Academic Integrity ================== from the [college handbook](https://www.marlboro.edu/college-handbook/academic-information/), under "Policy on Academic Integrity". Policy on Academic Integrity ============================ Preamble -------- Marlboro College community members have a commitment to living with integrity. The faculty, staff, and students strive to live and learn with honesty and respect for each other and each other’s work. It is the responsibility of all students to inform themselves of the content of Marlboro College’s Statement on Academic Integrity which describes students' responsibilities in ensuring the academic integrity of their work. This Policy on Academic Integrity explains how Marlboro College deals with student plagiarism, a major infraction against the academic community, and the roles of students, faculty and the Committee on Academic Integrity in that process. "Plagiarism" occurs when a student, with intent to deceive or with reckless disregard for proper scholarly procedures, presents any information, ideas or phrasing of another as if they were his/her own and/or does not give appropriate credit to the original source. Proper scholarly procedures require that all quoted material be identified by quotation marks or indentation on the page, and the source of information and ideas, if from another, must be identified and be attributed to that source. Students are responsible for learning proper scholarly procedures. Process: Faculty Member: Initial Determination of Infraction ------------------------------------------------------------ Initial Determination A faculty member will determine whether student work submitted to them constitutes plagiarism, regardless of whether the infraction is deliberate, or arises from student negligence or confusion as to proper acknowledgement. A faculty member may consult with colleagues during the process of evaluating an infraction, but must not identify the student to others. A faculty member with reason to believe that student work that has been submitted may be plagiarized will meet with the student involved as soon as possible to notify the student of the work in question, to discuss the concern and inform the student of this policy. The faculty member should make a determination of plagiarism within five academic calendar working days. If the faculty member determines that no infraction occurred, he/she will notify the student of that determination, without reporting the suspected infraction to the Committee on Academic Integrity. If the faculty member determines that an infraction has occurred, he/she will decide upon a sanction and communicate that sanction to the student. Sanctioning Guidelines If a faculty member determines that the infraction arose as a result of student negligence or confusion as to proper acknowledgement, the faculty member may deal with such infractions individually with the student without reporting the infraction to the Committee on Academic Integrity. In this case the faculty member is encouraged to require the student to resubmit the work. If a faculty member determines that the infraction did not arise as a result of student negligence or confusion as to proper acknowledgement, the faculty member will fail the work deemed to be plagiarized, and may fail the student for the course, depending on the severity and scope of the plagiarism. In order to aid the faculty member in this determination a record of previous infractions with their penalties will be kept. This record will not contain any information that will identify the student whose work it is but will give a record of the type and extent of the plagiarism and the penalty imposed. This record will be kept by the Director of Academic Advising. If the sanction will render the student eligible for dismissal, the Director of Academic Advising will refer the case to the Committee on Academic Integrity for a case hearing. Reporting to the Committee on Academic Integrity If the faculty member has determined that plagiarism did occur, they will submit the Infraction Reporting Form to the Director of Academic Advising within five academic calendar working days of that determination. This form detailing the infraction, providing documentation, and indicating the sanction(s) will be signed by the faculty member. Infraction Reporting forms will be kept by the Director of Academic Advising in a file until a student's graduation. If a student leaves the college without graduating he/she has the right to petition the Dean of Faculty to have the file removed after a period of not less than six years. Upon receiving the form, the Director of Academic Advising: * will notify the student that the form has been submitted, and offer the student the opportunity to submit a written statement to be filed with the form within five academic calendar working days. If the student submits a statement a copy will be given to the faculty member. * will determine if there have been multiple violations. If the student’s file contains at least two Infraction Reporting forms, the Director, in consultation with another member of the committee will initiate a case hearing by the Committee on Academic Integrity. * may initiate a case hearing with only one filed Infraction Reporting form that, after consultation with another member of the Committee, is agreed to be a sufficiently egregious case of plagiarism. Process: Committee on Academic Integrity: Case Hearing ------------------------------------------------------ A student or a faculty member involved in a case may also request the Chair to initiate a case hearing after the faculty determination of whether an infraction has occurred. The case hearing will be scheduled within 10 academic calendar working days of the decision to hold the hearing. A case hearing consists of the stages described below. The Chair will inform the student and faculty member when the Committee commences each of these stages. 1. The Chair will distribute to the Committee members a copy of the faculty member’s Infraction Reporting Form, and a copy of the student’s statement if one has been submitted. 2. The Committee will schedule a meeting with the student and with the faculty member separately. The student and the faculty member are entitled and encouraged to bring an advisor with them to their meeting. The advisor may recess the meeting for a short time to confer with the student or faculty member without the Committee present. The Committee’s deliberations will include: a discussion of the facts, a determination of responsibility, and assignment of a sanction other than dismissal. 3. The Committee will communicate the determination of responsibility and the sanction imposed to the student and faculty member within two academic calendar working days of the last meeting with the student or faculty member. If necessary, the Committee will make a recommendation for action to the full faculty in the closed portion of the faculty meeting, and will communicate the faculty’s decision within two academic calendar days to the student and faculty member. The Chair will place a copy of the communication into the student’s Committee on Academic Integrity file. 4. If the faculty member’s initial determination of an infraction occurs within two weeks of the end of a semester and timely scheduling of a case hearing process is not possible, or if the faculty member are unable to complete the determination of an infraction within two weeks of the end of a semester, the faculty member will assign the student involved a grade of M and provide the student with a written explanation that the grade is due to a potential plagiarism infraction under this Policy. The faculty member will complete the steps outlined above during the first week of the following semester. If the faculty member is, for any reason, not going to be present in that semester, he/she will designate a proxy to represent him/her in the hearing. If the student is not expected to be on campus then the hearing will take place immediately. A student may choose not to participate in these proceedings. If this happens the process will go forward as outlined above, without him/her present. Sanctioning Guidelines: ----------------------- The Committee may concur with the faculty member’s sanction. The Committee may recommend guided probation or dismissal to the full faculty. In the case of plagiarism on any part of the Work, with affected sections redone acceptably, shall not be resubmitted for examination for one year. Plan sponsors or the faculty may impose additional conditions or requirements. If the Committee does not find plagiarism to have occurred, the Chair will report this to the faculty member and the student, and will destroy the Infraction Reporting form for the case. Procedures for Appeal --------------------- Appeal of the Finding by a faculty member A student has the right to appeal the finding of plagiarism by the faculty member to the Committee on Academic Integrity within five academic calendar working days of the date on which the student is notified by the Chair that an Infraction Reporting Form has been submitted for his/her work. The student must make an appeal in writing to the Chair. The Chair of the Committee or the Director of Academic Advising may also request an appeal hearing on the finding of plagiarism or sanction imposed by the faculty member within five academic calendar working days of that date. The Committee will schedule an appeal hearing within five academic calendar working days of receipt of a student’s written appeal, or the Chair’s or Director of Academic Advising's request for an appeal. The hearing will be confidential. The student and faculty member may testify orally and present any evidence in writing they believe relevant to the appeal. Within two academic calendar working days of the appeal hearing, the Committee will make a decision on the finding of plagiarism and communicate the decision to the student and faculty member. If the Committee finds that plagiarism did not occur, the Chair will destroy the Infraction Reporting Form filed by the faculty member. If the Committee upholds the finding of the faculty member, the file will be retained. The Chair will record such a decision to uphold the faculty finding of plagiarism, and what the final sanction will be in writing in the student’s Committee file. The Chair of the Committee on Academic Integrity will provide written notification of its decision from an appeal hearing to the student, faculty member, and the Dean of Faculty. The decision of the Committee on Academic Integrity will be final. Appeal of the Process The student or faculty member involved in any aspect of the process covered by this Policy has the right to appeal directly to the Dean of Faculty if they believe that the process has not been followed as described. The student or faculty member must make an appeal in writing to the Dean within five academic calendar working days of the date on which they believe a deviation from this process occurred. The Dean, in consultation with concerned parties, will review the application of the process for the incident in question within five academic calendar working days of the appeal request, and will communicate the decision to the student and faculty member in writing. The Dean’s decision will be final. Membership of the Committee on Academic Integrity ------------------------------------------------- The Committee on Academic Integrity consists of two faculty members appointed annually by the Dean of the Faculty, two students elected by Town Meeting annually, and the Director of Academic Advising. In addition to overseeing this Policy and the processes contained within it, the Committee meets regularly to consider regulations of academic policy and issues of academic integrity. The Committee makes recommendations to the faculty either directly or through another committee. Note: This policy was adapted, in part, from the policy of Willamette University with permission. References ---------- * Pavela, Gary. "Applying the Power of Association on Campus: A Model Code of Academic Integrity." Journal of College and University Law 24.1 (Summer 1997) http://www.academicintegrity.org/ai_model.asp. * Office of Judicial Affairs, Duke University, 5 April 2007. http://judicial.studentaffairs.duke.edu/policies/policy_list/academic_dishonesty.html. * Willamette University Policy on Plagiarism, 4 November 2006 http://www.willamette.edu/cla/catalog/2006/resources/policies/