Conduct
Student Academic Integrity
IU Indianapolis exists to promote the intellectual and ethical growth of students. As an institution with these high goals, IU Indianapolis must foster the best possible environment for teaching and learning, one that is based upon mutual respect and upon clear expectations of one another within the community of teachers and learners.
The IU Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct states that students must uphold and maintain academic and professional honesty and integrity; the code defines academic misconduct as any activity that tends to undermine the academic integrity of the institution. Students engaging in academic misconduct may therefore receive penalties from their course instructor and disciplinary action from the university. Policies against academic misconduct apply to all course-, department-, school-, and university-related activities. Academic misconduct may involve human, hard-copy, or electronic resources and includes but is not limited to the following: cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, interference, violation of course rules, and facilitating academic dishonesty. For definitions of these activities, visit the Definitions appendix on the Student Code website For information on how faculty and students are expected to handle cases involving academic misconduct, visit Academic Misconduct on the Student Code website. Additional information about the rights and responsibilities of IU students is available in the Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, & Conduct.
EXPECTATIONS OF STUDENTS
As a student, you’re expected to:
- Participate in the learning process in a serious and conscientious manner.
- Respect the rights of other members of the learning community.
- Attend classes and complete your assignments on time.
- Be prepared for and participate in classroom activities, knowing that you have the right to raise relevant issues, offer reasonable doubts about data, or express alternative opinions without concern for any academic penalties.
- Read all course materials, including the syllabus and description of grading and testing systems used in the course.
- Refrain from all academic misconduct.
- Avoid situations giving the appearance of misconduct.
- Report to the instructor any academic misconduct you observe.
EXPECTATIONS OF INSTRUCTORS
Instructors are expected to:
- Maintain a clear connection between the advance description and the conduct and content of each course presented.
- Clearly state the course goals in materials handed out at the first class meeting.
- Clearly inform students in writing at the beginning of the course of the testing and grading system to be used.
- These systems should be intellectually justifiable and consistent with the rules and regulations of the academic division.
- Plan and use class time with an awareness of its value for every student.
- Announce class attendance policy at the first class meeting and meet class regularly.
- Clearly state the level of collaboration that is allowed on every class assignment.
- Be available to discuss course content or grading with students throughout a course.
- Write examinations consistent with course goals and content presented in class or within clearly assigned readings.
- Maintain security of all examinations before, during and after it has been given.
- Protect honest students by monitoring the examination process.
- Post a key only after all students have completed the examination.
- Assign final grades consistent with the student's academic performance according to the guidelines established when the course began.
- Maintain and demand a professional tone in dealing with students in or out of class.
WHAT IS ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT
Academic misconduct is defined as any activity that tends to undermine the academic integrity of the institution. The university may discipline a student for academic misconduct. Academic misconduct may involve human, hard-copy, or electronic resources.
The faculty member must report all cases of academic misconduct to the dean of students, or appropriate official. Academic misconduct includes, but is not limited to, the following:
- Cheating: Cheating is considered to be an attempt to use or provide unauthorized assistance, materials, information, or study aids in any form and in any academic exercise or environment.
- A student must not use external assistance on any “in-class” or “take-home” examination, unless the instructor specifically has authorized external assistance. This prohibition includes, but is not limited to, the use of tutors, books, notes, calculators, computers, and wireless communication devices.
- A student must not use another person as a substitute in the taking of an examination or quiz, nor allow other persons to conduct research or to prepare work, without advanced authorization from the instructor to whom the work is being submitted.
- A student must not use materials from a commercial term paper company, files of papers prepared by other persons, or submit documents found on the Internet.
- A student must not collaborate with other persons on a particular project and submit a copy of a written report that is represented explicitly or implicitly as the student’s individual work.
- A student must not use any unauthorized assistance in a laboratory, at a computer terminal, or on fieldwork.
- A student must not steal examinations or other course materials, including but not limited to, physical copies and photographic or electronic images.
- A student must not submit substantial portions of the same academic work for credit or honors more than once without permission of the instructor or program to whom he work is being submitted.
- A student must not, without authorization, alter a grade or score in any way, nor alter answers on a returned exam or assignment for credit.
- Fabrication: A student must not falsify or invent any information or data in an academic exercise including, but not limited to, records or reports, laboratory results, and citation to the sources of information.
- Plagiarism: Plagiarism is defined as presenting someone else’s work, including the work of other students, as one’s own. Any ideas or materials taken from another source for either written or oral use must be fully acknowledged, unless the information is common knowledge. What is considered “common knowledge” may differ from course to course.
- A student must not adopt or reproduce ideas, opinions, theories, formulas, graphics, or pictures of another person without acknowledgment.
- A student must give credit to the originality of others and acknowledge indebtedness whenever:
- directly quoting another person’s actual words, whether oral or written;
- using another person’s ideas, opinions, or theories;
- paraphrasing the words, ideas, opinions, or theories of others, whether oral or written;
- borrowing facts, statistics, or illustrative material; or
- offering materials assembled or collected by others in the form of projects or collections without acknowledgment
- Interference: A student must not steal, change, destroy, or impede another student’s work, nor should the student unjustly attempt, through a bribe, a promise of favors or threats, to affect any student’s grade or the evaluation of academic performance. Impeding another student’s work includes, but is not limited to, the theft, defacement, or mutilation of resources so as to deprive others of the information they contain.
- Violation of Course Rules: A student must not violate course rules established by a department, the course syllabus, verbal or written instructions, or the course materials that are rationally related to the content of the course or to the enhancement of the learning process in the course.
- Facilitating Academic Dishonesty: A student must not intentionally or knowingly help or attempt to help another student to commit an act of academic misconduct, nor allow another student to use his or her work or resources to commit an act of misconduct.
As a Faculty Member, What Do I Do If I Discover Academic Misconduct?
- Read and consult the Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct and the Student Disciplinary Procedures for Academic Misconduct Involving the IU Indianapolis Campus.
- Initiate efforts to determine if academic misconduct occurred.
- Schedule a meeting with the student within 5 days of discovering the possible misconduct. Provide an opportunity for the student to respond to the allegation.
- Clearly inform the student of the decision on the issue of academic misconduct, the consequences to the student, and the process by which the student may appeal.
- Complete the IU Indianapolis Academic Misconduct Reporting Form, give the student an opportunity to read the form, and to sign it.
- Send the Academic Misconduct Reporting Form, signed by all parties, to the Academic Officer of the school offering the course.
As a Student, What Do I Do If I Am Accused of Academic Misconduct?
- Learn about the accusation. Remain calm and listen carefully to the description of the incident or ask to read the description from the referral form.
- Clearly and calmly describe the incident from your point of view.
- Ask for more information. Ask what penalties the faculty member plans to assign and find out when the completed referral form will be available to you for signature.
- Know your choices. Consult the Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct to clarify your options. Decide, either alone or with the advice of a trusted confidant, whether you will accept the decision of the faculty member or whether you wish to appeal.
