Mar 29, 2024  
2010-2011 Catalog 
    
2010-2011 Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Appendix D - Academic Honesty Policy and Procedure


1. Policy

Western Washington University students have an obligation to fulfill the responsibilities of their particular roles as members of an academic community. Honesty is essential to learning. Without it, fair evaluation for all is impossible. Academic integrity is demanded, and academic dishonesty at Western Washington University is a serious infraction dealt with severely. Students shall not claim as their own the achievements, work or arguments of others, nor shall they be a party to such claims. It is the instructor’s responsibility to confront a student and to take appropriate action if academic dishonesty, in the instructor’s judgment, has occurred.   

For help and guidance with the academic honesty procedures, students should contact the Student Life Office.  http://www.wwu.edu/dos/stulife/

Students who do not meet the deadlines given in the procedures shall be deemed to have waived their right to appeal. If any officer of the University or the Board fails to meet the deadlines established, the student may continue to the next level in the procedures. The deadlines are set to provide a rapid resolution of the incident. However, unforeseen circumstances such as illness or absence from the campus may result in an extension of a deadline. Such extensions shall be recorded in writing by the unit head, dean or secretary to the Board, as appropriate. If the end of the quarter is reached during the process of following the academic honesty procedure, the remaining parts of the process will be considered at the start of the next academic quarter, not including summer. An effort will be made to resolve the issues as soon as possible when there are extenuating circumstances (e.g., a student is graduating).

2. Academic Dishonesty

Academic dishonesty is not qualitatively different from other types of dishonesty. It consists of misrepresentation by deception or by other fraudulent means. Academic dishonesty compromises the instructor’s ability to fairly evaluate a student’s work or achievement.  It includes, but is not limited to, the following:

  1. Giving unauthorized information to another student or receiving unauthorized information from another student during any type of assignment or test.
  2. Obtaining or providing without authorization questions or answers prior to the time of an assignment or test.
  3. Using unauthorized sources for answers during any assignment or test.
  4. Taking part in or arranging for another person to complete an assignment or to take a test in place of another.
  5. Giving or receiving answers by use of signals during a test.
  6. Altering answers on a scored test and submitting it for a higher grade.
  7. Collaborating with others in a required assignment without the approval of the instructor.
  8. Stealing class assignments or portions of assignments, including electronic files, and submitting them as one’s own.
  9. Not crediting participants for their part in a group project or claiming credit for work not done on a group project.
  10. Plagiarism, which is presenting as one’s own in whole or in part the argument, language, creations, conclusions, or scientific data of another without explicit acknowledgment. Examples include, but are not limited to:
    1. Using another person’s written or spoken words without complete and proper citation.
    2. Using information from a World Wide Website, CD-ROM or other electronic source without complete and proper citation.
    3. Using statistics, graphs, charts and facts without acknowledging their source.
    4. Submitting a paper purchased from a term-paper service.
    5. Paraphrasing, which is imitating someone else’s argument using other words without acknowledging the source.
    6. Claiming credit for someone else’s artistic work, such as a drawing, script, musical composition or arrangement.
    7. Using someone else’s lab report as a source of data or results.
    8. Using one’s own or substantially similar work, produced in connection with one course, to fulfill a requirement in another course without prior permission. A student may use the same or substantially the same work for assignments in two or more courses only with written permission from the instructors of all the classes involved.
    9. Submitting the results of a machine translation program as one’s own work.

3. Procedures

Although instructors should make every effort to ensure that students are aware of the policies for academic dishonesty, it is the responsibility of students to read, understand, and uphold the standards of academic honesty.

An instructor suspecting an act of academic dishonesty shall discuss the matter thoroughly with the student involved. Arrangements for this discussion shall be made by the instructor within ten (10) working days after discovering the alleged violation. If the incident occurs at the end of a quarter, or in the event the student is absent from campus, the instructor shall attempt to contact the student via email and in writing at the most recent permanent address available in the Registrar’s Office.

Should the instructor be unable to arrange a meeting with the student to discuss the incident in question before final grades are due, the instructor shall submit a grade of X with a note to the registrar. The registrar shall in turn inform the student of his/her responsibility to contact the instructor. Should the student not respond to the faculty member by the 10th working day of the next academic quarter, not including summer, the grade will be changed to an F or where appropriate to “U” as in the case of credit/no courses.

During the discussion between the instructor and the student, the student may be asked to explain his or her thought process and the sources of the information, ideas, data, or calculations presented in the work under dispute. Failure to give an adequate explanation can influence the instructor’s decision.

Following this discussion, the instructor shall determine whether or not an act of academic dishonesty has occurred.  Within ten (10) working days of this discussion and the decision by the instructor that an act of dishonesty has occurred, the instructor will submit E-form Report of Academic Dishonesty Incident summarizing the incident and attaching all evidence. This form will be sent to the Vice President for Academic Affairs, the Registrar, university judicial officer, the dean’s office, the unit head (the department chair or, in the case of Fairhaven, the Dean, or, in the case of the Library, the Dean of Libraries), and the student. A record of the violation is maintained in the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Office of Student Life. If the reported violation is the student’s first offense, the office of student life requires the student to complete a self-paced workshop on Academic Integrity. If the reported violation is the student’s second offense, the student is required to appear before the academic honesty board with a recommendation that the student be permanently dismissed from Western Washington University

No student shall be allowed to withdraw from a course or from the University to avoid the consequences of academic dishonesty.

Appeal: A student accused of academic dishonesty and who feels wrongly accused by an instructor has recourse to an appeals process. Within five (5) working days of the finding of academic dishonesty the student may appeal to the unit head. The unit head shall make a ruling on the case within (10) working days of the appeal.

Either the student accused or the faculty member who initiated the charge may within five (5) working days appeal to the Dean of the college in which the academic unit resides. In the case where a faculty member from one college is teaching a course in another college, the appeal will go to the dean of the college where the course resides. In the case where a faculty member is teaching for an all-university program not under the purview of a college dean, such as Honors or Women Studies, the appeal will go to the dean of the college where the faculty member resides.  The dean shall make a ruling on the case as to whether 1) the student in question committed an act of academic dishonesty; and if so 2) whether the sanction was appropriate, within ten (10) working days of the appeal.

Either the student or the faculty member who initiated the charge may appeal the findings of the Dean to the Academic Honesty Board within five (5) working days.

The Academic Honesty Board shall consist of two faculty members and two students to be selected from a pool of students and faculty. The Vice President for Academic Affairs shall select the board members and appoint the chairperson.  It is recommended that the students and faculty members appointed come from the college involved in the incident, as specified above. The board’s findings are restricted to determining whether the student in question committed an act of academic dishonesty.  A hearing shall be called within fifteen (15) working days of the filing of the appeal to the Academic Honesty Board unless both parties agree to a delay. Both the student and the instructor may be accompanied by one person, but that person may not speak on behalf of the student or the instructor. Both the student and the faculty member shall be invited to present evidence, make oral arguments, and call witnesses, all of which shall be restricted to the issues under consideration and matters already in the record. Members of the board may question either party.

If the faculty member is on leave or is no longer employed by Western the unit head shall appear in lieu of the faculty member. If the faculty member is available, but does not appear at the hearing, the form that he or she submitted will be considered to be her or his statement. If the student does not attend the hearing, the student’s appeal shall be considered withdrawn, and the original finding of the faculty member shall be considered final. At the conclusion of the hearing, the board shall, in writing, a) find that there is insufficient cause to overrule the dean’s decision, or b) find that there is sufficient cause to modify or overrule the dean’s decision. The Academic Honesty Board shall send a written copy of its decision to the student, the faculty member, the unit head, the dean, the registrar, and the Vice President for Academic Affairs.

Within five (5) working days of the ruling of the Academic Honesty Board, either side may appeal all findings to the Vice President for Academic Affairs, whose decision is final. The vice president for academic affairs will meet with the board chairperson if (s)he intends to overrule or modify the decision of the board.

At the end of every quarter, the Office of Student Life will report all cases of academic dishonesty to each college.