Academic Integrity

Student Obligations

The value of an academic degree is based upon the reputation of the University. Tolerating academic misconduct ultimately harms that reputation. The Standards for Student Conduct require that students who witness academic dishonesty notify their faculty/instructor, department chair, or the Office of Student Conduct. Disciplinary sanctions may be imposed for "encouraging, permitting, or assisting another to do any act that could subject him or her to discipline" [Title 5, Article 2, Section 41301 (b) (20)].

What if a Faculty or Instructor accuses me of cheating or plagiarism?

If a professor or instructor accuses you of academic dishonesty, it is important that you be forthright and honest regarding the allegation. You should request that the professor or instructor discuss with you the allegation and provide any and all feedback regarding the allegation.

Secondly, keep in mind that there are two processes at work should you be accused of academic dishonesty:

  1. The faculty or instructor has sole decision making authority on grading. Meaning, if the faculty or instructor believes a student has engaged in an act of academic dishonesty on a paper/quiz/exam, the faculty or instructor may assign an appropriate grade. Possible sanctions may include, but are not limited to: retaking the test, assign a zero or "F" for that assignment or deduct points on the assignment.
  2. The professor or instructor may refer the matter to the Office of Student Conduct for further disciplinary action.
  3. Please keep in mind that if a professor refers the matter to the OSC, our outcome on the matter has no bearing on the professor's final decision regarding grading.

Academic Dishonesty may include, but is not limited to the following:

  • Cheating, which includes possessing unauthorized sources of information during examinations, copying the work of others, permitting others to copy your work, submitting work done by others (unless explicitly permitted by your faculty, this include the use of artificial Intelligence), completing assignments for others, altering work after grading and subsequently submitting it for re-grading, submitting the same work for two or more classes without the permission of all instructors involved, or retaining materials that you have been instructed to return to your instructor;

  • Plagiarism, which includes taking the words, ideas, or substance of another and either copying or paraphrasing the work without giving credit to the source through appropriate use of footnotes, quotation marks, or reference citations;

  • Providing materials to another with knowledge they will be improperly used;

  • Possessing another's work without permission;

  • Selling, purchasing, or trading materials for class assignments (includes purchasing term papers via the World Wide Web);

  • Altering the work of another;

  • Knowingly furnishing false or incomplete academic information;

  • Altering documents that make up part of the student record;

  • Forging signatures or falsifying information on any official academic document;

  • Inventing data or falsifying an account of the method through which data was generated.