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A. Levels of Violations and Recommended Sanctions
Any
violation of academic integrity is a serious offense and is therefore
subject to an appropriate penalty or sanction. Academic integrity
violations at Rutgers University are classified into four levels
according to the nature of the violation. For each level of violation,
a corresponding set of sanctions is recommended. Level Three and Level
Four violations are called "separable," since the recommended sanctions
are temporary or permanent separation from the university. Level One
and Level Two violations are called "nonseparable" since separation
from the university is not a possible sanction for first offenses at
those levels. However, separation is a possible sanction for repeat
violations at Level One or Level Two.
The recommended
sanctions at each level are not binding, but are intended as general
guidelines for the academic community. Moreover, due to mitigating
circumstances, a recommended sanction is not always imposed, even when
a student is found responsible for a given violation. Culpability may
be assessed and sanctions imposed differentially for those with more or
with less experience as members of the academic community. Therefore,
violations of academic integrity by graduate and professional students
[In this policy, the term graduate and professional students refers to
postbaccalaureate students pursuing master's or doctoral degrees of any
type, as well as law students. The term does not refer to students in
the undergraduate phase of a joint undergraduate-graduate degree
program] will normally be penalized more severely than violations by
first-year undergraduate students.
Examples are cited below for
each level of violation. These examples are meant to be illustrations
and should not be considered all-inclusive.
Level One Violations
Level
One violations may occur because of inexperience or lack of knowledge
of the principles of academic integrity and are often characterized by
the absence of dishonest intent on the part of the student committing
the violation. These violations generally are quite limited in extent,
occur on a minor assignment, and represent a small fraction of the
total coursework. Examples include:
1. Working with another student on a minor laboratory exercise or homework assignment when such collaboration is prohibited.
2. Failure to footnote or give proper acknowledgment in a very limited section of an assignment.
Sanctions for Level One violations ordinarily include one or more of the following, although this list is not all-inclusive:
1. Required participation in a noncredit workshop or seminar on ethics or academic integrity.
2. An assigned paper or research project related to ethics or academic integrity.
3. A makeup assignment that is more difficult than the original assignment.
4. No credit for the original assignment.
5. Disciplinary warning.
Level Two Violations
Level
Two violations are breaches of academic integrity that are more serious
or that affect a more significant aspect or portion of the coursework
compared with Level One violations. Examples include:
1. Quoting directly or paraphrasing, to a moderate extent, without acknowledging the source.
2. Submitting the same work, or major portions thereof, to satisfy the
requirements of more than one course without permission from the
instructor to whom the work is submitted for the second or subsequent
time.
3. Using data or interpretative material for a laboratory
report without acknowledging the sources or the collaborators. All
contributors to the acquisition of data and/or to the writing of the
report must be acknowledged.
4. Failure to acknowledge
assistance from others, such as help with research, statistical
analysis, computer programming, or field data collection, in a paper,
examination, or project report.
Sanctions for Level Two violations ordinarily include one or more of the following, although this list is not all-inclusive:
1. A failing grade on the assignment.
2. A failing grade for the course.
3. Disciplinary warning or probation.
Level Three Violations
Level
Three violations are breaches of academic integrity that are more
serious in nature or that affect a more significant aspect or portion
of the coursework compared with Level Two violations. Examples include:
1. Repeat Level Two violations.
2. Presenting the work of another as one's own.
3. Copying work on hourly exams or final exams.
4. Plagiarizing major portions of a written assignment.
5. Acting to facilitate copying during an exam.
6. Using prohibited materials, such as books, notes, or calculators during an examination.
7. Conspiring before an exam to develop methods of illicitly exchanging information during the exam.
8. Altering examinations for the purposes of regrading.
9. Acquiring or distributing copies of an examination from an unauthorized source prior to the examination period.
10. Submitting purchased materials such as a term paper.
11. Removing or damaging posted or reserve material, or preventing other students from having access to the material.
12. Fabricating data by inventing or deliberately altering material.
Fabrication includes citing "sources" that are not, in fact, sources.
13. Using unethical or improper means of acquiring data.
The
sanction for Level Three violations ordinarily is an F for the course
and suspension for one or more semesters, depending on the seriousness
of the violation.
Level Four Violations
Level Four violations represent the most serious breaches of academic integrity. Examples include:
1. Committing a violation of academic integrity after returning from
suspension for a previous violation of academic integrity.
2.
Committing a violation of academic integrity that breaks the law or
resembles criminal activity (such as forging a grade form, stealing an
examination from a professor or from a university office, buying a
stolen examination, falsifying a transcript to gain access to the
university or its resources, or altering the record of work done at the
university).
3. Having a substitute take an examination or taking an examination for someone else.
4. Fabricating evidence; falsifying data; quoting directly or
paraphrasing without acknowledging the source; and/or presenting the
ideas of another as one's own in a senior thesis, a master's thesis, a
doctoral dissertation, a scholarly article submitted for publication,
or any other work represented as his or her own by a graduate or
professional student.
5. Sabotaging another student's work
through actions designed to prevent the student from successfully
completing an assignment.
6. Knowingly violating a canon of the
ethical code of the profession for which a graduate or professional
student is preparing.
The sanction for Level Four violations
ordinarily is permanent expulsion from the university with a permanent
notation of disciplinary expulsion on the student's Rutgers transcript.
Repeat Offenses
As
stated above, a repeat violation at Level Two will ordinarily be
treated as a Level Three, and hence separable, violation. Likewise, any
violation of academic integrity committed after returning from
suspension for a Level Three violation will be treated as a Level Four
violation. A repeat violation at Level One will ordinarily be treated
as a Level Two violation, although it may, under certain circumstances,
be treated as a Level Three violation.
B. Other Consequences of Violating the Academic Integrity Policy
A
student who commits a violation of academic integrity not only faces
university censure and sanctions but also runs a serious risk of
harming his or her future educational and employment opportunities. The
notation of a specific sanction placed on the student's transcript
remains for the term of the sanction. In all closed cases in which a
grade of F is assigned for disciplinary reasons, the F shall remain on
the student's transcript and be included in the GPA, even if the
student retakes the course and achieves a passing grade. Moreover,
prospective employers and other educational institutions frequently use
recommendation forms that ask for judgment and comment on an
individual's moral or ethical behavior. Since such forms are sent with
the permission of the student, who thereby waives any right he or she
may have under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act to keep
disciplinary sanctions confidential, university faculty and
administrators with knowledge of academic integrity violations are
ethically bound to report such violations.
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