Academic integrity is the commitment, even in the face of adversity, to the five values fundamental to the academic process: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility (University of San Diego, 2000).

Honesty involves ethical behavior and abstaining from deceit in all academic work.

Trust involves having confidence in the integrity, ability, character, and truth of a student’s work (assignment, paper, project, test, etc).

Fairness involves all students having an equal chance at learning and participating in educational endeavors, and includes abiding by standards that are applied to everyone in an equitable manner.

Respect involves courteous regard, and proper concern for the welfare of other students, instructors, and oneself.

Responsibility involves taking charge of and being accountable for one’s own honesty, reliability, trustworthiness, and integrity. Students are expected to maintain the highest standards of honesty and integrity in all academic matters.

Expected behaviors which illustrate honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility include, but are not limited to:

• Acknowledging indebtedness and providing proper credit when using another’s ideas, discoveries, words, pictures, graphics, etc. (If unsure, seek guidance from instructors, librarians, or the LAC on how to acknowledge the contributions of others within your writing.)
• Doing one’s own work to receive an honest grade.
• Coming to an exam prepared and only using material and aids authorized by the instructor.
• Participating fully in group projects in which everyone receives a single grade for the work of the whole.
• Completing graded assignments and take-home tests without unauthorized collaboration.
• Reporting knowledge of intended cheating or actual witnessed cheating.
Cheating, allowing others to cheat, plagiarizing, and lying are serious academic offenses that are subject to disciplinary action.
Lack of awareness or understanding of what constitutes academic dishonesty will not be excused. (If you are unsure of anything in this document, please contact your instructor or advisor immediately for clarification.)

Example behaviors of academic dishonesty include, but are not limited to:
• Plagiarizing by claiming parts or entire works of another as one’s own without providing proper credit. This includes downloading, buying, or having another write your papers, reports, speeches, homework, etc.
• Plagiarizing by submitting a paper or assignment when someone else made extensive corrections or rewrote it without informing the instructor of the extent of that help.
• Self-Plagiarizing by submitting a paper written in an earlier course or using the same paper for two courses.
• Cheating by obtaining specific test content beforehand or by bringing information not preapproved by the instructor into the testing area.
• Cheating by getting answers from another or from a cell phone, the Internet, or other device not allowed by the instructor.
• Lying about attendance, missed exams, late papers, etc., to receive time extensions to study, hand in papers, receive credit for late work, etc., thereby asking for unfair advantage over fellow students.
• Attempting to dissuade fair, equitable, and appropriate grading.
• Lying and blaming others for one’s own lack of effort, preparedness, and choices.
• Cheating by allowing another to copy your answers or to use your work as their own.
• Cheating by providing the answers or by doing the work for another on a graded assignment.
• Cheating by telling what is on a test to someone who should not have that information.
• Collaborating on a take-home test or assignment with others without permission from the instructor.
• Cheating by falsifying experimental data in a laboratory in order to get a better result or to feign an experiment that was not actually conducted.

RESPONSIBLE USE OF GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TOOLS STATEMENT

Generative AI is artificial intelligence capable of using an algorithm and a huge database of content to create new content. This may be text, images, audio, video, software code, even knitting patterns. It does this with varying degrees of success, but it is sometimes useful and sometimes hard to distinguish from work created by a person. In general, only use AI when you have approval from your instructor to use AI on an assignment, and are using the AI appropriately in the context of that assignment.

Ethical, legal, and practical cautions when using AI:

• The results generated by an AI tool are unique and can't be This makes them unlike other sources that we typically cite, except personal communications.
• The results generated by an AI tool may contain copyrighted materials, the use of which, without proper citation, may result in liability for the individual presenting them as their own work.
• AI tool terms of service often claim ownership of the copyright of the prompts input by
• AI tool terms of service rarely have any guarantee that users' data will not be sold or turned over to a government entity.
• Generative AI tools are known to "hallucinate" (come up with things that are ) At present, they do not have a way of self-correcting.
• Generative AI tools sometimes come up with scholarly-looking passages complete with citations, but the citations are incorrect.
• A generative AI is only as good as the content it is "trained" If biased, bigoted, or incorrect content was put in, biased, bigoted, and incorrect content will come out.

(Adapted from University of Queensland and SUNY Empire State College)

The following section outlines the disciplinary process for academic integrity violations and spells out the student’s rights to due process. These procedures and the administration of the code violation supplement those outlined in the NCCC Student Code of Conduct in both Section 3 – Disorderly Conduct (pp 13-16) and in the section on Administration of the Code: “Range of Sanctions and Special Conditions for Students Accused of Violating College Regulations” (pp 34-38). The administration of academic integrity violations differs from the Student Code of Conduct procedures in that the first Administrative Hearing is held with the Department Chair or Vice President for Academic Affairs (or designee).
Students found to be in violation of the academic integrity standards of the College are subject to a range of sanctions that may be imposed either by the faculty member or the appropriate College administrator. Those sanctions include:

• Formal Disciplinary Warning/repair

• Failure of the test/assignment

• Failure of the course (which includes forfeiture of tuition, fees and other costs associated with the course)

• Formal Disciplinary Probation

 
Additionally, the Vice President for Academic Affairs may impose another level of sanctions which can include Suspension/Expulsion from the College (which includes forfeiture of tuition, fees and other costs associated with the course). This is generally reserved for those students who have repeated violations of the academic integrity standards of the College.

The Process Step 1: The instructor will raise the concern quickly and directly with the student to determine if the action was knowing and intentional.

Step 2: The instructor will determine and implement the appropriate sanction for the offense and communicate those directly to the student. The instructor may consult with their Departmental Chair/Director to discuss appropriate sanctions.

Step 3: Regardless of sanctions determined, the instructor will file an academic incident report and notify the Departmental Chair/Director. The Vice President for Academic Affairs and Associate Vice President for Student Affairs will receive a copy of the incident report. 

Step 4: Failure of Exam/Assignment: If the instructor determines that the student fails the exam or assignment, the instructor will meet with the student prior to the next class period to discuss the incident, the sanction (i.e. failure of exam/assignment) and the behavioral expectations and guidelines the student must follow to remain in the course. At that time, the instructor is to offer the student the opportunity to accept or deny responsibility and explain the student’s right to appeal. If disputing the charges, then the student would meet with the Department Chair (or designee) for an Administrative Hearing.
Failure of Course: If the instructor determines that actions of the student were egregious enough to warrant failure of the course and/ or there are repeat offenses of the academic integrity expectations by the student in that class, the instructor may issue a failing grade (F) for the course and the student will be fully liable for any costs and unable to withdraw from the course. If not already completed, the instructor will file an incident report outlining the academic integrity violation(s) and the sanction, which is to be shared with the student and copy the Department Chair/Director, the Vice President for Academic Affairs, the Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and the Registrar’s Office.

Before being issued a failing grade (F) for the course, the student is to meet with the instructor to discuss the charges against them, the reason for the failure, offer the student the opportunity to accept or deny responsibility and explain the student’s right to appeal. If disputing the charges, then the student would meet with the Vice President of Academic Affairs (or designee) for an Administrative Hearing.

Step 5: If the student receives three academic integrity reports, the Vice President for Academic Affairs (or designee) will arrange an appointment with the student to discuss possible sanctions as outlined above.

Student Rights and the Appeals Process In addition to the rights afforded students under the Student Code of Conduct, the student accused of an academic integrity violation will receive a copy of the incident report filed by the instructor and has the right to request a hearing on the decision with the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs (or designee), ideally within 3 business days after request. Students are entitled to appeal that decision to the Vice President for Academic Affairs (or designee) and have up to four (4) business days to appeal after receipt of the decision by the hearing officer. Their decision will be final and is not subject to further appeal.

Students who are removed from the course by the instructor due to an academic integrity violation have the right to a hearing with the Vice President for Academic Affairs (or designee), ideally within 3 business days after request. The student will not be allowed to attend the class during that time. Permanent removal will be determined after the hearing process and appeal process has been completed. Students are entitled to an appeal of that decision to the Vice President for Academic Affairs (or designee) and have up to four (4) business days to appeal. Their decision will be final and is not subject to further appeal.

Suspension/Expulsion from the College: Students who are suspended or expelled from the College by the Vice President for Academic Affairs due to repeat academic integrity violations have the right to a hearing with the Associate Vice President of Student Affairs (or designee) ideally within 3 business days after request. The student will not be allowed to attend any classes during that time. Permanent removal from the College will be determined after the hearing process and the appeals process has been completed. Students are also entitled to appeal that decision to the College’s Appellate Officer, the Director of Admissions (or designee) and have up to four (4) business days to appeal. Their decision will be final and is not subject to further appeal. Should students be permanently removed from the College during a semester due to violation of the policy, they will be fully liable for all costs and unable to academically withdraw from courses.

For more on the appeals process, see pg. 17 of the Student Code of Conduct  STUDENT CODE OF CONDUCT