Academic Integrity Policy

Principle

Chapman University is a community of scholars that emphasizes the mutual responsibility of all members to seek knowledge honestly and in good faith.  Students are responsible for doing their own work, and academic dishonesty of any kind will be subject to sanction by the instructor and referral to the university's Academic Integrity Committee, which may impose additional sanctions up to and including expulsion.  This document represents the Academic Integrity Policy of Chapman University as it pertains to students and to the responsibility of faculty in handling cases of alleged academic dishonesty.

Authority

The Academic Integrity Committee (AIC) is charged by the Faculty Senate under the Faculty Constitution and bylaws to be responsible for defining academic integrity and establishing policies and procedures for reporting, hearing, and sanctioning alleged violations of academic integrity.  The AIC also will make investigations and determinations of alleged violations of academic integrity policies and invoke the appropriate sanction as recommended by Chapman University’s Policy on Academic Integrity.  The Committee includes at least three full-time faculty members, three students, one of whom is the Associated Students Commissioner of Justice, and the Dean of Students or his/her designee (ex-officio, non-voting). The Chair will be elected from among the returning faculty members and serve on the Academic Council. Voting members are the student and faculty members. The academic integrity policy may be superseded by the policies developed by individual graduate programs.

Important Guidelines for Faculty

• The Faculty Senate requests that faculty include the principle statement found above in their course outlines and refer students to the Student Conduct Code for more information.
• To preempt violations, instructors shall make an effort to explain to students at the outset of a course or the start of an examination the behavior expected of them when taking examinations or when preparing and submitting other course work. Further, faculty should actively monitor examinations and consider using TurnItIn.com, a plagiarism detection utility. Faculty members may find the Academic Integrity Policy, “Plagiarism and Original Scholarship,” within the Student Conduct Code to be helpful.
• In all cases of alleged violations of academic integrity, faculty members must maintain confidentiality.
• Faculty must collect accurate records of an academic integrity violation and submit those records to the AIC Chair at the Office of the Chancellor.
• Faculty should encourage students who have been accused of an academic integrity violation to contact the Dean of Students or designee, who can serve as a resource.

In order to safeguard the conditions under which scholarship is performed, measured and evaluated, the following will serve to define academic dishonesty, identify procedures for reporting and hearing cases involving academic integrity violations, and give suggested guidelines for sanctions according to the offense.

• For Faculty – steps to take for an academic integrity violation
• Request designee of AIC committee (online form)
• Academic Integrity Sanctions & Violations 
• Appeals
• Violation Report Form (WORD)

Other information

• In all cases of alleged violations of academic integrity, it is vital to maintain confidentiality.
• A report of the action taken concerning an alleged violation of academic integrity at any level must be filed with the Office of the Chancellor.
• False statements made during the course of the process may result in additional sanction(s).
• A second documented offense of academic dishonesty of any kind by a student constitutes grounds for a recommendation by the AIC for expulsion.
• If the faculty member determines the appropriate sanction to be an F in the course, and the student accepts the sanction, the grade will be recorded as a non-replaceable F. (The impact of the non-replaceable F grade on the grade point average cannot be eliminated by retaking the course.)

*Please allow two working days to schedule an Academic Integrity Violation Meeting