Policies and Procedures

POLICY 5420D:
CHEATING AND PLAGIARISM
Students found cheating or plagiarizing may be disciplined Consequences may include dismissal from a class, program, or the College. Students retain the right of due process and, therefore, may appeal the decision through the Academic Grievance Policy 5430B.

Cheating includes but is not necessarily limited to:

1. Submission of work that is not the student’s own for papers, assignments or exam.
2. Submission of falsified data.
3. Theft of or unauthorized access to an exam.
4. Use of an alternate, stand-in or proxy during an exam.
5. Use of or supplying of unauthorized material including textbooks, notes or computer programs in the preparation of an assignment or during an exam.
6. Unauthorized collaboration in preparation of an assignment. Each student is responsible for understanding the policies of the instructor offering any course regarding the amount of help and collaboration permitted or required in preparation of assignments.
7. Plagiarism, explained below.

Plagiarism is knowingly representing the words or ideas of another as one’s own in any academic exercise or activity. It is failure to properly document the source with quotation marks and/or include the appropriate citation if any of the following are reproduced in the work submitted by a student:

1. A phrase, written or musical.
2. A graphic element.
3. A proof.
4. Specific language.
5. An idea derived from the work, published or unpublished, of another person.

PROCEDURE 5420D:
CHEATING AND PLAGIARISM

Students found cheating or plagiarizing may be disciplined.

All cases of cheating or plagiarizing are initially handled at the discretion of the instructor. If an instructor determines that a student has cheated or plagiarized, the instructor can determine an appropriate consequence. These consequences may include:

• Giving the student a grade of "F" for the assignment in question,
• Giving the student a final grade of "F" for that course and dismissing the student from the course.

A student may also be dismissed from a program. This consequence is limited to programs, such as the health sciences where students deal with the safety and well-being of patients and that have specific rules and procedures related to dismissal included in the program’s student handbook. If the program’s student handbook allows dismissal from a program for cheating or plagiarism, a student may be dismissed.

Students who have cheated or plagiarized more than once may be expelled from the College. However, every student has the right to due process and can choose to appeal the decision through the Academic Grievance process (see Academic Grievance Policy 5430B). Instructors who discipline students for cheating or plagiarism should notify students of this right to appeal. 

Cross Referenced: Policy 6220D

Adopted December 31, 1968

Adopted June 26, 1986

Revised June 24, 1999