Disclaimer: The following is meant strictly for guidance and interpretation of the Student Code of Conduct and does serve as a legal document.
General Information Regarding Academic Misconduct
Section 8: A
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.