Academic Integrity


The college expects all students to do their own schoolwork at all times. Any student guilty of dishonesty in academic work is subject to instructional consequences as defined in the course syllabus or departmental handbook and may include any of the following:  a grade of zero, course failure, or removal from the program. A faculty member may begin such action if a student is accused of “cheating on academic work.” Cheating includes, but is not limited to:

  1. Copying from another person’s test paper or academic work;
  2. Using, during a test, materials not authorized by the person giving the test;
  3. Collaborating with another person without permission during an examination or in preparing academic work;
  4. Knowingly using, buying, selling, stealing, transporting or soliciting, in whole or in part, the contents of a test prior to its being fully administered or without permission;
  5. Substituting for another student or permitting another person to substitute for oneself to take a test or prepare other academic work; 
  6. Bribing a person to obtain information regarding a test or other assignment.
  7. Stealing and deliberately using ideas or writings of others without giving written credit to them (plagiarism);

  8. Submitting one’s own work which has been previously published or submitted for another class. Reusing or repurposing previously submitted work is referred to as self-plagiarism and is considered cheating.

Definitions of actions which violate Academic integrity:

  1. Plagiarism - the taking of someone else's words, ideas, or work and passing them off as one's own without the proper citation and credit to the original author.
  2. Self-plagiarism (Multiple Submissions) - the submission of one’s own work previously submitted for another course for academic credit, whether in part or in its entirety, without the consent of the instructor.
  3. Collusion - the unauthorized collaboration with another person in preparing course work.

When a student is accused of academic dishonesty, the faculty member and the student will attempt to reach a resolution first and based on the course syllabus.  If no resolution is achieved, the student may appeal to the appropriate instructional dean for review of the decision made by the instructor.

If the incident includes a violation of a departmental program requirement as stated in the course syllabus or departmental handbook, a student’s written appeal should be reviewed through the instructional chain of command.

Only non-instructional testing violations occurring in the testing center (e.g., TSI, GED testing) may result in disciplinary review by Student Services.