Academic Integrity is essential to the educational process. Traditional academic practices require that faculty or instructor to address cases of academic dishonesty in the classroom. The Student Conduct Procedures (Executive Order 1098,) Article II, I, Cases Involving Academic Dishonesty, insists that, in addition, CSU faculty or instructors shall promptly refer any alleged infraction, to a central location so that a student can be held accountable for multiple academic violations and the campus can recognize any patterns of misconduct.
For any alleged violations of academic dishonesty within a semester, the faculty/instructor may refer a student to the Office of Student Conduct.
*A special note about the use of Artificial Intelligence:
Use of artificial intelligence (AI), unless specifically directed by the instructor as part of the assignment/syllabus, is considered a violation of CSU Student Conduct Code, under Plagiarism/Cheating (1.a-c).
A student who is producing any writing or information they did not create on their own, without their own mind, is the definition of submitting a false document. Faculty shall submit all violations of academic integrity to the Office of Student Conduct for follow-up. For AI violations, please submit the syllabus, the document(s) in question and the evidence to indicate something was AI-created (an AI report from TurnItIn or other source) using the Academic Dishonesty Reporting Form on the Office of Conduct web page.
Faculty or instructors who believes that a violation of academic dishonesty has occurred should:
- Inform the student(s) about the alleged violation and request a meeting to discuss the matter with the student (if a meeting with the student is not possible, the faculty or instructor must inform the student of the alleged violation via e-mail and/or letter. The communication with the student should include the following information:
- The alleged violation (e.g. cheating, plagiarism, or unauthorized collaboration, including the use of artificial intelligence if not permitted, etc.)
- An opportunity for the student to provide a response to the allegations
- The grade assigned due to the violation (if faculty still believes a violation occurred)
- A statement that the alleged violation may be forwarded to the Office of Student Conduct (OSC) for further review to determine any additional sanctions
2. Cases of academic dishonesty for both cheating and plagiarism should be reported to the their respective department chairs who should then report it to the Associate Dean of the College. The Associate Deans will then instruct the faculty member to complete the Confidential Faculty Report of Academic Dishonesty form, via the link above. The form, which goes directly to the OSC, will ask for the following information:
- Name(s) of student(s)
- ID numbers
- Date of incident
- Instructor's contact information
- Type of incident
- Class name/ number/section
- A narrative of the incident
- The academic outcome determined by the instructor
- A copy of the syllabus and any supporting documents visually demonstrating allegations
The resolution of academic dishonesty cases seeks a balance between encouraging a student's academic development and upholding the standards of the academic community. The faculty or instructor can recommend that the OSC either provide a written warning to the student or file formal charges. OSC ultimately evaluates the merits of the allegation according to the Student Conduct Procedures (Executive Order 1098) and determines appropriate sanctions, if warranted, based on the specific facts of the case.
Please keep in mind that the student conduct process does not bear weight with how an Instructor determines the final grading stemming from the incident in question. The student conduct process is separate and is an addition to what the Faculty or Instructor has already determined.