Policy on Academic Integrity for Undergraduate and Graduate Students
(adopted by the Faculty Senate, February 10, 2004)
 

I. Academic Integrity

Academic freedom is a fundamental right in any institution of higher learning.  Honesty and integrity are necessary preconditions of this freedom.  Academic integrity requires that all academic work be wholly the product of an identified individual or individuals.  Joint efforts are legitimate only when the assistance of others is explicitly acknowledged.  Ethical conduct is the obligation of every member of the University community, and breaches of academic integrity constitute serious offenses.

Maintenance of the standards of academic honesty and the successful administration of this policy depend on the mutual cooperation of faculty and students.  Dissemination of the Academic Integrity Policy to all faculty, staff, and students will ensure that all members of the community are informed about academic integrity.

Faculty cooperation is essential for successful application of the procedures defined by the Academic Integrity Policy.  Faculty members can help promote academic integrity by making clear on their syllabi the standards for academic integrity in homework assignments, collaborative student efforts, research papers, examinations, and the like.  Efforts should be made to detect and to prevent cheating and plagiarism in all academic assignments.  If faculty members have evidence of academic dishonesty, they are expected to report such evidence promptly.

Students must assume responsibility for maintaining honesty in all work submitted for credit and in any other work designated by the instructor of the course.  Students are also expected to report incidents of academic dishonesty to the instructor or dean of the instructional unit.

This policy seeks to demonstrate the University's concern with academic dishonesty and to guarantee a fair procedure for resolving complaints of academic dishonesty.

II. Violations of Academic Integrity

The various ways in which academic honesty can be violated are discussed below.  The comments and examples within each section provide explanations and illustrative material, but do not necessarily exhaust the scope of these violations.

A. Cheating

Cheating is the use of inappropriate and unacknowledged materials, information, or study aids in any academic exercise. Assistance from other people is restricted or forbidden unless explicitly authorized by the instructor for particular assignments.  Their use in these cases constitutes cheating.  Similarly, students must not request others (including commercial term paper companies) to conduct research or prepare any work for them or use work or research prepared by others.  Students may not submit any work or portions thereof for credit or honors more than once without prior approval of the instructor.

B. Fabrication

Fabrication is the falsification or invention of any information or citation in an academic exercise.  "Invented" information may not be used in any laboratory experiment or other academic exercise without authorization from the instructor.  It is improper, for example, to analyze one sample in an experiment and covertly "invent" data based on that single experiment for several more required analyses.  The student must also acknowledge reliance upon the actual source from which cited information was obtained.  A writer should not, for example, reproduce a quotation from a book review and indicate that the quotation was obtained from the book itself.

C. Facilitating Academic Dishonesty

Students who knowingly or negligently allow their work to be used by other students or who otherwise aid others in academic dishonesty are violating academic integrity.  Such students are as guilty of intellectual dishonesty as the student who receives the material even though they may not themselves benefit academically from that dishonesty.

D. Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the representation of the words or ideas of another person or source as one's own in any academic exercise.  To avoid plagiarism, every direct quotation must be identified by quotation marks or by appropriate indentation and must be properly cited in the text or in a footnote.  Acknowledgment is also required when material from another source stored in print, electronic, or other medium is paraphrased or summarized in whole or in part in one’s own words.  To acknowledge a paraphrase properly, one might state: "to paraphrase Plato's comment..." and conclude with a footnote or citation identifying the exact reference, in this case, to Plato’s work.  A citation or footnote acknowledging only a directly quoted statement does not suffice to notify the reader of any preceding or succeeding paraphrased material.  Information which is common knowledge such as names of leaders of prominent nations, basic scientific laws, etc, need not be footnoted; however, all facts or information obtained in reading or research that are not common knowledge among students in the course must be acknowledged.

A bibliography is a list of sources specifically consulted in the preparation of a paper or project.  In addition to materials specifically cited in the text, only materials that contribute to the author’s general understanding of the subject may be acknowledged in the bibliography.

Plagiarism can, in some cases, be a subtle issue.  Any questions or doubts about what constitutes plagiarism should be discussed with the faculty member.

E. Denying others access to information or material

It is a violation of academic integrity to deny others access to scholarly resources, or to deliberately impede the progress of another student or scholar.  Examples of offenses of this type include: giving other students false or misleading information; making library material unavailable to others by stealing or defacing books or journals, or by deliberately misplacing or destroying reserve materials; or altering computer files that belong to another.

III. Academic Dishonesty Offenses and Sanctions

Any violation of academic honesty is a serious offense and is therefore subject to an appropriate penalty.  Violations at Rutgers University are classified into four levels according to the nature of the infraction.  For each level of violation a corresponding set of sanctions is recommended.  Deans and Hearing Panels are not bound by these illustrations, which are intended as general guidelines for the academic community.  Since adherence to a code of conduct can be seen as a function of socialization into the group whose norms are reflected in such a code, culpability may be assessed differentially for those with more and less experience as members of the academic community; thus, violations of academic integrity by graduate students will presumably be penalized more severely than violations by first semester first year students.  Examples are cited below for each level of violation.  These examples, too, are illustrations and are not to be considered all-inclusive.

A. Level One Violations

Level One violations are those that occur because of inexperience or lack of knowledge of principles of academic integrity on the part of persons committing the violation.  These violations are likely to involve a small fraction of the total course work, are not extensive, and/or occur on a minor assignment.  Cases involving Level One violations will be heard by the campus Judicial Officer and may be referred to the college hearing board.

The following are examples:

• Working with another student on a laboratory or other homework assignment unless the instructor explicitly authorizes such work.
• Failure to footnote or give proper acknowledgment in an extremely limited section of an assignment.

Recommended sanctions for level one violations are listed below; one ore more of these may be chosen in each case:

•  Required attendance in a non-credit workshop or seminar on ethics or related subjects.
•  An assigned paper or research project on a relevant topic.
•  A make-up assignment at a more difficult level than the original assignment.
•  A recommendation to the instructor that no credit be given for the original assignment.

B. Level Two Violations

Level Two violations are those characterized by dishonesty of a more serious nature or which affect a more significant aspect or portion of the course work.  Cases involving Level Two violations will be heard by the campus Judicial Officer and may be referred to the college hearing board.

The following are examples:

• Quoting directly or paraphrasing, to a moderate extent, without acknowledging the source.
• Submitting the same work or major portions thereof to satisfy the requirements of more than one course without permission from the instructor.
• Using data or interpretative material for a laboratory report without acknowledging the sources or the collaborators.  All contributors to preparation of data and/or to writing the report must be acknowledged.
• Receiving assistance from others, such as research, statistical, computer programming, or field data collection help that constitutes an essential element in the undertaking, without acknowledging such assistance in a paper, examination, or project.

Notation of disciplinary probation will be placed on the student's transcript and will remain for the period in which the sanction is in force.  Records of students who commit Level Two offenses will be maintained in the respective Dean’s Office until graduation.

C. Level Three Violations

Level Three violations are those that go beyond level one or two and that, in the opinion of the College Judicial Officer require adjudication at the University level.  Level Three violations include dishonesty that affects a major or essential portion of work done to meet course requirements and/or involves premeditation, or is preceded by one or more violations at levels one and two.  Cases involving Level Three violations will be heard by the campus Judicial Officer and may be referred to a University hearing board.

Examples include:

• Copying on examinations.
• Acting to facilitate copying during an exam.
• Using prohibited materials, e.g., books, notes, or calculators during an examination.
• Collaborating before an exam to develop methods of exchanging information and implementation thereof.
• Altering examinations for the purposes of regrading.
• Acquiring or distributing an examination from unauthorized sources prior to the examination.
• Plagiarizing major portions of a written assignment.
• Presenting the work of another as one's own.
• Using a purchased term paper or other materials.
• Removing posted or reserved material, or preventing other students from having access to it.
• Fabricating data or inventing or deliberately altering material (for example, citing sources that do not exist).
• Using unethical or improper means of acquiring data.

D. Level Four Violations

Level Four violations represent the most serious breaches of intellectual honesty.
Such cases are heard by the campus Judicial Officer and may be referred to a University hearing board.

Examples of Level Four violations include:

• All academic integrity infractions committed after return from suspension for a previous academic integrity violation.
• Infractions of academic integrity resembling to criminal activity (such as forging a grade form, stealing an examination from a professor or from a university office; buying an examination; or falsifying a transcript).
• Having a substitute take an examination or taking an examination for someone else.
• Fabrication of evidence, falsification of data, quoting directly or paraphrasing without acknowledging the source, and/or presenting the ideas of another as one's own in a senior thesis, within a master's thesis or doctoral dissertation, in scholarly articles submitted to refereed journals, or in other work represented as one's own as a graduate student.
• Sabotaging another student's work through actions designed to prevent the student from successfully completing an assignment.
• Willful violation of a canon of the ethical code of the profession for which a graduate student is preparing.

IV. Consequences of Violating the Academic Integrity Policy

Students committing acts of academic dishonesty not only face university censure but run a serious risk of harming their future educational and employment opportunities.  In addition to the notation for a specific sanction placed on the student's transcript and which remains for the term of the sanction, prospective employers and other educational institutions frequently use recommendation forms that ask for judgment and comment on an individual's moral or ethical behavior.  Since such forms are sent with the permission of the student, University faculty and administrators who know of academic dishonesty infractions are ethically bound to report such incidents.  In all cases in which a grade of "F" is assigned for disciplinary reasons, the "F" will remain on the student's transcript, even if the course is retaken and a passing grade is achieved.

V. Administration of the Academic Integrity Policy

Responsibility for administering the Policy on Academic Integrity for the Camden campus rests with the Dean of Students Office in the Office of Student Affairs.  A qualified staff member from that office will serve as the campus Judicial Officer.  Cases will be heard in accordance with the University Code of Student Conduct.

Evidence of academic dishonesty should initially be brought to the attention of the instructor or to the Dean of Students Office.  Any member of the academic community may present evidence of academic dishonesty to the instructor or to the Dean of Students Office.  If a student reports a breach of the policy, the instructor of the course is expected to cooperate in the investigation.

In all cases, violations of the Policy on Academic Integrity should be reported to the campus Judicial Officer.  If a faculty member makes the report, s/he should complete the form entitled “Report of Alleged Academic Integrity Violation.”  The Judicial Officer, or her/his designee, will conduct a preliminary investigation.  If necessary, the Judicial Officer will proceed with a hearing conducted under the appropriate sections of the University Code of Student Conduct.

The procedures to be followed will be provided in writing to the complainant and the respondent.  The complainant and/or the respondent are entitled to the assistance of a Campus Advisor;  the Dean of Students Office can provide a list of advisors.

Students may continue to participate in a course or research activities until the case has been adjudicated.  Under no circumstances should a student be offered a choice of either dropping a course or facing disciplinary action.  A grade of TZ should be assigned, pending resolution of this matter, and no penalties should be imposed until this complaint is resolved.

All disciplinary proceedings are confidential.  Faculty members and students are cautioned not to discuss cases of academic dishonesty outside of the proceedings prescribed by the policy.

If the penalty for an offense is one for which the sanction is separation from the University (Level Three and Level Four), the Dean of Students Office of the degree-granting unit will send the case to the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs.  Hearing guidelines and appeal procedures are outlined in the Code of Student Conduct.

VI. Amendments to the Integrity Code

Suggested changes to this policy may be recommended by the Camden Faculty Senate’s Student Life Committee, the Dean of Students Office,  the Arts and Sciences Dean’s Office, or the School of Business Dean's Office.  Changes shall be approved by the Faculty Senate.

NB:  This policy is based on the Rutgers University—New Brunswick Policy for Academic Integrity and, to a large extent, replicates it.  It has been modified to reflect the structure and responsibilities of the Arts and Sciences Dean’s Office, the School of Business Dean's Office, and the Office of Student Affairs.