AP 4031 Academic Dishonesty

Instructor Disciplinary Action When Academic Dishonesty Occurs

When a student is charged with academic dishonesty (see definitions below) related to a class and the instructor has reasonable proof or documentation or the student admits the violation, the instructor may select one or more of the following options:

1. Issue an oral or written notification and warn the student that further acts of this sort will result in additional disciplinary action.

2. Issue a “NP” or a failing grade (“F”) for the assignment in question.

3. Apply the instructor’s individual grading policy, as stated in the syllabus, to determine alternative grading consequences (excluding explicitly failing the student from the course, which is prohibited by Title 5.)

The faculty will submit an incident report in the Advocate reporting system and include any related documentation for record of the violation. The incident will be processed following Administrative Procedure 5500 Standards of Student Conduct and Administrative Procedure 5520 Student Discipline. Additional sanctions may be considered based on these administrative procedures. The student has a right to appeal any of these disciplinary actions as outlined in Administrative Procedure 5520 Student Discipline.

Definitions

Academic dishonesty in both course and non-course activities is defined as an act of obtaining or attempting to present academic work through fraudulent or deceptive means in order to obtain credit for this work. Academic dishonesty includes but is not limited to Cheating; Fabrication; Fraud, Misrepresentation and Lying; Plagiarism; Multiple Submissions; and Facilitating Academic Dishonesty.

Cheating is defined as the failure to observe the expressed procedures of an academic exercise. Cheating includes but is not limited to:

1. Unauthorized use of commercial "research" services such as term paper mills.

2. Providing information to others without the instructor’s permission or allowing the opportunity for others to obtain information that provides the recipient with an advantage on an exam or assignment.

3. Unauthorized communication with fellow students during a quiz or exam.

4. Copying material, in part or in whole, from another student’s quiz or exam.

5. Permitting another student to copy from a quiz or exam.  Permitting another person to take a quiz, exam, or similar evaluation in lieu of the enrolled student.

6. Using unauthorized materials, information, or study aids (e.g., textbook, notes, data, images, formula list, dictionary, calculator, etc.) in any academic exercise or exam. Page 1 of 4

7. Unauthorized collaboration in providing or requesting assistance, such as sharing information on an academic exercise or exam through electronic devices (or any other means of communication).

8. Using another person’s collected or measured data in assignments such as computer or lab exercises without the instructor’s permission.

9. Using any electronic device to gain access to, alter, and/or use unauthorized information.

10. Altering a graded exam or assignment and requesting that it be re-graded. Submission of altered work after grading shall be considered academically dishonest, including but not limited to changing answers after an exam or assignment has been returned or submitting another’s exam as one’s own to gain credit.

11. Attempting to hinder the academic work of another student.

12. Discussing answers or ideas relating to the answers on a test or other examination with students who have not yet taken the test or examination.

13. Unauthorized use of an annotated instructor’s edition of a textbook.

14. Obtaining, making, or distributing copies of a test, examination, or other course material without the instructor’s permission.

15. Using notes, cheat sheets, or other devices considered inappropriate under the prescribed testing condition.

16. Collaborating with another or others in work to be presented without the instructor’s permission.

17. Falsifying records, laboratory work, or other course data.  Knowingly and intentionally assisting another student in any of the above.

Fabrication is defined as falsification or invention of any information in an academic exercise. Falsification includes but is not limited to:

1. Fabricating or altering data to support research.

2. Presenting results from research that was not performed--submitting material for lab assignments, class projects or other assignments which is wholly or partially falsified, invented or otherwise does not represent work accomplished or undertaken by the student.

3. Crediting source material that was not directly used for research.

4. Falsification, alteration, or misrepresentation of official or unofficial records or documents including but not limited to academic transcripts, academic documentation, letters of recommendation, and admissions applications or related documents.

Fraud, Misrepresentation, and Lying are defined as intentionally making an untrue statement or deceiving. Fraud, misrepresentation, and lying include, but are not limited to:

1. Providing an excuse for an absence, tardiness, or late assignment with the intent to deceive the instructor, staff, or the District.

2. Checking into a district class, lab, center, or other district resource with the intent to deceive the instructor, staff, or the District.

3. Checking in or checking out of a district class, lab, center, or other district resource for another student.

4. Using another student’s district identification card for use in a class, lab, center, or other district resource.

5. Intentionally misrepresenting the content, meaning, or context of source material or scientific data.

Plagiarism is defined as the presentation of another’s words, images or ideas as if they were the student’s own. Plagiarism includes but is not limited to:

1. Stealing the written, oral, artistic, or original works or efforts of others and presenting them as one's own.

2. The submission of material, whether in part or whole, authored by another person or source (e.g., the internet, book, journal, etc.), whether that material is paraphrased, translated or copied verbatim or in near-verbatim form without properly acknowledging the source. (It is the student’s responsibility to cite all sources.)

3. The submission of material edited, in part or whole, by another person that results in the loss of the student’s original voice or ideas (i.e., while an editor or tutor may advise a student, the final submitted materials must be the work of the student, not that of the editor or tutor.)

4. Translating all or any part of material from another language and presenting it as if it were the student’s own original work.

5. Unauthorized use of another person’s data in completing any exercise.

Multiple Submissions are defined as resubmission of a work with identical or similar content that has already received credit in a high school or another college course. Multiple submissions include but are not limited to:

1. Resubmission of work with identical or similar content from a past course in a current course without written consent of the present instructor.

2. Submission of work with identical or similar content in concurrent courses without written consent of all instructors involved.

3. When retaking a course, resubmission of work with identical or similar content from the past section of the same course without written consent of the present instructor.

Facilitating Academic Dishonesty is defined as assisting another to commit an act of academic dishonesty. Facilitating academic dishonesty includes but is not limited to: 

1. Taking a quiz, exam, or similar evaluation in place of another person.

2. Allowing one student to copy from another.

3. Attending a course posing as another student who is officially registered for that course.

4. Providing material or other information (e.g., a solution to homework, a project or other assignments, a copy of an exam, exam key or any test information) to another student with knowledge that such assistance could be used to violate any other sections of this procedure.

5. Distribution or use of notes or recordings based on college classes without the express written permission of the instructor for purposes other than individual or group study; this includes, but is not limited to, providing materials for distribution by services publishing class notes. (This restriction on unauthorized use applies to all information distributed or in any way displayed for use in relationship to the class, whether obtained in class, via email, on the internet, or via any other media.)

Culpability is not diminished when academic dishonesty occurs in drafts which are not the final version or when the student claims not to know the policy or procedure.

Approved by Superintendent/President: May 26, 2020 See BP 5500, AP 5500, and AP 5520