7.1/ Statement on Academic Integrity

Opportunities for learning at Wichita State University involve the students' right to express their views and to take reasoned exception to the views of the faculty; to examine all questions felt to be appropriate to a course of study; to be protected from improper disclosure of their views and beliefs; to be examined in a fair and impartial manner; and to be treated with dignity and respect. Students are responsible, however, for learning the content of any course of study outlined by their instructors, regardless of any views or judgments privately held and for demonstrating their attainment in an honest manner.

A standard of honesty, fairly applied to all students, is essential to a learning environment. Students violating such standards must accept the consequences, and penalties are assessed by appropriate classroom instructors or other designated persons. Serious cases may result in discipline at the college/school or university level and may result in suspension or dismissal. Students accused of abridging a standard of integrity may protect themselves through established academic appeal procedures and are assured due process and the right of appeal from accusations or penalties felt to be unjust.

A. Student Academic Integrity Policy Statement

The Faculty, Staff, and Administration of Wichita State University will not condone or tolerate academic misconduct, including breaches of academic integrity. The policy of the Kansas Board of Regents, as adopted in June of 1994, is as follows:

        The Board of Regents believes that student academic dishonesty is inimical to the fundamental ideals of public higher education. Furthermore, the Board believes that public higher education has a mission to develop the moral reasoning abilities of students and to promote the importance of integrity in all aspects of student life, but particularly in academics. Therefore, it is the policy of the Kansas Board of Regents that student academic dishonesty should not be tolerated on the campuses of the Regents institutions.

        Each Regents university shall implement and promote specific policies, procedures, and programs which seek to: (i) identify prohibited academic conduct by students; (ii) educate all students, faculty and administrators with regard to the nature, impact and consequences of student academic dishonesty; (iii) effectively report and seek to reduce such behaviors; (iv) provide for due process for students accused of academic dishonesty; (v) set forth clear sanctions, ranging from reprimand to dismissal from the university, for students who are determined to have committed dishonest acts; and (vi) implement a comprehensive and integrated plan to promote academic integrity among students, faculty and administrators.

B. Definitions

The terms faculty member or faculty as used in this Policy Statement shall include not only persons of professorial rank (full, associate or assistant), but also instructors, adjuncts, GTA's, unclassified professionals and administrators who teach, and lecturers.

A student is a person enrolled in any class at the University on any campus and at any time pertinent to conduct by the individual covered by this Policy Statement.

Academic misconduct, which includes academic dishonesty, is behavior in which a deliberate means is employed to gain undeserved intellectual credit or advantage, either for oneself or another, or which is disruptive of a course of study or abusive toward members of the university community. Some examples of academic misconduct are:

1. Plagiarism. Plagiarism is intentionally using the printed/published data, distinctive ideas or language of someone else without specifically acknowledging the original source; e.g., copying another student's paper, creative work, article, or computer work and submitting it as one's own original work. On the other hand, the use of "common knowledge" or of ideas that are not distinctive to a single source does not require acknowledgment. Subject to the foregoing, the particular circumstances under which acknowledgment is required may vary among the different disciplines which make up the University; in addition, the manner or style used to acknowledge a source will vary among disciplines. In a particular course, students must follow the acknowledgment/citation customs and standards of the discipline offering the course and acknowledge sources in the manner expected by that discipline. The respective college/school's Academic Conduct Committee is charged with articulating such customs and standards, if any, and the instructor in any given course is responsible for making these standards clear.

2. Unauthorized Collaboration on Out-of-Class Projects. Students may not present work as individual when, in fact, the work was done with other students.

3. Cheating on Exams. Cheating on exams is defined as the unauthorized or inappropriate use of information about the exam (questions/answers) and/or the taking of an exam with the assistance of unauthorized materials such as notes, textbooks, crib sheets, etc. It is the responsibility of each instructor to inform students which information aids, if any, may be used on exams.

4. Unauthorized Access to Exams in Advance of the Examination. Students who in any unauthorized manner obtain exams in advance of the date and hour of the examination are committing an act of academic dishonesty. Unauthorized access to an exam does not include obtaining copies of exams given in previous semesters and returned to students, but it does include a sharing of information about an unreturned exam between a student in an earlier section of a class and a student in a later section.

5. Fraudulent Alterations of Academic Materials. A student who alters documents or other information (such as grade reports, course withdrawal slips, or research data) to provide undeserved credit or advantage has committed an act of academic dishonesty.

6. Aiding and/or Abetting an Academically Dishonest Undertaking. A student is responsible for ensuring that his/her work is not misused by other students. Students are required to protect the integrity of their own work by, for example, not allowing, knowingly or through carelessness, another student to plagiarize a term paper or copy answers to an exam.

7. Sabotage of Student/Faculty/University Work or Property. Sabotage is any act by a student which intentionally or recklessly damages and/or destroys others' work. For example, students who destroy computer programs written by other persons are committing acts of sabotage. Students who steal, destroy or mutilate library materials also commit sabotage.

8. Bribery, Blackmailing, or Intimidating; Attempts. Academic misconduct is present in gaining an unfair advantage over other students by giving money or gifts to other students, faculty, staff, etc.; by threatening in any way other students, faculty, staff, etc. with exposure of a personal or professional incident; by threatening other students, faculty, staff, etc. with bodily or other types of harm; or in any attempt to do any of these things.

C. Responsibilities for Academic Integrity

The fundamental responsibility for the maintenance of the standards of integrity rests upon the student. It is each student's responsibility to be familiar with University policy on academic integrity and to uphold standards of academic honesty at all times in all situations.

Faculty members are responsible for clarification to their classes of those standards of integrity for class assignments or projects where such standards may be unclear or when such standards vary from the accepted norm; each faculty member shall also make clear to each class early in the semester the faculty member's own policy toward penalties he or she gives for breaches in academic integrity. In addition, it is anticipated that faculty members will be the persons who will discover most instances of academic misconduct; accordingly, faculty need to be aware of the possibility that academic misconduct might occur, watchful for any instances of academic misconduct, and diligent in addressing those who act dishonestly. If a faculty member disciplines a student for academic misconduct, that information may be reported in writing to the Chair of the faculty member's department

7.5/Court of Academic Appeals Committee

The Court of Academic Appeals was established in 1967 by vote of the University faculty to assure academic due process for students who feel they have been treated unfairly in the classroom. The court's jurisdiction includes any disputes between students and faculty that cannot be settled within the framework of the student-faculty relationship, including unfairness in grading or in an instructor's charges of academic misconduct. The Court of Student Academic Appeals is composed of three tenured faculty members and two student members. Decisions of the court are final and carry the power to change a grade. The Court of Academic Appeals should report the number of cases it handles each year to the Vice President of Academic Affairs and to the Faculty Senate in its annual report.

7.51/Procedures for Academic Appeals for Undergraduate Students

1. Students should make every effort to resolve problems with the instructor.

2. If this effort does not resolve the problem for the student, the student may go directly to the chair of the department of the faculty member, or:

3. If there is no resolution at this step, the student has the option of:

    A. Discussing the problem with the Dean of the College/School of the faculty member if they have gone to the chair of the department of the faculty member: or:

    B. Picking up an appeal form in the office of the Dean of Students. The student should meet with the Dean of Students or Designee to determine:

1. Whether opportunities for resolving the problem with the faculty member have been exhausted, and

2. Whether the problem is resolvable through existing University procedures other than the Court.

4. The Dean of Students or Designee may indicate that a case is inappropriate, but students maintain their right to appeal if they wish to do so.

5. The student may make an appointment with the Student Ombudsperson, Rhatigan Student Center, for assistance in:

    A. Resolving the case, and/or

    B. Preparing the appeal

6. A student must file an appeal within one semester after the grade is assigned (excluding summer). (The Court reserves the right, in exceptional circumstances, to suspend this rule.) The completed appeal is returned by the student to the office of the Dean of Students for distribution along with a copy of the Procedures of the Court to the (a) faculty member, (b) department chair of the faculty member, and (c) the Dean of the College/School of the faculty member.

7. The faculty member named in the appeal will submit a written statement on the case to his/her department chair. After reviewing the case, the department chair should form a judgment and/or attempt to resolve the issue without exerting pressure on either the faculty member or the student. The department chair should indicate on the form: (a) a recommendation to sustain the faculty member's decision, (b) recommendation that the appeal be sustained, (c) a statement that the issue cannot be resolved at this level. (Space is provided on the form for these comments)

8. After the department chair has made a recommendation, the case is referred to the Dean of the College/School of the faculty member. After reading the appeal and the recommendation of the department chair, the Dean should clarify issues by discussing the matter with the student and the faculty member. The Dean should indicate a recommended action and return the appeal form to the Office of the Dean of Students who will submit it to the chair of the Court.

9. The chair of the Court will, after receiving the case, inform the student and the instructor in writing of its receipt and request from each a written statement and any additional information the Court might need. This information must be received by the Court within two weeks. The instructor and the student may visit with the Court chair or write to the Court about questions of procedure.

10. The instructor and student will be notified in writing no less than seven days in advance of the projected date of the hearing along with information pertaining to the exact time and place of the hearing. The Court should establish the time for a hearing only after both the student and faculty member have been contacted and have indicated they can attend the hearing at that time. If the faculty member is not on campus during the semester of the hearing, only the student need be called prior to the establishment of the time of the hearing.

11. These procedures will be followed in an actual hearing:

    A. All hearings are closed.

    B. Members of the Court will be faculty and students who have no connection with either party involved in the appeal.

    C. Hearings will be kept as informal as possible. A taped transcript of the hearing but not the deliberations will be made. These tapes will be maintained for one year. The tapes and all written material will be treated as confidential information.

    D. The instructor and student are expected to appear at the hearing. If the student does not appear for the hearing, the case will not be heard. If the faculty member does not wish to appear, the case will be heard.

    E. The student and faculty member may be represented by an advisor from the University community but not by an attorney.

    F. Either party may ask members of the University community (students, faculty, staff) to present testimony relevant to the case.

    G. The instructor and the student will have access to the written statements of each other at least seven days prior to the hearing. These statements will be treated as confidential material.

    H. Relevant class records are to be made available to the Court upon request.

    I. After opening statements by both parties, each will have the opportunity to question the other during the hearing, subject to academic decorum.

    J. Members of the Court may question both parties to the dispute as well as those persons presenting testimony in the case.

    K. When questioning is finished, both parties, advisor and witnesses, if any, will be excused.

    L. Decisions of the Court are based on a majority vote.

    M. For conducting business, a quorum consists of four members of the Court.

12. The chair of the hearing shall provide a written report of the decision, with supportive rationale, to each party to the appeal and to the officials previously involved in the review of the appeal. Majority and minority opinions may be included. If the Court has suggestions for improving or eliminating the conditions which led to the case, these should be detailed in a separate letter to the faculty member with copies to his/her department chair and dean.

13. If the decision calls for a change of grade, the Office of the Registrar will be so advised; the chair of the Court will authorize the registrar to make the official change. Decisions affecting other offices will result in similar correspondence with those offices.

14. The Court does not rehear cases.

(Accepted by the Faculty Senate, 11/9/98)