Student Policy and Procedures

 

 

ACADEMIC HONESTY

Policy

Parkland College’s values include honesty, integrity, and responsibility.   Students, faculty, and staff are all expected to maintain academic integrity in their work and take collective responsibility for preventing violations of intellectual ownership. Academic dishonesty is unacceptable, and the institution is committed to helping students learn these values through development and growth. Personal commitment, honest work, and honest achievement are necessary characteristics for an educated person. The process of determining the consequences of academic dishonesty begins with the faculty member and may proceed to include the department chair and/or the Office of the Vice President for Academic Services. All Incidents of academic dishonesty, including developmental or punitive action, should be referred in writing to the Office of the Vice President for Academic Services.

Procedure

  1. Academic Honesty can be broadly defined as performing academic work without cheating, fabrication, or plagiarism:
    1. Cheating: Using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information, or study aids in any academic activity.
      Submitting as one’s own work term papers, homework, and examinations that are not one’s own work or for which a student received unauthorized help. Copying the work of another, or allowing another to copy one’s own work, without proper acknowledgment.
    2. Fabrication: Falsifying or inventing any information or citation in an academic activity
    3. Plagiarism: External information borrowed and directly quoted must be indicated by use of quotation marks, and any changes, omissions, or addition to the direct quotation must be shown in bracket, and the source documented. All cited external information that has been paraphrased and summarized must also be documented.
    4. Collaboration: Students at Parkland College are encouraged to work together on group projects, study, and other activities. However, work submitted to fulfill an assignment not specifically identified as a group activity must be substantially the work of the author. Instructors should provide guidelines to students to maintain the academic integrity of these collaborative activities. Collaboration beyond this constitutes academic misconduct
  2. Repercussions of Violations
    The consequences of a violation of the expectations of academic honesty begins with the concerned faculty member. The faculty member will inform the student privately of her/his findings and attempt a resolution of the problem.
    Depending upon the nature of the case, such resolution could include additional assignments to help educate the student of the nature and negative consequences of academic dishonesty, resubmission of the assignment, a failing grade for that assignment, or failure of the course. The faculty member will notify the student of her/his decision and will file incident reports with the respective department chair and the Office of the Vice President for Academic Services.

    If the student is not satisfied with the instructor’s decision, he or she may contact the department chair or designee (e. g. , program director) within 1 0 (ten) school days of the incident. The department chair will proceed to review the actions taken by gathering all relevant information from the student and the instructor. The department chair will meet together with the student and the instructor to attempt to resolve the issue to both parties’ satisfaction.

    An incident report, and possible subsequent disciplinary action, will not be halted due to withdrawal from the course in which academic dishonesty has occurred. Students will not be allowed to withdraw from a course in which they received a failing grade for academic dishonesty.
  3. Appeal Process:
    If the student is not satisfied with the result of an appeal, he or she may petition the Student Affairs Committee.
    1. The committee may review the process followed by the department and determine whether it has been carried out completely and fairly, in accordance with due process. If not, the case will be remanded to the department for reconsideration following the appropriate guidelines. If all procedures have been followed appropriately and no errors detected, the appeal process is complete and the consequences of the incident will remain the same as originally issued
    2. No reprisal shall be taken by the Board of Trustees, administration, faculty, or staff against any student or faculty because of participation in an appeal.
  4. Multiple Offenses
    In cases where three or more incident reports have been filed with the vice president’s office, the student will be charged with an alleged violation of the Student Conduct Code, specifically Acts of Dishonesty. Conduct Code violations will follow the process as outlined in the Student Conduct Code. The Office of the Vice President of Academic Services may direct the judicial officer to impose the sanction of written warning, conduct probation, or restitution.  
    In the event that a more serious sanction is recommended by the Office of the Vice President for Academic Services, a Student Discipline Hearing Committee will be convened to determine if suspension or expulsion is appropriate.

Adopted by the Board of Trustees November 11, 1991. Revision approved by the Board of Trustees June 16, 2004.

Parkland College • 2400 West Bradley Ave. • Champaign, IL 61821 • 217.351.2200 • 800.346.8089

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