Introduction to the Academic Conduct Code

Every year, a few students from Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences are accused of some form of academic dishonesty. Do not become one of these students as penalties for misconduct may include receiving a failing grade in the course or expulsion from Boston University. To avoid these severe penalties, students must know the rules and live up to a standard of unqualifi ed honesty in all of their work.

Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences is committed to fostering an intellectual community in which everyone can participate fully in the pursuit of learning. This is only possible in an atmosphere of mutual trust
where the discovery and communication of truth are valued by all. The College expects all students to adhere to the Academic Conduct Code in all academic and clinical work.

Please be advised that similarly stringent academic codes are in effect in all of the schools and colleges at Boston University and that all students must comply with these rules. A student who is accused of academic misconduct by another school or college at Boston University will attend a disciplinary hearing at the school and may face additional sanctions at Sargent College. It is extremely unpleasant to have an academic degree revoked or to be suspended from the University or have a graduation date delayed but every year, a few students damage their professional careers by violating the Academic Conduct Code.

Personal integrity is a fundamental requirement

It is expected that all students at the college will promote and maintain high standards of personal and professional integrity. By enrolling as a student of Boston University you are agreeing to adhere to these standards as well as the Academic Conduct Code presented here strictly and honestly. In addition, the specific code of ethics for each clinical program at the college is available in department offi ces and will be discussed as part of your professional preparation.

It is the responsibility of all members of the College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences community to maintain an atmosphere of integrity within the college and to take action in cases of alleged misconduct. Any persons, including students, faculty or employees of the college may make a referral to the College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Committee on Academic Policies and Procedures (hereafter referred to as the CAPP Committee), through the Associate Dean or Chairman of the Committee.

Academic misconduct comes in many possible forms.

Violations of the Academic Conduct Code include any behavior that constitutes an attempt to be dishonest or deceptive in the performance of academic or clinical work in or out of the classroom, to alter academic records, or to collaborate with another student or students in an act of academic misconduct.

Other violations include misuse and misrepresentation of college records and/or application materials, forgery, unauthorized entry into college or individual offi ces, fi les or computer records, and theft or damage of university property. While the specifi c codes vary, unethical or dishonest behavior will be sanctioned whenever it is discovered at Boston University. This list of violations is not meant to be a comprehensive one but rather an indication of the types of actions that will result in disciplinary penalties.

Violations include but are not limited to:

Cheating

Cheating is the use or attempted use of unauthorized aids in any exam or other academic exercise submitted for evaluation. This includes unauthorized conversation during examinations or use of notes and textbooks, data
falsifi cation in a report, the fabrication of data, deceitful alteration of collected data included in a report, copying from another student’s work, unauthorized cooperation in doing assignments or during an examination, the use of purchased essays, laboratory reports or term papers and dishonesty in requests for either extensions on papers or make-up examinations.

Plagiarism

Any attempt by a student to represent the work of another as his or her own is plagiarism. This includes copying the answers of another student on an examination or copying or substantially restating the work of another person or persons in any oral or written work without citing the appropriate source. Collaborating with someone else in an academic endeavor without acknowledging his or her contribution is another form of plagiarism. In addition, knowingly allowing another student to represent your work as his or her own is an act of academic misconduct subject to penalties. Plagiarism includes cutting and pasting information obtained from internet sources. In order to have a complete understanding of plagiarism, students are encouraged to avail themselves of online services such as the Turnitin.com Plagiarism Prevention System.

Theft

Stealing or otherwise discovering and/or making known to others the contents of an examination that has not yet been administered or which has not yet been released by an instructor is a serious act of academic misconduct. Removing materials from libraries or offi ces without consent is considered theft. Stealing a classmate’s notes, review materials or textbook is an especially egregious offense.

Misrepresentation of information

Actions such as alteration of graded examinations, grade lists or other offi cial University records, submitting the same work in more than one course without the consent of the instructors involved, altering or destroying another student’s work or records are forbidden. Altering records of any kind, or in any way interfering with the work of others so as to impede their academic performance are also serious offenses. Other types of misrepresentation include misleading representation of facts, withholding or concealing information, and collusion (a secret agreement
between two or more students for a deceitful or fraudulent purpose).

Violations of the Academic Conduct Code are penalized

Students will be evaluated for academic conduct code violations in one of two ways: directly by the course instructor or through referral to the College CAPP Committee.

1. An instructor who determines that a student has committed an act of misconduct may directly sanction the student by lowering the student’s grade in work that was involved and/or by lowering the student’s grade in the entire course, including issuing a grade of “F” for the course.

The instructor must promptly notify the student, in writing, of the sanction and must also notify the Department Chairman of the misconduct and the sanction. The instructor must also inform the student of his/her right to appeal the case to the CAPP Committee.

2. In addition to, or instead of, imposing a sanction, an instructor may elect to refer the case to the CAPP Committee for action. Such referral must be made within two weeks after the instructor becomes aware of the alleged misconduct.

The student also has the right to appeal a case of alleged misconduct to the CAPP Committee within two weeks after notification by the instructor of the sanction(s) imposed. In the event the student appeals the case to the Committee, the sanctions imposed by the instructor will be suspended, pending disposition of the case.

If a student does not appeal the case to the CAPP Committee within two weeks of notification by the instructor, the sanctions imposed by the instructor will stand and may not be appealed, overturned or reviewed in any fashion.

The Committee on Academic Policies and Procedures (CAPP) serves Sargent

The College Committee on Academic Policies and Procedures (CAPP Committee) is composed of the Chair and one faculty representative from each department, one undergraduate and one graduate student member. Membership will include the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education and a representative from the Academic Services Center who serve ex-officio.

The Committee Chairman will be a faculty member selected by the faculty of the college for a two-year term. In the absence of the Chairman at a meeting or hearing, another member of the Committee will assume the role of
the Chairman.

In cases involving international students, a member of the International Students and Scholars Office will be invited to attend the hearing but will not vote. For non-Health and Rehabilitation Sciences students, a representative from
their home school will be invited to attend but will not vote.

Procedures

The CAPP Committee Chairman will notify the student of a hearing by telephone or by written correspondence as soon as the hearing is scheduled. Prior to the hearing the student and instructor will submit all pertinent information to the CAPP Committee for review. The student has the right to present his/her case in person at the hearing. The Committee may request that other individuals with pertinent information attend the hearing. Formulation and notification of the judgment and penalty must be completed within 48 hours of the hearing.

Appeals

Within two weeks of the receipt of the Committee’s decision the student may appeal the judgment and/or penalty to the Dean of the College. Appeals must be in writing, setting forth the basis of the appeal and may include new evidence not presented at the hearing. Once a decision is made the Dean will notify the student, the Chairman of the CAPP Committee and the Department Chairman. In all cases the student has the right to appeal the decision to the Provost of the University. Appeals to the Provost must be made in writing within two weeks of the receipt of
denial by the Dean.

Penalties

If a College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences student is found to have committed a violation of the Academic Conduct Code one or more of the following actions may be taken

1. Verbal warning for very minor violations that do not warrant a sanction.

2. Reprimand for violations of a minor nature or mitigated by extenuating circumstances. A copy of the reprimand will be placed in the student’s file but will not be recorded on the permanent academic record. Past reprimands may be considered in imposing sanctions for further offences. Reprimands will not be made public and do not impose restrictions on the student’s participation in academic or non-academic activities.

3. Disciplinary Probation for violations deemed serious enough to warrant some abridgment of the student’s rights and privileges. Disciplinary probation is given for a specific amount of time and is recorded on the student’s permanent internal record. Probation prohibits the student from being an officer in any recognized all-
University or College student organization and from participating in intercollegiate activities during the specified probation period.

4. Suspension for violations deemed serious enough to warrant separation of the student from the University community for a limited time but not serious enough to warrant expulsion. Suspension is given for a period from one to three semesters and is recorded on the student’s permanent record. It is University policy that no
progress can be made towards a degree during a period in which the student is suspended from the University for disciplinary reasons. The University will not accept courses taken for credit at another institution during any period in which a student has been suspended from Boston University for academic or other misconduct.

5. Expulsion is used for extremely serious academic misconduct, is recorded on the student’s academic record, and is permanent.

6. Other sanctions may be imposed by the Committee such as denial of credit or honors earned, denial of graduation diploma or degree, revocation and withdrawal of credit, grade honors, diploma or degree previously awarded. If a non-Health and Rehabilitation Sciences student is found to have committed a violation in a Health and Rehabilitation Sciences course, the CAPP Committee Chairman will forward the Committee’s recommendations to the Dean of Sargent College who will, in turn, forward those recommendations to the Dean of the student’s home school.

Dissemination of CAPP information is protected

Dissemination of information is governed by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974, copies of which are available in the Dean of Student’s Office. Notice of probation, suspension or expulsion is sent to the parent or guardian of dependent students and may be reported to graduate and professional schools to which a student applies or to a student’s present or future employer.

Efforts will be made to ensure that students receive a copy of the Academic Conduct Code at their first registration in the college. Copies of the code are available in the Academic Services Center and the Dean’s Offi ce at the College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.

Consider these recommendations

Receiving a low grade is unpleasant and course grades and/or grade-point averages can affect continuation in an academic program but the long-term consequences of a penalty such as suspension or expulsion from Boston University are much more serious. Avoid the temptation to cheat by getting tutoring early in a course and staying on top of class assignments. It is much better to drop or withdraw from a course than it is to rely on misconduct to obtain credits without gaining the necessary knowledge. There are circumstances where an “Incomplete” can be arranged because there are extenuating circumstances such as illness or family crises. The Academic Counselors, Program Directors, Educational Resource Center, Boston University Service Center and Sargent Faculty are available to help.
Students should seek out assistance and find a constructive way to deal with course problems rather than opting to behave unethically and be subjected to disciplinary hearings by Sargent CAPP or other academic conduct committees. For students in Sargent College, personal integrity is a decision that needs to be considered and affirmed as an activity of daily living.

Appendix A: Definition of Plagiarism

The following definition of plagiarism is taken from H. Martin and R. Ohmann’s The Logic and Rhetoric of Exposition, revised edition, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1963.
“The academic counterpart of the bank embezzler and of the manufacturer who mislabels products is the plagiarist, the student or scholar who leads readers to believe that what they are reading is the original work of the writer when it is not. If it could be assumed that the distinction between plagiarism and honest use of sources is perfectly clear in everyone’s mind, there would be no need for the explanation that follows; merely the warning with which this definition concludes would be enough. But it is apparent that sometimes people of goodwill draw the suspicion of guilt upon themselves (and, indeed, are guilty) simply because they are not aware of the illegitimacy of certain kinds of “borrowing” and of the procedures for correct identifi cation of materials other than those gained through independent research and reflection. . . .

“The spectrum is a wide one. At one end there is a word-for-word copying of another’s writing without enclosing the copied passage in quotation marks and identifying it in a footnote, both of which are necessary. (This includes, of course, the copying of all or any part of another student’s paper.) It hardly seems possible that anyone of college age or more could do that without clear intent to deceive. At the other end there is the almost casual slipping in of a particularly apt term which one has come across in reading and which so admirably expresses one’s opinion that one is tempted to make it personal property. Between these poles there are degrees and degrees, but they may be roughly placed in two groups. Close to outright and blatant deceit -- but more the result, perhaps, of laziness than
of bad intent -- is the patching together of random jottings made in the course of reading, generally without careful identification of their source, and then woven into the text, so that the result is a mosaic of other people’s ideas and words, the writer’s sole contribution being the cement to hold the pieces together. Indicative of more effort and, for that reason, somewhat closer to honest, though still dishonest, is the paraphrase, an abbreviated (and often skillfully prepared) restatement of someone else’s analysis or conclusion, without acknowledgment that another person’s text has been the basis for the recapitulation.”

Appendix B: Specific examples of misconduct

The following list contains examples of academic misconduct, and is not intended to be complete. Note that, although the examples refer to written assignments and exams, the same rules apply to assignments and exams that are administered or presented orally or by some other non-written means. (Adapted from Academic Dishonesty among College Students, S. Maramark and M. B. Maline, US Dept. of Education report no. OR-93-3082, August 1993.)

Copying from another student’s exam or assignment

Allowing another student to copy from your exam or assignment

Allowing another student to see your exam or to see part or all of your assignment before you hand it in, unless authorized by the instructor

Collaborating on assignments or take-home exams when instructions (or the syllabus) call for independenwork

Providing or receiving answers to an exam using a system of signals or other means of communication with another student

Bringing unauthorized materials to an exam without placing them where they cannot be used during the exam

Altering the answers to, or otherwise tampering with, exams or assignments after they have been handed in, without the consent of the instructor

Taking an exam or completing part or all of an assignment for another student

Having another person take an exam for you or complete part or all of one or more of your assignments

Hiring a ghostwriter to write part or all of an assignment

Submitting all or part of a purchased term paper as your own

Using course materials, including lecture notes and excerpts from textbooks, in written assignments without proper citation

Using paraphrased materials in a written assignment without proper citation of the source

Downloading text, drawings, images, and other materials from the Internet and using these in written assignments without proper citation of the sources

Copying material without proper citation

Feigning illness to avoid taking an exam or handing in an assignment on time

Submitting the same term paper for credit to more than one course without permission

Reviewing a copy of the regularly scheduled exam prior to taking a make-up exam

Reviewing a stolen copy of an exam prior to taking the exam

Providing questions from a test given in one section of a course to students in another section before they have taken the test

Receiving questions from a test given in one section of a course from another student in another section before you have taken the test

Altering or forging an official document