Felician University Honor Code

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The policies and procedures of the Honor Code apply to all members of the University community. This includes all students whether undergraduate or graduate, full-time or part-time, regularly enrolled, non-matriculated, or cross-registered from another institution, and faculty, staff and administrators, whether full-time or part-time.

The community presumes that the personal integrity of all its members is sufficient assurance that students do their own work without unauthorized help from any other source and that faculty, staff, and administrators evaluate the student’s work in a fair and impartial manner. The Honor Code presumes that all work submitted as part of academic requirements is the product of the student submitting it unless credit is given with proper footnoting and bibliographic techniques as prescribed by the course instructor.

All members of the University community are required to acquaint themselves with the provisions of the Honor Code through the information on the University’s eCompanion page, the Student Handbook, and the University catalog. Students are responsible for obtaining from their professors an explanation of the freedom they may exercise in collaboration with other students or in use of outside sources, including the student's own work prepared and submitted for another course. Students may collaborate with each other within the parameters established by their professor. In any given course a student may submit work prepared for credit in another course so long as he/she has received written permission from any professors involved.

Cheating, plagiarizing, or otherwise falsifying results of study is prohibited. The Code applies to all material submitted in fulfillment of course requirements, including but not limited to examinations, papers (research and otherwise), workbook exercises and calculations, art, tapes, photographs, films, and computer programs, unless alternative arrangements have been made with the instructor.

In the event that a student does not obtain a clear definition of the application of the Honor Code from a professor in any class, the student must assume that the Honor Council will follow the strictest interpretation of the Honor Code with respect to that class.

When a student makes use of concepts or words from an outside source, whether in the form of a direct quotation or of paraphrase, credit must be given to the original source for each idea by footnote or other technique acceptable to the instructor. Failure to make such an acknowledgment through intent to deceive or through ignorance of proper citation format constitutes plagiarism.

Violations of the Honor Code

Violations of the code include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Cheating on an exercise, test, problem, or examination submitted by a student to meet course requirements.
    • Cheating includes, but is not limited to using unauthorized aids, such as:
      • crib sheets,
      • discarded computer programs,
      • the aid of another person on a take-home exam,
      • the unauthorized use of any electronic or technological devices,
      • copying from another student's work;
    • soliciting, giving, and/or receiving unauthorized aid orally or in writing;
    • asking for or giving information pertaining to any portion of an examination before or after a student has taken it, in such a way as to gain or give an advantage over other students; or
    • engaging in similar action contrary to the principles of academic honesty.
  • Cheating is not:
    • receiving help from the Learning Center;
    • receiving tutorial help;
    • studying with another student;
    • asking the instructor for help;
    • using study guides such as Cliff’s Notes and so forth;
    • using papers, tests, or other instructor-approved material.
  • Any action designed to deceive a member of the faculty or a fellow student regarding principles contained in the Honor Code, such as securing an answer to a problem for one course from a faculty member in another course when such assistance has not been authorized.
  • Plagiarism, i.e., the representation of another’s work as one’s own:
    • Use of texts of papers prepared by commercial or noncommercial agents and submitted as a student's own work.
    • Submission of work downloaded from the internet. This includes entire essays or partial downloads if the source is not cited properly.
    • Submission of work prepared for another course without specific prior authorization of the instructors in both courses. Use of a student's own work, whether prepared in the relevant class or in another, is governed by all the rules of scholarship mentioned in the above section on plagiarism. A student may use citations, sources, whole sections of a paper so long as proper acknowledgement is made and the written permission of any instructors involved has been secured.
  • Falsification of results of study and research. Any falsification or being accessory to the altering or falsifying of class records or other materials submitted to demonstrate compliance with course requirements or to obtain class credit, including falsifying records of class attendance, attendance at required events or events for which credit is given, or attendance or hours spent at internships or other work service.

Honor Code Violation Reporting Procedure

  1. All faculty and adjuncts will document in the course syllabus how honor code violations will be sanctioned at the course level. In addition, the syllabus will contain links to the graduate catalog’s Honor Code policies and procedures section.
  2. When a faculty member or adjunct determines that a student has violated the Honor Code, the faculty member or adjunct informs the student that an Honor Code violation has occurred and reviews with the student how the violation will be addressed in the final course grade.
  3. At the same time, the faculty member or adjunct reports the Honor Code violation to the Honor Council by completing and submitting the Honor Code violation forms to the Honor Council Faculty Advocate.
  4. Students have a right to appeal any report of an Honor Code violation to the Honor Council.

Notification of Violation

The faculty member will notify and discuss the violation with the student within ten business days of discovery of the violation. If the matter is not satisfactorily resolved, the faculty member will immediately refer the violation to the Honor Council Faculty Advisor.

Course Sanctions for Violation of the Honor Code

The course sanction for a violation of the Honor Code is determined by the course instructor. Neither the Honor Council not the Faculty Advocate enters into any consideration of grading. The Council’s sole function is to determine if a code violation has occurred once an appeal is brought before it by a student.

Sanctions Imposed by the University for Violations of the Honor Code

Students reported to have violated the Honor Code receive an advisory letter for each infraction. The first time a student receives a letter, he or she is required to meet with the Faculty Advocate for a seminar on academic integrity. A second Honor Council violation shall result in dismissal from the University.

Responsibility of the Individual

Without the support and cooperation of the entire Felician University community, the Honor Code will not work. All members of the community must insist on both their own absolute integrity and on the integrity of all other members of the community.

If a person suspects that a breach of the Honor Code has been committed, he or she must inform the instructor in the course of the suspicions and identify, if possible, the person(s) suspected.

The Honor Council

The Honor Council is a panel of students, advised by faculty and administration, which seeks to preserve the integrity of the Honor Code at Felician University. The Council aims to secure justice for any student under suspicion of dishonesty, to vindicate his or her name if innocent, and, if guilty, to protect the honor and standing of the student body by affirming that the Honor Code was violated.

In the event of an alleged violation of the Honor Code by a graduate student, two graduate students shall represent the student body from each School. These students are named by the deans of each division in consultation with the School's department chairs. The student members of the council serve one-year terms and can be re-appointed for as long as they are enrolled as full-time students, maintain at least a 2.0 GPA, and are in academic good standing.

The presence of three student members of the Council is required for an Honor Council hearing. The sitting members for any hearing are selected by the Faculty Advocate based entirely on the compatibility of their schedules with those of the faculty member(s) reporting the code violation and the student(s) requesting the hearing.

The faculty is represented by the Faculty Advocate. The Faculty Advocate facilitates the operation of the Council by receiving notices of Code violations, providing all concerned individuals with access to any documentation provided by the parties involved, scheduling and chairing the hearings, and providing the Vice President for Academic Affairs with a written report on each violation hearing and an annual report on the activities of the council and plans for the following year.

The administration is represented by the Vice President for Academic Affairs. The Vice President for Academic Affairs provides, with the Faculty Advocate, clarification of University policy during the hearings.

Hearing accommodations such as, but not limited to, teleconferencing can be made to accommodate out of state students enrolled in an online program.

All suspected infractions of the Honor Code are forwarded to the Honor Council Faculty Advocate. The Faculty Advocate also convenes Honor Council hearings.

The Honor Pledge

The pledge to be signed on all tests, quizzes, and similar work is: “I pledge my honor that I have neither given nor received inappropriate aid on this examination.”

The written pledge signifies that the work submitted is the student's own and that it has been completed in accordance with the requirements of the course as specified by the instructor. In addition, each student and faculty member is expected to establish a clear understanding of the requirements in each course. Any student uncertain about the application of the Code in a particular course requirement should consult the instructor. The Honor Code pledge, should be included in all written work completed by the student and submitted for a grade. Any work handed in for credit, however, will be considered pledged unless exempted by the instructor.

  • We wish to acknowledge our debt to Vanderbilt University and thank them for permission to use the language and concepts of their Honor Code freely.