2.22 Academic Integrity

Northeastern Junior College students are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic honesty and integrity. Unless specified otherwise, all work submitted by a student is to be the original creation of that student. Penalties for plagiarism*, including self-plagiarism*, cheating, falsifying work or other acts of academic dishonesty may include but are not limited to verbal or written warning to the student, no credit or reduced credit for an assignment, administrative withdrawal from the course, “F” grade for the course, disciplinary probation, or expulsion from the college.

*Plagiarism is defined as using the words, images, thoughts and structural patterns of someone else’s work without giving credit to the source through in-text citation and reference or work’s cited page. Plagiarism also includes excessive use of quotations, summarization and/or paraphrasing.

*Self-plagiarism is defined as a student’s resubmission of all or part of a written, oral, or artistic work he or she has previously submitted to another class. Self-referenced work must be pre-approved by the instructor.

When a student commits an act of academic dishonesty, the faculty member is required to meet with the student to discuss the alleged violation of academic integrity and the evidence available. Following the meeting, the faculty member decides on the sanction to be given the student (e.g., no credit or reduced credit for an assignment, “F” grade for the course, etc.). The faculty member will report the incident to his or her department chair. In the report, the faculty member should provide a brief summary of the case, the evidence available, and the academic sanction given.

After consulting with the student and instructor, the department chair will place the student on disciplinary probation. The student shall be notified in writing of this action, and this action will be communicated to the Vice President of Academic Affairs, the Vice President of Student Services, the Director of Student Records, and the Office of Financial Aid. If the student commits a second act of academic dishonesty, the student will be placed on one semester academic suspension or expulsion from the college. Any act of academic dishonesty may also result in the student being required to complete a program designed to educate that student about academic integrity and associated issues.

Students who violate this policy have rights accorded to them by the NJC Judicial System. Please refer to the NJC Student Handbook, Section 5.11, for details.

A student who fails a course because of a violation of this policy may retake the course. However, both the original “F” grade and the new grade will be included in the student’s overall GPA calculation. This is an exception to the Repeated Course Policy.

Note: The Vice President of Academic Affairs will maintain a list of all students who have been placed on disciplinary probation. Each time the VPAA is notified of students being placed on probation by a department chair, the VPAA will review the list to determine whether or not it is the student’s second violation. Revised – May 2012; Effective - 2012-13 Academic Year

Additional guidelines:

First violation

Student is placed on disciplinary probation and will be required to complete an educational sanction dealing with academic dishonesty. The student’s name will be placed on a list containing the names of those who have violated this policy. If more than one violation occurs prior to being formally placed on disciplinary probation, these will count as only one violation.

Second violation:

• If a second violation occurs prior to the full-term census date in any semester, the student will be suspended from school for that current semester.

• If a second violation occurs after the full term census date in any semester, the student will receive an “F” in the course but will be allowed to complete his or her other courses. The student will be suspended for the following semester.

• If a second violation occurs during M-term or summer session, the student will be suspended for fall semester

• If a second violation occurs during the January term, the student will be suspended for spring semester.

• A-term, B-term, and other non-standard course terms will be considered part of the next closest full semester following the date the violation occurs. For occurrences not specifically covered in this procedure, the Vice President of Academic Affairs will strive to arrive at a decision based on as much consistency as possible with the rest of the guidelines set forth in this policy.

Additional violations beyond the second violation will be considered grounds for suspension.

The list of violators will be confidential. Faculty will not be able to consult the list to see whether a student is on the list.

Students who are found in violation of the Academic Integrity policy have the right to due process accorded them through the NJC Judicial System (Student Handbook, Section 5.11).