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.
