AP: Section E - Academic Integrity

5.50

Academic Integrity

Academic Integrity Violation

Academic integrity is fundamental to the educational mission of SUNY Cobleskill. The college recognizes and respects the academic freedom of faculty members to set academic standards in their classrooms. Instructors are ultimately responsible for determining appropriate responses to academic integrity violations, guided by the principles and framework outlined in this policy while maintaining their professional judgment in individual cases.

Instructors should include a clear Academic Integrity statement in all syllabi.  It is recommended to include a brief statement of expectations, permitted uses of artificial intelligence, and an indication that violations will be reported using the Academic Integrity Violation Form. Departments should post their local expectations where discipline norms diverge from the college guidelines.

Plagiarism is the use of someone else's ideas or words and presenting them as one's own, whether through direct quotation without appropriate punctuation and citation of source, paraphrasing an expression or thought, or using an outside source for a plan, organization, or argument without appropriate citation. Plagiarism can also include the use of generative artificial intelligence, without proper attribution or authorization and presenting such work as one's own. Even if only a few words in succession are taken from another source, they must be placed within quotation marks and properly documented, and when a source is paraphrased or summarized, the original source must be given credit.

Academic dishonesty is not limited to plagiarism, but also includes: using unauthorized materials or receiving unauthorized assistance during examinations or assignments, collaboration when such assistance is prohibited by the instructor, copying from another person's work, fabrication or falsification of information or data, multiple submissions of the same work across different courses without instructor permission, forgery of academic documents or grade reports, substitution where another person completes work on a student's behalf, sabotage of another student's academic work, or cheating in any form.

 

Implementation Framework

Faculty members who suspect a student of violating the academic integrity policy will use the following framework:

1.  Initial Investigation and Documentation

When an instructor suspects or observes a violation, they must document the evidence. The instructor must communicate and offer to meet with the student within one week to explain the allegation and permit the student to respond.  The instructor should inform the student of the right to appeal and of any immediate course-level consequences being proposed. The instructor may choose to issue a warning or may impose appropriate course-level sanctions, including revision and resubmission of the assignment, failure for the assignment, failure for the course with grade of “F”, withdrawal with grade of “W .

2.  Required Reporting

Instructors are encouraged to submit an Academic Integrity Violation Form when the student is given a warning.  If the instructor imposes a course sanction (as listed above), the instructor must submit a completed Academic Integrity Violation Form to the Dean’s Office so a central record can be maintained and repeat violations tracked. This form should be submitted by the instructor to the Dean’s Office within 3 business days of the instructor/student meeting.

3.  Appeals Process and Timelines

Students wishing to submit an appeal of the Academic Integrity Violation, please see Policy 6.60 Academic Appeals.  Students may not drop or withdraw from a course once an academic integrity penalty has been imposed.

 

Multiple Academic Integrity Violations – course level and institutional consequences

First Violation: For a student's first academic integrity violation, the academic penalty may include the following: assignment revision, zero on the assignment, course failure, or as listed in the syllabus. Educational interventions may be required to help the student understand proper academic practices.

Second Violation: When a student commits a second academic integrity violation, more severe academic penalties will be imposed and the case will automatically be reviewed by the Dean and VPPA. Penalties may include academic probation, course failure, or dismissal from the student's academic program, and administrative sanctions beyond the academic penalties may also be considered by the university.  The VPAA office will keep a record of this incident.

Repeated or egregious violations: If continued violations occur, or other egregious academic misconduct, or where program safety/professional standards are implicated, institutional penalties may include academic probation, suspension, dismissal from a program, or dismissal from the institution. The university reserves the right to include a notation in the transcript indicating failure due to academic integrity.  Institutional consequences are ultimately decided by the VPAA and may include convening the Academic Review Board for a hearing keeping with the timelines outlined in Policy 6.60 Academic Appeals.