COP 03-1503: Academic Integrity Policy

Purpose Statement

Florida SouthWestern State College (College) recognizes that adherence to high principle of academic integrity is vital to the academic function of the college.

Guidelines

Academic Integrity Policy

Florida SouthWestern State College (FSW) recognizes that adherence to high principles of academic integrity is vital to the academic function of the College. Faculty, administrators, and students share the responsibility of upholding Academic Integrity at FSW within the College’s learning environment.

All Academic Misconduct is prohibited at FSW. Students are responsible for their Academic Integrity, conduct and decisions. The students’ academic work must be performed, delivered, and completed to accurately represent the students’ knowledge and skillset. Violations of Academic Integrity will be referred to the Provost/Vice President, Academic Affairs, Academic Deans, and Community Standards.

Academic Integrity violations involve any attempts to enhance or provide an unfair advantage to a student’s academic performance, standards, or grades through Academic Misconduct. Examples of Academic Misconduct include but are not limited to:

1. Cheating: Copying and/or taking credit for another’s work by gaining an unfair advantage through obtaining materials by unauthorized means or materials.
2. Plagiarism: Using another’s words, ideas, or work without giving credit or acknowledgement, failing to provide accurate citations and/or, presenting another’s work as one’s own. This includes verbal or written communication.
3. Misrepresentation of academic information, experiences, or effort: Providing inaccurate or misleading information regarding academic information, experiences, or false information regarding coursework, absences, data, documentation, etc.
4. Academic Collusion (Collaborative Academic Misconduct): Two or more students engage in actions which misrepresent an individual students effort, academic experience or learning, and/or any contributions to assignments, exams, etc. This includes unauthorized collaboration with another student during an examination or non-approved assignment, before, during, or after the course assignment or exam.
5. Self-Plagiarism: Reuse of a student’s previous work in any academic course without proper citation or acknowledgement.
6. Disruptive Conduct (Student Handbook, section F.I.,): Obstructing or disrupting any College activity including teaching, research, administrative functions, social activities, and public service functions.
7. Identification (Student Handbook, section L. III.,): Impersonation or misrepresenting the authority to act on behalf of another or the College. Forgery, alteration or misuse of identification, documents, records, keys, or access codes or manufacturing, distribution, delivery, sale, purchasing, possession, or use of false identification.

Procedures

Academic Integrity Policy Procedures

Once a faculty member has information that an academic integrity violation has occurred, the faculty member should inform the student and request a meeting to discuss allegations to include a review of the information gathered and proposed action (per the Academic Integrity Policy in the current Catalog).  The faculty may request the respective Academic Dean or Associate Dean be present during this meeting; the student may request an advisor. The meeting should occur within 7 business days of the date when the faculty member informs that student of the allegation.

The following actions may be taken by faculty for students in violation of the Academic Integrity Policy:

1. Referral to the appropriate support service.
2. Assignment of a reduced grade on the plagiarized academic exercise.
3. Assignment of a final letter grade/reduction for the course.
4. Assignment of an "F" for the course.

An Academic Misconduct Report is to be submitted by the faculty member within seven business days of the allegation. Within three business days, the student and Academic Dean are informed of the Academic Misconduct Report by the Case Administrator with a copy of the dated Report also being sent to the faculty member.

If the student believes that they are not responsible for the academic misconduct, the student must respond via their FSW email to the faculty member’s initial communication within seven business days of the notification of the Report before starting a formal Appeal.

Student Appeal of the Academic Misconduct Report

Step 1: Begin Appeal Process for Academic Misconduct

If a resolution cannot be reached between the faculty member and student as detailed above, the student may begin the formal Appeal Process for Academic Misconduct. The student should obtain the Appeal for Academic Misconduct Report form.

At any step, if the student and faculty member agree to a resolution of the allegation, the appeal process is concluded. The faculty member should inform the Case Administrator of the resolution of the allegation and the Case Administrator will send a notification to all parties.

Step 2: Submission of Documents to Appeal Academic Misconduct (Within seven business days of meeting with Faculty)

The student must complete the Appeal for Academic Misconduct Report form and send it along with all documentation to be considered in their appeal via their FSW email to the Academic Dean no later than seven (7) business days after responding to the faculty.

If the student fails to appeal within seven (7) business days, the student will forfeit their right to appeal (extenuating circumstances may be considered by the Academic Dean).

If the student’s appeal is received within the stated time frame or if there are extenuating circumstances, the Academic Dean will provide the faculty member with a copy of the Form and associated documents and ask the faculty member to submit, in writing, any additional documentation within five business days of the receipt of the Form. The Academic Dean will send all the relevant documentation (the Form, student documentation and faculty documentation - the “Appeal”) to the Case Administrator within seven business days of receipt of the Form from the student.

Step 3: Hearing Before the Academic Integrity Board.

The Case Administrator will convene the Academic Integrity Board within 3 weeks of the receipt of the Appeal.

The Board will review the Appeal and make a decision concerning the question of academic misconduct.

The Academic Integrity Board meets on an as-needed basis. It is comprised of five members and includes two full-time faculty (one from the School in which the accusation was generated and one from another School), one staff, one student (who have been trained to take part in Student Conduct hearings) and the respective Campus Administrator (for online classes, the Campus Administrator from the faculty’s home campus). The Case Administrator is not a voting member of the Academic Integrity Board but does act as the secretary for the meeting. In the event of conflicts of interest, the Board members should recuse themselves and Case Administrator will notify the student and Board of changes.

The Case Administrator will notify all affected parties including the Board, any witnesses including but not limited to the reporting faculty member, and the student no less than seven business days prior to the hearing of the time, date and location. At the time of notification, the Case Administrator will distribute all necessary documentation to the Board and the student.

The Academic Integrity Board will review the Appeal. The student, student representative, and the reporting faculty member may be present and may speak at the meeting. Based on the information provided in the Appeal, the Committee will consider whether the Appeal meets the preponderance of evidence standard. The decision of the Academic Integrity Board will be sent to the student, the reporting faculty member and the Academic Dean by the Case Administrator within three business days.

The student can submit a written appeal via email to the Provost/Vice President, Academic Affairs (VPAA) within seven business days of receipt of the decision.

Step 4: Appeal to the VPAA

The Provost/Vice President, Academic Affairs (VPAA) or their designee will contact the Case Administrator for the Appeal documentation. Following review of the Appeal documentation and the email from the student, the student and/or faculty may be asked to provide clarifying information. The VPAA or designee makes a final decision and provides written notification to both the student and faculty member via FSW email within ten business days of the email appeal from the student.

The determination of student responsibility for academic misconduct by the VPAA or designee is final.

Note: The formal Appeal process may result in the student being found not responsible for the academic misconduct, but this does not automatically result in a change of grade for an assignment or final course grade. The responsibility for the evaluation of student coursework and the assignment of final grades rests with the professor who has been assigned to teach the course. This does not prevent the request for a Late Withdrawal or Late Drop by the student following the determination of not responsible.