The Assistant Provost is responsible for administering the College's policy on Academic Integrity. All students need to familiarize themselves with the policy on Academic Integrity.

Standards of Academic Integrity

All members of the Juniata College community share responsibility for establishing and maintaining appropriate standards of academic honesty and integrity. Students oblige themselves to follow these standards and to encourage others to do so. Faculty members also have an obligation to comply with the principles and procedures of academic honesty and integrity as listed here through personal example and the learning environment they create.

One of the strongest traditions in higher education is the value the community places upon academic honesty. Academic integrity is an assumption that learning is taken seriously by students and that the academic work that students do to be evaluated is a direct result of the commitment of the student toward learning as well as the personal knowledge gained.

Academic dishonesty, therefore, is an attempt by a student to present knowledge in any aspect as personal when in fact it is knowledge gained by others.

Examples of academic dishonesty are the following:

  1. Cheating: using or attempting to use unauthorized material in any academic exercise. This can include using unauthorized materials (e.g., notes, examination copies, electronic sources), having or accessing unauthorized materials during the examination time, or going against explicit instructor directions for the completion of an assignment or exam.
  2. Plagiarism: This involves presenting another’s work (i.e., ideas, representations, or words) as one’s own without proper acknowledgment of the source. Citation is unnecessary when ideas or information are considered common knowledge.
  3. Fabrication and Falsification: altering or inventing any information or citation in any academic exercise.
  4. Multiple Submission: submitting substantial portions of the same academic work for credit more than once without authorization.
  5. Abuse of Materials: damaging, destroying, stealing, or in any way obstructing access to library or other academic resource material or academic records.
  6. Complicity in Academic Dishonesty: intentionally helping or attempting to help another commit an act of academic dishonesty; unauthorized collaboration on any academic work. (Collaboration is not permissible unless a faculty member specifically indicates the extent to which students may collaborate on a given assignment.)
  7. Failing to cooperate in the investigation of any student being accused of academic dishonesty.

The penalty for academic dishonesty may lead to dismissal from the college, particularly if it is a repeat offense.

Academic Dishonesty Policy

If a faculty member suspects that an issue with academic integrity has occurred, they should first contact the Asst. Provost.  The Asst. Provost will review the case information with the instructor, clarify questions they may have about the process, and guide the instructor in the next steps.

If the instructor and Asst. Provost determine together that there is sufficient evidence to move forward, then:

(A) The instructor should contact the student involved (one meeting per student, if multiple students are involved), and share their concerns.  This interaction should be brief and informal, along the lines of, “I have some concerns about your assignment/exam/paper in course ---, specifically it appears that -----, and I wanted to solicit your feedback.”  The instructor can answer any questions the student may have, or refer them to the Asst. Provost.

If the instructor feels that no violation occurred after this interaction with the student, then the Asst. Provost is notified and the case concludes.

Otherwise, (B) the Asst. Provost provides a blank allegation sheet for the instructor to complete.

(C) If the student has previous academic integrity violations on file this information is NOT shared with the instructor and does NOT influence the current incident, but the student could be referred to a Judicial Board hearing after the conclusion of this incident.

The instructor completes the allegation sheet, including a description of the allegation and the associated penalty, and returns it to the Asst. Provost.  When considering the penalty, the faculty member (in light of the nature and seriousness of the offense and in consultation with the Asst. Provost) assigns one of the following:

a warning
a reduced or failing grade for the assignment
a reduced or failing grade for the course
another penalty the faculty member deems appropriate for the violation
Materials related to the incident, including copies of the papers/exams/assignments etc., should be provided to the Asst. Provost.  Note that if a case is considered at the end of the semester or some other time when all the parties involved are not available, an instructor should assign a course grade of “I” - Incomplete until the matter is resolved.

The Asst. Provost then shares the completed allegation sheet with the student and schedules a meeting with the student, instructor, and Asst. Provost.  In unusual circumstances, a support person may attend this meeting with the student.  If there are multiple students involved in one incident, each has a separate meeting.  The meeting typically occurs three days after the student is presented with the allegation, and generally takes place in the Asst. Provost’s office.  All signatures (student, instructor, and Asst. Provost) are done together in this meeting.

At the meeting, the allegation and penalty are presented and then discussed.  The student then chooses between:
(1)  Admitting to the allegation and accepting the penalty
(2)  Admitting to the allegation but disputing the penalty
(3)  Denying the allegation

If the student chooses option (1), the completed allegation sheet and associated materials are saved in a confidential file and the incident is considered closed.  This file is destroyed when the student separates (graduates, transfers, withdraws, etc.) from the college.  While the student may choose to disclose the incident to others, this matter is confidential and the Asst. Provost and instructor do not.

If the student chooses option (2) or (3), they are referred to a Judicial Board hearing.  The Judicial Board then determines whether a violation occurred and/or the associated penalty.  Procedures for Judicial Board hearings are detailed in the Pathfinder and Faculty Manual, and their results are communicated via a letter from the Provost’s Office, sent to the student, family, and advisors.

If a grade penalty is to be levied on student work due to an academic integrity violation, this policy is to be followed.  If the violation is considered particularly egregious when it is initially encountered, the student(s) may be referred directly to a Judicial Board hearing.

Students are not permitted to drop or withdraw from a course until on academic integrity allegation is resolved.

Note that except in extraordinary circumstances, academic integrity issues will not be pursued if a final grade for the student has been submitted in the course or an inordinate amount of time has passed. 

As noted above, if the student has previous academic integrity violations on file this information is NOT shared with the instructor and does NOT influence the current incident, but the student could be referred to a Judicial Board hearing after the conclusion of this incident.

If in the course of the academic integrity process a situation related to the Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is revealed, the administrator implementing the academic integrity policy will ensure that the Title IX Coordinator, or Deputy, is notified and any necessary reports are made. After consultation with the Title IX Coordinator, or Deputy, an alternative process to resolve the academic integrity may be pursued, possibly to preserve privacy and confidentiality.  In these cases, to the extent possible, the input and guidance of the reporting faculty member will be incorporated.

Forms of Academic Dishonesty

Acts of academic dishonesty may be categorized in one of the following ways:

  1. Cheating: using or attempting to use unauthorized material in any academic exercise. This can include using unauthorized materials (e.g., notes, examination copies, electronic sources), having or accessing unauthorized materials during the examination time, or going against explicit instructor directions for the completion of an assignment or exam.
  2. Plagiarism: This involves presenting another’s work (i.e., ideas, representations, or words) as one’s own without proper acknowledgment of the source. Citation is unnecessary when ideas or information are considered common knowledge.
  3. Fabrication and Falsification: altering or inventing any information or citation in any academic exercise.
  4. Multiple Submission: submitting substantial portions of the same academic work for credit more than once without authorization.
  5. Abuse of Materials: damaging, destroying, stealing, or in any way obstructing access to library or other academic resource material or academic records.
  6. Complicity in Academic Dishonesty: intentionally helping or attempting to help another commit an act of academic dishonesty; unauthorized collaboration on any academic work. (Collaboration is not permissible unless a faculty member specifically indicates the extent to which students may collaborate on a given assignment.)
  7. Failing to cooperate in the investigation of any student being accused of academic dishonesty.

The College considers academic integrity one of the foundation stones of a liberal arts education and asks all students to use good sense and judgment in preparing and submitting material for examination and evaluation. Particularly at mid-semester and semester's end, under work and deadline pressure, students may make false assumptions or uninformed decisions that could lead to a charge of academic dishonesty.

Look at all your course syllabi carefully. Understand that you will sign an Agreement about the ethical use of the computer. This is very, very serious: if you present someone else's intellectual property as your own, that is stealing.

Ask questions of your professors: How much collaboration is permissible? How do I cite this kind of material: Do you allow students to use references found on the World Wide Web?

Each student's Juniata College degree is diminished by cheating. Don't do it. Please realize that cases of confirmed academic dishonesty could ruin hopes of a career in medicine, education, social work, or law enforcement.

Cases of suspected academic dishonesty are referred to this office for confirmation and resolution and, when necessary, a hearing panel of the Judicial Board will be convened to determine if there has been a violation of the policy.