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Academic dishonesty is prohibited in The City University of New York and is punishable by penalties, including failing grades, suspension, and expulsion, as provided herein.
I. Definitions and Examples of Academic Dishonesty
Cheating is the unauthorized use or attempted use of material, information, notes, study aids devices or communication during an academic exercise.
The following are some examples of cheating, but by no means is it an exhaustive list:
- Copying from another student during an examination or allowing another to copy your work.
- Unauthorized collaboration on a take home assignment or examination.
- Using notes during a closed book examination.
- Taking an examination for another student, or asking or allowing another student to take an examination for you.
- Changing a graded exam and returning it for more credit.
- Submitting substantial portions of the same paper to more than one course without consulting with each instructor.
- Preparing answers or writing notes in a blue book (exam booklet) before an examination.
- Allowing others to research and write assigned papers or do assigned projects, including use of commercial term paper services.
- Giving assistance to acts of academic misconduct/ dishonesty.
- Fabricating data (all or in part).
- Submitting someone else’s work as your own.
- Unauthorized use during an examination of any electronic devices such as cell phones, palm pilots, computers or other technologies to retrieve or send information.
Plagiarism is the act of presenting another person’s ideas, research or writings as your own.
The following are some examples of plagiarism, but by no means is it an exhaustive list:
- Copying another person’s actual words without the use of quotation marks and footnotes attributing the words to their source.
- Presenting another person’s ideas or theories in your own words without acknowledging the source.
- Using information that is not common knowledge without acknowledging the source.
- Failing to acknowledge collaborators on homework and laboratory assignments.
Internet Plagiarism includes submitting downloaded term papers or parts of term papers, paraphrasing or copying information from the internet without citing the source, and “cutting & pasting” from various sources without proper attribution.
Obtaining Unfair Advantage is any activity that intentionally or unintentionally gives a student an unfair advantage in his/her academic work over another student.
The following are some examples of obtaining an unfair advantage, but by no means it is an exhaustive list:
- Stealing, reproducing, circulating or otherwise gaining advance access to examination materials.
- Depriving other students of access to library materials by stealing, destroying, defacing, or concealing them.
- Retaining, using or circulating examination materials which clearly indicate that they should be returned at the end of the exam.
- Intentionally obstructing or interfering with another student’ s work.
Falsification of Records and Officials Documents
The following are some examples of falsification, but by no means is it an exhaustive list:
- Forging signatures of authorization.
- Falsifying information on an official academic record.
- Falsifying information on an official document such as a grade report, letter of permission, drop/add form, ID card or other college document.
Adapted with permission from Baruch College: A Faculty Guide to Student Academic Integrity. The Baruch College document includes excerpts from University of California’s web page entitled “The Academic Dishonesty Question: A guide to an Answer through Education, Prevention, Adjudication and Obligation” by Prof. Harry Nelson.
Hunter College Policy on Academic Integrity
To initiate the procedure for addressing an allegation of academic dishonesty, faculty members must first determine if they are seeking an academic sanction or a disciplinary sanction. An academic sanction involves a grade penalty only (i.e., a reduced grade); a disciplinary sanction involves various penalties, which may include a grade penalty.
I. Procedure for Academic Sanctions
- When the faculty member suspects academic dishonesty and wants only an academic sanction, the professor should first confer with the student. If the student admits to the violation, the instructor should inform the student of the grade penalty and report the action taken on the “Report Form: Academic Dishonesty-Academic Sanctions” to the Hunter College Academic Integrity Official, currently, Dean Michael Escott, in the Office of Student Services, room 1103 East Building.
- If the student admits to academic dishonesty but believes the grade penalty is too severe, the instructor should fill out the appropriate line on the “Report Form: Academic Dishonesty-Academic Sanctions” and submit it to the Hunter College Academic Integrity Official. The instructor shall submit the grade at the end of the semester. At that point, the student may contest the grade sanction by appealing the course grade through the college’s grade appeal procedure. Once the student has admitted the violation, s/he may contest only the severity of the grade sanction, not the dishonesty allegation itself. If the student appeals the grade, the departmental and Senate grade appeals committees should send copies of their findings to the Hunter College Academic Integrity Official.
- If the student denies the allegation of academic dishonesty, the faculty member will report that this is the student’s position on “Report Form: Academic Dishonesty-Academic Sanctions.” The matter will then be reviewed and a judgment rendered by the Academic Integrity Review Committee (described below).
- Students who either admit to an act of academic dishonesty or are found to have committed one by the Academic Integrity Review Committee will receive a letter from Hunter College Academic Integrity Official notifying them that this matter has been reported to the Office of Student Services. When an academic dishonesty accusation is resolved by the Academic Integrity Review Committee, the student and faculty member will be notified of the findings.
II. Procedure for Disciplinary Sanctions
- If the faculty member suspects academic dishonesty and seeks a disciplinary sanction (see “Report Form: Academic Dishonesty–Disciplinary Sanctions” for a list of options), which may also include an academic sanction, the faculty member should submit the attached “Report Form: Academic Dishonesty–Disciplinary Sanctions” to the Hunter College Academic Integrity Official. (Disciplinary sanctions are not issued when only academic sanctions are sought. The college always retains the right, however, to bring disciplinary charges against the student if there is a history of academic dishonesty.)
- The allegation against the student will then be adjudicated, as is currently done, through the CUNY Faculty Student Disciplinary Procedure. This procedure, in its entirety, can be found in Appendix E of the Hunter College Undergraduate Catalog, 2007-2010, and in Bylaws of the Board of Trustees of the Hunter College Graduate Catalog, 2006-2009.
III. Academic Integrity Review Committee
The purpose of the Academic Integrity Review Committee is to review evidence when an academic sanction is being sought and when the allegations of academic dishonesty are in dispute. The Committee will proceed in the following manner:
- If the charge of academic dishonesty is denied by the student, the faculty member will advise the student that the matter has been referred to Hunter College Academic Integrity Official, who will initiate the fact-finding process to be conducted by the Academic Integrity Review Committee.
- A panel of three Academic Integrity Review Committee members will be selected and convened by Hunter College Academic Integrity Official to review the evidence for each case.
- The faculty member and student will be invited to present their case at a formal hearing, which will be conducted within 30 days of receipt of “The Report Form: Academic Dishonesty–Academic Sanctions.”
- The committee will deliberate in closed session (i.e., with neither student nor instructor present) and submit its findings, in writing, to the Hunter College Academic Integrity Official, who will then notify the faculty member and student. Although faculty members reserve the right to submit grades whenever they deem appropriate, they are encouraged not to submit grades for the disputed work or a final course grade until they have been notified of the committee’s findings. Students may appeal the final course grade through the college’s grade appeal process.
Committee Structure:
The Academic Integrity Review Committee will be appointed by the Vice President for Student Affairs. The Hunter College Senate will nominate four faculty members and eight students to serve on this committee. The Faculty Delegate Assembly will also nominate four faculty members.
A panel of three, consisting of two faculty members and one student selected from the sixteen committee members, will be convened by the Hunter College Academic Integrity Official for each review or hearing. Faculty members and graduate students affiliated with the department, and undergraduate students majoring in the department’ s programs, will not be selected to serve on that particular panel.
IV. Clarifications of the Process
All questions regarding these procedures or the college’s disciplinary process should be referred to the Hunter College Academic Integrity Official, currently, Dean Michael Escott (Room 1103 East Building, phone (212) 772-4876 or e-mail at michael.escott@hunter.cuny.edu).
Complete policy and forms to report instances of suspected academic dishonesty and/or forms to request disciplinary action are available at http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/senate/documents.shtml or in the office of Dean Michael Escott, 1103 Hunter East.
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