Academic Policies

Academic Honesty | Academic Dishonesty | More on Plagiarism | Grievance Procedures

Academic Honesty
All members of the university community have the responsibility to maintain and foster a condition and an atmosphere of academic integrity. Specifically, this requires that all classroom, laboratory, and written work for which a person claims credit is in fact that person's own work. The annual university Student Handbook publication has detailed information on academic integrity.

Students assume responsibility for the content and integrity of the academic work they submit. Students are in violation of academic honesty if they incorporate into their written or oral reports any unacknowledged, published, unpublished, or oral material from the work of another (plagiarism); or if they use, request, or give unauthorized assistance in any academic work (cheating). See more on plagiarism below.

The instructor of any course has the first responsibility for dealing with violations of academic honesty in that course by imposing penalties in grading, repetition of an examination or written work, or other reasonable penalty. Violations may also be brought before the Academic Honesty Committee in SOE.

A student who feels unjustly accused by an instructor of a violation of academic honesty may also take the matter to the Academic Honesty Committee.

Academic Honesty Committee Procedures are detailed in the School of Education By-Laws. Copies are available in the SOE Dean's Office, Academic B-133. Telephone 607-777-7329.

Academic Dishonesty
The following actions constitute forms of behavior which are academically dishonest and, therefore, subject to punishment in SOE:

* Use of "crib" sheets or similar materials during examinations
* Sharing/copying of answers on homework, quizzes, examinations or computer projects
* Use of books, class notes, charts, or other materials which have not been authorized by the course instructor or examination proctor
* Failure to observe the rules/requirements/directions associated with the dissemination and collection of exam or quiz materials
* Improperly securing and/or providing to others advance knowledge of questions/materials to be included on a test or quiz
* Depriving others of access (through theft or similar means) to required course materials or library materials which are a necessary source of information for all students in class (for example, library reserve materials, class hand-outs)
* Improperly attributed or unattributed use of source materials and/or the words or ideas of other individuals, published or unpublished. This includes failure to use quotation marks and/or proper footnotes when quoting another individual or source document.
* Unauthorized and/or unacknowledged collaboration in the preparation or writing of a term paper, report, computer programming assignment, case analysis, or class presentation
* Failure to participate fully and equitably in assigned team projects and/or dishonestly presenting collaborative work as representing a "fair share" contribution by all "team" members
* Buying or selling of term papers or reports and/or submission of another person's work as your own
* Finally, it must be understood that toleration, encouragement, and/or failure to report acts of academic dishonesty- thus condoning such behavior-is itself a dishonest act.

More on Plagiarism
What is Plagiarism? A Short Concept Lesson by Ted Frick, Indiana University includes 10 self-test practice items. http://education.indiana.edu/~frick/plagiarism/

Grievance Procedures
The School of Education strongly supports a range of efforts at mediating grievances before they are channeled formally.

SOE has a standing Grievance Committee which has membership from among the faculty, administrative, undergraduate, and graduate student constituencies. It is this committee which acts as a hearing board for student-initiated grievances involving SOE faculty, administrators, or students. This committee meets on a grievance or complaint only after attempts to remedy the grievance have been undertaken first with the party who is the subject of the grievance, and then, if necessary, with the student's faculty adviser who will attempt to mediate the situation.

If the student has consulted with the party and the faculty adviser and has been unable to obtain consideration of and/or an acceptable remedy to the grievance, the student may next request in writing that the Grievance Committee be convened.

For additional information on academic honesty, go to http://gradschool.binghamton.edu/fs/honesty.asp.