Academic Integrity - All Students
Contents:
03.01 Academic Integrity at Eastman - General Information
Plagiarism: Grounds for Dismissal
The Eastman School of Music is a community of students, faculty, and staff with a tradition of excellence and professionalism. Our high standards depend on the atmosphere of mutual confidence and common purpose which have long sustained the institution. We take pride in our membership in this ongoing community partly because of the common commitment to excellence and professional discipline which has brought us together here. This commitment is essential for the integrity of the entire academic process - which, in turn, is essential for excellence in teaching and for fairness in evaluation.
This statement, prepared by a student-faculty committee, seeks to clarify the commitment each of us makes in becoming part of the Eastman community and to outline procedures to be followed should a breach of academic integrity occur. To maintain our traditions of excellence and common purpose, it is essential that those who uphold our standards of academic integrity not suffer from any action of those who do not, and that it be generally recognized that there will be sanctions against violators. General standards of academic integrity apply to all members of the community, although student and faculty responsibilities cannot be absolutely equivalent. (It must be emphasized that the lists of responsibilities and possible violations in this statement are not exhaustive.)
Above all, academic integrity involves fair evaluation of student performance and equal access to the resources necessary for learning. Thus, any action which gives a student an unfair advantage in learning, or which interferes with the objective evaluation of the student's work, is a violation of academic integrity. Specific responsibilities are outlined in Sections 3.02 and 3.03 below. Ultimately, the commitment to academic integrity at Eastman is simply a matter of mutual trust and respect - among students, above all, but also between students and faculty. Thus, all members of the community are committed to conducting themselves in a professional manner by, for example, keeping appointments, being on time, and avoiding monopolizing the resources necessary for learning and teaching.
03.02 Student Responsibilities
In all that follows, it is assumed that graduate students, as a result of their previous post-secondary education, have developed a higher awareness of and sensitivity to accepted standards of academic integrity than have freshmen, for example. Therefore, the faculty's expectations in this area are very high for graduate students and the penalties for infractions significantly more severe than for undergraduates.
A. The student may claim credit only for work that is genuinely his or her own. In conveying the impression that the student himself or herself is the source of ideas actually taken from others, whether by intention or carelessness, the student is guilty of plagiarism. Plagiarism obviously includes wholesale copying from another student's paper, but it also includes a close paraphrase of some part of another person's work, whether published or unpublished, without citing the source in a footnote. The student is equally responsible for proper citation when translating the words and ideas of others from sources in foreign languages. Electronic sources consulted online must also be properly acknowledged, including the author of the information, where given, date of consultation, and the appropriate website used. In all cases, the student is responsible for providing proper acknowledgment of the sources he or she has used, with appropriate footnotes and quotation marks, where needed. In research papers, especially, an instructor may require a particular format for footnotes, bibliographies, discographies, and online sources. In such cases, the student is expected to use the prescribed form of citation.
B. The student is expected to take examinations in accordance with standard procedures, subject to any specific variation by the instructor. It would thus be a violation of academic integrity for the student:
- To obtain a copy of all or part of an examination before the instructor has intended.
- To use unauthorized notes, books or other materials during an examination.
- To copy from another student or seek the aid of another student during the examination
C. The student may not give another student unauthorized aid on any piece of work to be submitted for evaluation and credit. This would include, as extreme examples, taking an examination for another student, or giving another student a paper to be submitted as his or her own. It would also include unauthorized collaboration in preparing routine assignments outside class. If the student is at all uncertain about what is legitimate in a given case, s/he should consult the instructor.
D. The student may not attempt to influence the evaluation process through considerations other than merit.
E. The student is responsible for actively supporting Eastman principles of academic integrity. This means, for example, that the student would be expected to cooperate in an investigation of a possible breach of academic integrity by another student.
F. The student will take no action which jeopardizes the learning opportunities of his or her fellow students. Such action would include, for example, behaving in a disruptive way in the classroom, or monopolizing educational resources intended for the use of others.
03.03 Faculty Responsibilities
(It should be noted that grading per se is not at issue here. There obviously may be differences of opinion over grades even if they are determined in an objective and professional manner.)
A. Ordinary standards of professional conduct for faculty entail fairness in dealing with students. The instructor will take no action which favors one student over another or gives one or more students advantages not available to others in his or her class. The instructor will judge student performance objectively, without attention to extraneous matters such as personality, age, race, creed, ethnic background, sexual identity, or political conviction. In general the instructor will do nothing which deprives his or her students of learning opportunities normally available to others throughout the School, and will avoid exploiting in any way the inherent inequality of the student-faculty relationship.
B. The instructor will take care to evaluate current abilities when hearing students at jury examinations and when placing them in the School's large and small ensembles.
C. The instructor is expected to tell his or her students, during the first or second class meeting, the number and character of the major assignments and examinations in the course and the approximate weights of each in determining the course grade. The instructor should also specify his or her policies regarding such matters as incompletes, attendance, and late work, indicating any penalties that might be involved.
D. The instructor is expected to discuss the application of Eastman standards of academic integrity to his or her particular course, indicating what resources may be used, and specifying how much student discussion or collaboration is permissible in preparing assignments outside class.
E. The instructor is expected to take all reasonable measures to remove the possibility of cheating from the examination situation. Before administering an examination, the instructor should consider the problems of dealing with an instance of cheating, since an actual case may require an immediate response. Above all, the instructor must decide under what conditions s/he would immediately confront a student suspected of cheating and stop his or her examination. With certain kinds of cheating, it may prove impossible to make a case against the student unless such immediate action is taken.
F. The instructor is expected to confront students suspected of violations and to take the appropriate steps for dealing with such cases, as specified in Section 3.04 below. Although it obviously can be inconvenient and unpleasant to initiate such action, to do so is essential for fairness to other students (including those violators who are penalized) and for overall integrity of the academic process at Eastman. In cases in which the student wishes to contest either the instructor's accusation or the proposed penalty, both parties are expected to follow the procedures outlined in Section 3.04 below.
03.04 Procedures for Dealing With Suspected Violations by Students
In these procedures there are several distinct stages or levels, centering on the roles of the instructor, the department chair, the Academic Integrity Committee, the Dean of the School, and the Provost of the University. How far a given case proceeds depends on:
a) the seriousness of the alleged violation;
b) whether the accused student has previously been guilty of a violation at the Eastman School of Music;
c) whether or not the student wishes to contest the charge; and
d) whether or not the student wishes to contest the penalty proposed by the instructor.
03.04.01 General Guidelines
- A student who disputes the charge against him or her will be presumed innocent until s/he is found guilty by the Academic Integrity Committee, to be described below.
- The student has the right of appeal through the channels specified below. It should be noted that even if the student admits guilt, s/he may contest the penalty proposed by the instructor.
- The proceedings are to be prompt at all stages.
- All aspects of the proceedings are to remain confidential. However, in order to insure consistency and to identify repeaters, records must be prepared and made available to the appropriate persons. More specific guidelines concerning the preparation and retention of records are contained in Section 03.04.08, H below.
- Note that a student may not drop or withdraw from a course in which s/he has been charged with and found guilty of a breach of academic integrity.
03.04.02 Uncontested Cases: The Instructor's Level
It is appropriate for some relatively minor cases involving undergraduates in their first year at Eastman to be settled by the instructor and the student alone, with no formal record keeping or reporting. If both parties agree that the violation was solely the result of ignorance or inadvertence, then the case may be treated as an occasion for learning rather than punishment. If, for example, the student were guilty of close paraphrasing without footnoting, the instructor could simply explain what the student had done wrong and ask him or her to rewrite all or part of the paper. If the case is handled on this level, there should be no lowering of the student's grade, even on the work in question.
03.04.03 Uncontested Cases: The Department Chair's Level
If the instructor feels the violation is sufficiently serious to warrant a reduction in grade for the work in question, or a more severe penalty, s/he must first discuss the case informally with his or her department chair - even if the student does not wish to contest either the accusation or the penalty. (If the instructor should happen to be a department chair, then s/he should consult with the Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs.) At least once a semester, the Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs will brief the department chairs collectively about the disposition of recent cases involving violations of academic integrity throughout the School. (See also Section 03.04.08.) The department chair will thus be able to advise the instructor regarding the appropriate level of penalty for the type of case in question. The mandatory consultation between the instructor and the chair is necessary to maximize consistency and fairness throughout the School - and particularly to minimize the chance of an unreasonably light penalty, which the student would have no incentive to contest. However, the department chair's function is purely advisory; the instructor has the ultimate responsibility for setting the penalty.
Before a penalty is agreed upon, the department chair is responsible for contacting the Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs to determine whether the student has been guilty of a previous violation of academic integrity at the University of Rochester. If s/he has been, then the current case must be forwarded to the Academic Integrity Committee for review, according to the procedures outlined in Section 03.04.05 below.
After the instructor and the student have agreed upon a penalty, the faculty instructor is responsible for preparing a report on the case and its disposition, including copies of the relevant pieces of evidence as appendices. This report and all supporting documents should be forwarded to the Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs. The department chair is not encouraged to retain a copy for his or her own files.
03.04.04 Contested Cases: the Department Chair's Level (Informal Resolution)
If the student wishes to contest either the charge against him or her or the penalty proposed by the instructor, s/he may approach the chair of the department in which the course was taught or ask that the case proceed directly to the Committee on Academic Integrity, through the procedures described in Section 03.04.05 below. If the student approaches the chair, then the chair will seek to determine whether informal resolution of the case is possible. If the disagreement between the instructor and the student is overcome, then the case is either dropped or handled as outlined in either of the two sections (03.04.02 and 03.04.03) on uncontested cases above. If the department chair determines that informal resolution is not possible, then the case must be handled by the Committee on Academic Integrity, according to the procedures outlined in Section 03.04.05 below.
It must be emphasized that the department chair's level is optional in contested cases. The accused student is in no way obligated to approach the department chair; s/he may well prefer to proceed directly to the Committee on Academic Integrity.
03.04.05 The Academic Integrity Committee: Formal Resolution of Contested Cases; Formal Review of Certain Uncontested Cases
The Academic Integrity Committee is a standing committee of the School, consisting of three faculty members and six students. The names of the Chair and the other members of the Committee will be publicized.
The three faculty members are elected by the faculty of the School to two-year terms on the Committee (department chairs will not be eligible for membership on the Committee). The Dean will designate one of these as the Committee's Chair. Normally, the Chair will be a member serving in his or her second year on the Committee. The Chair will be a full voting member of the Committee. The faculty of the School will also elect one alternate to a two-year term.
The six student members and two student alternates are appointed by the Office of Academic Affairs. Three of the student members and one of the alternates are undergraduate students; three of the student members and one of the alternates are graduate students. In cases involving an undergraduate student, the three undergraduate student committee members will serve. In cases involving a graduate student, the three graduate student committee members will serve. The student members are appointed to one-year terms, but they may be reappointed at the discretion of the Office of Academic Affairs.
If a Committee member is a party in a case, s/he is replaced by the corresponding alternate until that case has been dealt with. If a Committee member is found guilty of a violation, s/he will be removed from the Committee.
The Academic Integrity Committee deals with all cases in which the student, after consultation with the instructor and, in some cases, the department chair, wishes to contest either the charge against him or her, or the penalty proposed by the instructor. The Committee also deals with two types of uncontested cases:
- Those involving students who have been guilty of a previous violation of academic integrity;
- Those in which the penalty agreed upon is to be course failure.
Normally, the department chair will initiate proceedings by notifying the Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs in writing that a case requiring Committee action has arisen. However, the student may approach the Committee directly by contacting its Chair.
After s/he has been contacted about the case, the Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs notifies the student in writing of the charge, of his or her rights in the case, and of the procedure to be followed, including the time and place of a formal hearing. The student is required to respond to the charge in writing and to forward any relevant documents to the Committee before the hearing is held. This hearing is not to be understood as a legal proceeding. Neither party may have legal counsel present, but the student may have an adviser present. Both parties will be present at the hearing. Each has the right to call additional witnesses and to gather additional evidence from appropriate sources. The Committee also has the right to decide that it has no need to hear additional witnesses offered by either of the parties in the case. Once it is ready to determine guilt or innocence and to establish a penalty, the Committee will dismiss the parties to the case and come to a decision as expeditiously as possible.
In dealing with uncontested cases, the Committee reviews both the facts and the penalty agreed upon by the instructor and the student. The Committee has the power to alter the penalty to be imposed.
In dealing with contested cases, the Committee establishes the facts, determines guilt or innocence, and sets penalties. A two-thirds vote is sufficient to convict.
The Committee calls on the student to appear personally before it to hear its decision.
The Chair of the Committee also communicates the decision to the student by letter, which, if the student has been found guilty, explains to the student how to pursue the right of appeal specified in Section 03.04.06 below.
The Committee's formal hearings will be tape-recorded, with the resulting tapes to be retained with the evidence of the case, as indicated in Section 03.04.08 below.
03.04.06 The Administrative Level: Procedures for Appeal and Review
A student dissatisfied with the Committee decision must do so by letter to the Dean of the School. The Dean may reduce the penalty, or may ask the Committee to review its determination of guilt. The Dean may not increase the penalty or unilaterally reverse a finding of guilty by the Committee.
The Dean will automatically review any case in which the penalty is to be suspension or expulsion from the School. Such penalty can take effect only if specifically ratified by the Dean.
A student dissatisfied with the disposition of his or her case at the Dean's level may appeal to the Provost of the University.
03.04.07 Guidelines for Setting Penalties
The following are examples of penalties that would be appropriate for certain cases of offenses by undergraduates. It is assumed that cases involving graduate students will fall into the "Maximum cases" category in terms of penalties levied. In no sense is this an exhaustion list of possible infractions.
- Minimal cases are relatively minor offenses stemming from genuine ignorance, confusion or inadvertence. The student may simply be asked to redo the work in question with no drop in grade.
- Intermediate cases cover a spectrum from deliberate plagiarism to cheating on an examination. Possible penalties include a lower grade for the work in question, an "E" for the work in question, or failure in the course.
- Maximum cases include, for example, substantial plagiarism (with most or all of the paper by someone else), stealing or providing an advance copy of an examination, cheating on a final examination, and a second serious offense. Possible penalties are course failure, temporary suspension from the School, and permanent expulsion from the School.
At the undergraduate level, a course failure caused by a violation of academic integrity also results in a semester of probation and a financial penalty. At the graduate level, students will not be allowed to use graduate award funds to pay for the cost of a course that is being taken to replace a course failed as the result of an academic integrity violation.
03.04.08 Record Keeping
If the student is found guilty, a full written report of the case and its disposition is to be prepared. The report should include a copy of all available evidence as an appendix. As was indicated in Section 03.04.08 above, formal proceedings before the Academic Integrity Committee are to be audio-recorded, with the resulting recordings to be retained with the final report.
The original copy of the report, including any recordings, is to be sent to the Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs. The Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs will use such reports in preparing a summary of the disposition of recent cases in the School for the information of the department chairs. S/he will not divulge the names of the students involved.
These records will be retained for five years, after which they will be destroyed.
These records do not become part of the student's regular academic file. There is no indication on the student's transcript that s/he has been found guilty of a violation of academic integrity.
The department chair and the Academic Integrity Committee should not retain copies of these reports after the case has been decided.If the student is found innocent, no records are to be retained. However, a summary of the case and its disposition, deleting the student's name, is to be sent to the Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs for his or her use in summarizing the disposition of recent cases for the department chairs.
03.05 Procedures Open to Students for Dealing With Suspected Violations by Faculty
Eastman standards of academic integrity apply to all members of the community, and the student should seek recourse through the procedures specified below if s/he feels that an instructor has violated any of the standards outlined in Section 03.03 above.
Normally, the student should first discuss the matter with the instructor in question.
If the problem cannot be resolved informally between the student and the instructor, the student should then approach the chair of the department in which the instructor is teaching. If the problem involves the undergraduate theory program or the piano class program, it is appropriate to see the coordinator first. (If the problem involves an instructor who is also a department chair, the student should approach the Associate Dean of Academic and Student Affairs.) The chair may be approached either informally or formally (in writing). If the complaint is made in writing, the chair will respond in writing, discussing his or her inquiry into the facts of the matter and outlining whatever corrective measures have been taken. A copy of this written response to the student will be sent to the instructor.
If the student remains dissatisfied, s/he may take the case to the Associate Dean of Academic and Student Affairs. Here again, this may be done informally or formally, and, again, the student is entitled to a written response if s/he has raised the question in writing. Copies of any written response will be sent to the department chair and the instructor.
The student may continue his or her appeal to the Dean of the School and to the Provost of the University. The instructor has a comparable right of appeal if s/he is dissatisfied with the decision reached as a result of the student's appeal.