned letter.
    • Normally, a second offense will result in a suspension for a semester which may be the current or following semester.
    • Normally, a third offense will result in a dismissal.
• If an alleged violation took place in a class taught by a dean, then the Academic Vice President will appoint an alternate school dean to assume the dean role.

Records

All records will be maintained in the AVP Office’s files. For one violation, the record will be destroyed at the point of graduation or the student’s withdrawal from the college. For multiple academic honesty violations, a permanent record will be placed in the student’s file and a notation will appear on the transcript. A dismissal also results in a permanent record.

Academic Honesty Appeals Process

Appealing a Faculty Member’s Finding

Students may appeal a finding of academic honesty violation or associated penalty for the following reasons:

• Procedural error in the initial sanctioning process; or
• Imposition of an inappropriate or excessive penalty.

Simple disagreement with a faculty member is not a sufficient basis for an appeal.

After receiving the letter from the dean, a student may petition in writing and provide evidence to the dean to appeal the finding of academic honesty violation or associated penalty. This appeal must be received within a period of five business days from the date of the dean’s letter to the student. The petition for appeal must be based upon one of the claims listed above.

Upon receiving an appeal request, the dean will assemble the Deans’ Council to discuss the evidence supplied by the student and the process, including any additional information that is needed, dates for submission of this information, and timeline for the appeal process and decision. Every effort will be made to have this occur prior to the start of the next academic semester. An Academic Honesty Appeal may result in one of the following actions:

• Confirmation of the original faculty decision;
• Confirmation of the original faculty decision and alteration of the original penalty; or
• Reversal of the original faculty decision and cancellation of the original penalty.

The determination of the Deans’ Council is final.

Notice

A member of the Deans’ Council will notify in writing the student, the student’s advisor, and the faculty member(s) of their decision. A copy of this written notification will be stored in the AVP Office’s files.