Section 8 Explained

Boise State promotes academic integrity and excellence as a core, shared, value. We see this as a central value to all institutions providing higher learning. The recognition of learning students receive is in the form of a degree, which tells others that you have completed academic work and gained skills associated with your degree with integrity.

1. When you put your name on an assignment, you’re saying that your paper is 100% your own, original work, produced specifically for that assignment. If you use data or pieces from another person’s work, or one of your own assignments, you’ve properly cited it.

Academic Misconduct is taken extremely seriously at Boise State; when left unaddressed, it can undermine the integrity of the degrees Boise State offers–for example, if an employer were to have applications for a position and had two equivalent candidates, and Boise State had a reputation for academic misconduct, the applicant with the degree from Boise might not get the job

It is the responsibility of everyone in the University community to promote and protect academic integrity.

2. Instructors are allowed to teach what they want to and to choose how they want to teach it. They are also responsible for making sure students are following the rules set by the Student Code of Conduct, the course syllabus, and in written or verbal instructions for assignments.

3. When your instructor thinks the rules are being broken (Academic Misconduct has taken place), they are allowed to impose penalties on you. These can come in the form of requiring the work/assignment to be resubmitted,a grade penalty on the assignment or exam in question, and/or a grade penalty in the class overall– which can mean an F in the class.

Department chairs and college/school deans are also responsible for making sure academic standards are being upheld, and investigating if the Code of Conduct has been broken or not.

When a student has been found responsible for breaking the rules set by the Code of Conduct or other document, the department chair or dean is allowed to place further sanctions–up to and including removal from a program or college.

4. When determining what consequence to give, the Faculty member can take into account whether it is believed academic negligence or academic dishonesty took place. One, but not both, can take place at the same time.

Academic Negligence includes when a student accidentally cheats, plagiarizes, works with others when it isn’t allowed, creates false data, or participates in research misconduct. On initial review, these things can appear to be forms of deliberate acts of Academic Misconduct, but is eventually found to be unintentional through the review process.

Academic Dishonesty is an intentional act of Academic Misconduct. When discovered, it is up to faculty (the professor, department chair, dean, etc.) to determine how bad the behavior was/is, and give a proportional sanction.

The University considers both Academic Negligence and Academic Dishonesty to be acts of Academic Misconduct and both violate the Student Code of Conduct.

Academic Misconduct is behavior and/or an action by a student that interferes with education, pursuit of knowledge, or the fair judgment of a student’s own performance or work. Academic Misconduct is strictly regulated and is not allowed at Boise State. Academic Misconduct can be intentional or unintentional, and includes, but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarism, fabrication or falsification of information, inappropriate or unauthorized forms of collaboration, and research misconduct. Students who participate in misconduct, or try to participate in misconduct can be found in violation of the Student Code of Conduct.

1. Cheating involves having or trying to get information, materials, notes or other study aids that are unauthorized by the instructor. This also includes unauthorized communication with any other person during an academic exercise that would result in an unfair advantage over other students. Examples of cheating include, but aren’t limited to:

• • • • Unauthorized copying of a class exercise–before, during, or after the exercise has taken place either for a student’s own use, or for others.
      • using, giving out, or buying the help of other resources not authorized by the instructor. (Chegg, websites that will complete class work for you, getting help from students who already took the course, custom essay websites, etc.)
      • Obtaining, without permission, any assignment or other academic material belonging to University faculty or staff. (This includes, among other things, obtaining an assignment ahead of the instructor assigning it. This could range from getting it from someone who already took the class through stealing it from an instructor).
      • Creating, keeping, or using unauthorized collections of assignments. (If a professor says you can’t keep old assignments, you can’t stockpile them for later use).
      • Having another student complete an assignment or other exercise instead of who it was assigned to.
      • Completing an assignment for someone else.
      • Submitting work that has already been submitted for another assignment or class.
      • Using someone else’s work as your own.
      • Creating or fabricating nonexistent sources such as books, journal articles, or other media.
      • Using electronics during an exam unless authorized by the faculty.
      • Submitting work prepared ahead of time, outside of class, for an in-class exam
      • Violating rules of taking an exam.
      • Violating rules related to academic conduct in a course or program.
      • Facilitating behavior that violates the Student Code of Conduct. (For example, if you provide an assignment you’ve already completed to a friend, knowing they would use it to cheat, you are also in violation of the Code of Conduct).

2. Plagiarism is the use of another person’s work without citation in your own purposes including for credit, in a public presentation, or as part of an application to the University or a University program. Another person’s work is defined as their ideas, words (spoken or written), or data. In the eyes of academia and to this University, not knowing how to cite sources is not an excuse for plagiarism. It is the responsibility of the student to know how to cite, or to seek guidance from one of many reliable resources. Plagiarism can be committed in any kind of assignment/exercise by using other people’s work without citing them. The following are some examples of plagiarism if full, clear, and proper citation is not included:

• • • • The copying of another person’s work, published or unpublished.
      • The paraphrase or summary of another person’s work published or unpublished.
      • Using another person’s ideas, arguments, and/or thesis from a published or unpublished work.
      • Using another person’s research from a published or unpublished work,
      • Using materials prepared by a person or agency that sells papers or other academic materials.

3. Unauthorized Collaboration – Students aren’t allowed to work together on assignments unless the faculty member has specifically stated otherwise. This includes assignments where work is completed inside and/or out of the classroom. Unauthorized collaboration can also include working too closely with others on assignments even when the faculty member has granted permission to work together on when it violates the expectations the faculty member puts on the collaboration.

4. Fabrication or falsification includes but is not limited to reporting experiments, measurements, or statistical analyses never performed; manipulating or altering data or other products of research to achieve a desired result; falsifying or misrepresenting background information, credentials, or other relevant academic information; or selective reporting, including the deliberate suppression of conflicting or unwanted data. However, this does not include honest error, or honest differences in interpretations or judgments of data and/or results. In other words, if you present any data or research that is not complete, or the direct result of your own research, you are in violation of the Code of Conduct. You are not in violation of Fabrication or Falsification laws for differences in interpretations of research or for natural human error.

5. Research misconduct includes but isn’t limited to the sabotage of another person’s experiment/research, fabrication or misrepresenting research, or plagiarism in any portion of the research process including proposing, performing, reviewing, and reporting. Any violation by a student of University Policy #5060, Misconduct in Research, is a violation of the Student Code of Conduct.

1. When someone thinks academic misconduct has happened the following steps are taken:

a. The faculty member will document the incident of the misconduct.

• • • • • • If anyone that isn’t a faculty member thinks misconduct has taken place, they should report to the faculty member for the class in which the misconduct took place. After being reported, the faculty member will follow procedures outlined by the Code of Conduct to review the situation and act if warranted. In some cases, large scale, or egregious acts of Academic Misconduct automatically go to the Office of the Dean of Students for review by the Student Conduct Administrator and a formal hearing by a Conduct Board.

b. When a faculty member believes academic misconduct has taken place, the faculty member will notify the student, or students, of their belief to give them a chance to respond to the allegations before making a final decision.

• • • • • • The student will meet with the faculty member in person when possible before the final decision is made by the faculty member
          • If the faculty member is unable to meet with the student in person, the faculty member must email the student, or students, to their University email account with an explanation of violations thought to have occurred. The purpose of this email is to allow the student to respond to the allegation before the faculty member decides if the student has violated Section 8 of the Student Code of Conduct.
          • Both the student and the faculty member have the right to have a support person/advisor attend the meeting if they choose. The purpose of the support person is only provide support, so they may not directly engage in the discussion between the student and faculty member. An exception to this rule may include input from the Department or Program Chair who, if choosing to participate in the discussion, has a responsibility for the broader academic culture for the department or program.

c. After hearing the student’s response, or after the student has failed to respond by a deadline issued by the faculty member, the faculty member will consult with the department or program chair. Following this consultation, the faculty member will send the student an email to their university issued email address stating:

• • • • • • Whether or not there has been a finding of Academic Misconduct with cited reasons for the decision.
          • Any sanctions imposed. Sanctions must follow the guidelines in this policy and in published course policies (if any are mentioned in the course syllabus).

d. The faculty member will notify the Office of the Dean of Students of the determination by providing a copy of the decision email sent to the student and all other relevant documents. The notification should be sent to the Student Conduct Administrator on the same day the student is notified of the faculty member’s decision.

A student who has been found responsible for academic misconduct by a faculty member has the right to challenge the decision within 10 University business days of the email sent from the faculty member containing the decision of action. An Appeal Board will review the decision and determine if the student violated the Student Code of Conduct and if the sanctions imposed by the faculty member are fair according to the guidelines in the Student Code of Conduct and their own course syllabus.

Appeals can be submitted to the Dean of Student’s front desk, or a scan/picture of the completed form can be emailed to srr@boisestate.edu. Appeals must include both a statement to appeal, and the hand signed appeal form which can be found on the Office of the Dean of Students website.

The procedure for appeals of an Academic Misconduct violation follows the process outlined in Section 9 of the Student Code of Conduct, Appeals.

The Office of the Dean of Students may assign an academic integrity workshop, or other educational sanctions, in addition to sanctions issued by the faculty member. If these requirements aren’t completed, a hold may be placed on the student’s account.

When a student is caught violating the Code of Conduct for academic misconduct more than once, the Office of the Dean of Students can schedule an Academic Sanctioning Hearing. At this hearing, the Sanctioning Board will ask the student questions about the multiple cases, and will then decide if additional sanctions beyond what the faculty member or department issued are appropriate. This additional sanctions can include a wide range of actions from warnings to suspension and/or expulsion from the University.

Academic Sanctioning Hearings are different than other Conduct Board Hearings. In Academic Sanctioning hearings, it has already been established that the student has broken the Student Code of Conduct, and the role of this board is to evaluate the behavior of the student overall and to impose additional (if any) sanctions. This board does not review responsibility for violating the Code of Conduct. The additional sanctions imposed on the student can be appealed according to the appeal process in Section 9, Appeals.

Students are notified and can participate in the hearing process according to Section 6 of the Student Code of Conduct. All details about submitting relevant information, time frames of communication, and the rights to a support person and presenting witnesses (when appropriate) are also outlined in Section 6.

The scope of this hearing is limited to the student’s academic misconduct history and is being reviewed to determine if more sanctioning is necessary to help change future behavior.

The board for the Academic Sanctioning Hearing includes at least one faculty member, one classified or professional staff member, and one student. The hearing will follow the Hearing Checklist provided to the Student ahead of time. If the student doesn’t show up to the hearing, the board will review the information presented to them without the student’s input, and consider the appropriateness of additional sanctions.

Appropriate faculty, academic administrators, and other students relevant to the case may be called on to participate if it is thought to be appropriate by the Academic Sanctioning Board.