Academic Performance Policies

An effective teaching, learning, and research environment requires trust among its participants. A key part of any academic learning environment is academic integrity. When this trust is broken through participation in dishonest practices, faculty and students will follow procedures to restore an honest and fair learning environment.

Violations of academic integrity come in many forms and include, but are not limited to, the following:

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is using the words, ideas, or other types of work from another author and presenting them as one’s own work. Plagiarism also includes the improper citation of another’s words, ideas, or work. Unless otherwise specified by the instructor, proper citation requires:

• All quotations must be in quotation marks.
• Signal phrases must be used when introducing a quote or paraphrase to indicate the scope of the work used.
• All quotations, paraphrases, adaptations, or summaries of ideas from another’s work must be followed by a citation.

Plagiarism can be intentional or unintentional. It may be unintentional when it occurs as the result of carelessness or inattention. It makes no difference whether the incident of plagiarism is intentional or unintentional: In both cases, it is a violation of academic integrity and will be treated as such.

Some examples of plagiarism include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Submitting exams, homework, or other work written by someone else, including material from current or previous semesters, as if it is your own.
• Submitting a paper without acknowledging all the sources used in the paper. A paper that uses quotes that are not in quotation marks or that are in quotation marks but are not followed by proper citations would be a plagiarized paper.
• Paraphrasing the ideas contained in another’s work, whether published or unpublished, without the use of signal phrases and proper citation is plagiarism. Changing a few words in a sentence or paragraph is not a paraphrase and doing so without quotation marks and proper citation is plagiarism.

Cheating

Cheating is providing or using unauthorized assistance, materials, or information on exams, homework, or other assignments in-class or outside the classroom. Some examples of cheating include but are not limited to the following:

• Copying the answer(s) of a fellow student’s exam during an in-class exam
• The unauthorized use of notes or crib sheets, including electronic sources
• Providing a previous semester’s exam to a student currently taking the class, or studying from a previous semester’s exam, without the professor’s permission
• Copying the homework of other students and submitting it as your own, or collaborating on assignments that are not meant to be collaborative and submitting them as your own (working on homework as a group when it has been assigned to each individual student)

Fabrication and falsification

Fabrication includes, but is not limited to:

• the invention of data
• sources in citations
• laboratory results
• field experience hours worked
• providing false information on resumes in connection to your academic work
• providing false information in relation to make up exams or missed assignments

Some examples of fabrication and falsification include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Writing a paper that contains fabricated statistics or a falsified citation
• Providing an instructor or professor false excuses for missing an exam in order to make up the exam

Facilitating violations of academic integrity

Facilitating violations of academic integrity is purposely assisting or attempting to provide assistance to another in committing an academically dishonest act.

Violations of academic integrity are a serious matter. Multiple incidents of such violations will have a cumulative effect on the student’s record. Three documented cases of violations of academic integrity will result in the student’s suspension.

When a violation of academic integrity is discovered, the penalty imposed is at the discretion of the faculty member. Reasonable penalties may include but not be limited to failing the assignment and/or the course.

If the penalty for a violation of academic integrity will be failure on an assignment and/or grade of “F” in the course, the following procedure shall apply:

1. The faculty member must complete the “Wayne State College Academic Integrity Incident Form.” The form must include the following:
   1. a description of the allegation;
   2. the faculty member’s evidence supporting the allegation against the student;
   3. the penalty to be imposed;
   4. a request for a meeting with the student to be held within five academic days of the delivery of the form, unless good cause exists for an extension; and
   5. notice to the student that should the student fail to respond or attend the meeting as scheduled, the form will be forwarded to the office of the faculty member’s dean and the VPAA, and the student shall be deemed to have waived any right to challenge the violation or penalty
2. The faculty member must deliver the form by hand to the student, send an email to the student’s college email address, or send certified by first-class mail to their campus address.
    
3. The meeting with the student must be scheduled no later than five academic days from the delivery of the form, unless good cause exists for an extension. The meeting may take place in person or electronically. If the student does not respond to the request/email, or does not come to the appointed meeting, the form is forwarded to the office of the faculty member’s dean and the VPAA and documented as a case of a violation of academic integrity. The opportunity to challenge the finding of a violation or any penalty imposed is forfeited.
    
4. At the meeting with the student, the faculty member will present the basis for the allegations and inform the student of the penalty to be imposed. The student may present additional information in response to the allegations or accept the penalty.
    
5. If the student accepts the penalty, the student will sign the form accordingly and the faculty member will send the form to the office of the faculty member’s dean and the VPAA within 10 academic days of the meeting with the faculty member, where it will be recorded as a documented case of a violation of academic integrity.
    
6. If the student wishes to challenge the allegations of violating academic integrity or the penalty, the student will still sign the form accordingly. The student should then return the signed form and a written request for an appeal to the faculty member within 10 academic days of the meeting. The faculty member will submit a copy of the form to the Student and Admission Retention (SAR) committee and to the faculty member’s dean within 10 academic days of receiving the written request for an appeal, accompanied by any supporting documentation.

Repeated Offenses

Second Offense
Should the process above result in a student’s second documented case of an academic integrity violation being recorded, the student will be called before the SAR committee, which will inform the student that the VPAA has placed the student on academic probation and warn that if a third documented case is acquired, the student will be suspended. The student’s advisor is also notified by the VPAA.

Third Offense
Should the process above result in a student’s third documented case of an academic integrity violation being recorded, the student will meet with the VPAA to be suspended and the student’s advisor will be informed. Once a student returns to WSC after suspension, any additional academic integrity violations will result in resuspension.

Note: Special cases will be reviewed by the VPAA. Special cases are those which are so unusual that they cannot be dealt with using the above procedure