Academic Integrity

Personal integrity is a behavioral expectation for all members of the Messiah community: administration, faculty, staff, and students. Violations of academic integrity are not consistent with the community standards of Messiah College. These violations include:

  1. Plagiarism. Submitting as one’s own work part or all of any assignment (oral or written) which is copied, paraphrased, or purchased from another source, including on-line sources, without the proper acknowledgment of that source. Examples: failing to cite a reference, failing to use quotation marks where appropriate, misrepresenting another’s work as your own, etc.
  2. Self-Plagiarism:  The reuse of significant, identical, or nearly identical portions of one's own work without acknowledging that one is doing so or citing the original work.  Examples: Reusing portions of a previously written text, paper, or article (published or unpublished text), republishing or reusing the same paper that is published elsewhere without notifying the reader nor publisher of the journal, etc.
  3. Cheating. Attempting to use or using unauthorized material or study aids for personal assistance in examinations or other academic work. Examples: using a cheat sheet, altering a graded exam, looking at a peer’s exam, having someone else take the exam for you, using any kind of electronic mobile or storage devices (such as cell phones, PDAs, Blackberry, iPods, iPhones, Flash drives, DVDs, CDs), communicating via email, IM, or text messaging during an exam, using the internet, sniffers, spyware or other software to retrieve information or other students’ answers, purposely disconnecting from the internet to cause a lock on an online exam, etc.
  4. Fabrication. Submitting altered or contrived information in any academic exercise. Examples: falsifying sources and/or data, etc.
  5. Misrepresentation of Academic Records. Tampering with any portion of a student’s record. Example: forging a signature on a registration form or change of grade form on paper or via electronic means.
  6. Facilitating Academic Dishonesty. Helping another individual violate this policy. Examples: working together on an assignment where collaboration is not allowed, doing work for another student, allowing one’s own work to be copied.
  7. Computer Offenses. Altering or damaging computer programs without permission. Examples: software piracy, constructing viruses, introducing viruses into a system, copying copyrighted programs, etc.
  8. Unfair Advantage. Attempting to gain advantage over fellow students in an academic exercise. Examples: lying about the need for an extension on a paper, destroying or removing library materials, having someone else participate in your place, etc.

Education Regarding Academic Integrity Policy

Messiah College is responsible to clearly articulate the Academic Integrity Policy to students by publishing it in the graduate student catalog. Faculty should reference the policy in their course syllabi. However, primary responsibility for knowledge of and compliance with this policy rests with the student.

Records of Violations of Academic Integrity

As the custodian for student education records, the registrar’s office maintains records of academic integrity violations for all students in accordance with the College’s Schedule for Records Retention.

Procedures for Perceived Violations of Academic Integrity

  1. If a violation of the Academic Integrity Policy is suspected, the faculty member should discuss the incident with the student (s) and determine to the faculty member’s satisfaction whether or not a violation has occurred.
  2. If the faculty member determines that it is more likely than not that the student is innocent, the student should be informed of this determination in writing. No report of the incident or of the faculty/student meeting should be filed with the Assistant Provost/Dean of the School of Graduate Studies.
  3. If the faculty member determines that it is more likely than not that a violation has occurred, he/should send a formal report to the student and copy the Assistant Provost/Dean of the School of Graduate Studies and his/her Program Director. The formal report should include a complete description of the incident, including date of the violation, the nature or type of the violation, and the nature and type of evidence. The formal report should also include appropriate sanctions. The Assistant Provost/Dean of the School of Graduate Studies will send copies of the faculty member’s report to the student’s advisor(s). In the event a violation of the Academic Integrity Policy is suspected by the Director who also serves as the Assistant Provost/Dean of the School of Graduate Studies, the Provost will serve in the Assistant Provost’s role as described in the Academic Integrity violation and appeal policy.
  4. The faculty member should keep originals of tests and papers that provide evidence of the violation.
  5. With issues related to computer offenses or misrepresentation of academic records, the case may be referred to the Assistant Provost/Dean of the School of Graduate Studies for processing.
  6. If a staff member or an administrator discovers violations of the Academic Integrity Policy, he/she should contact the Assistant Provost/Dean of the School of Graduate Studies, who will contact the student.
  7. The student may appeal in writing to the graduate program in which the course is offered. A student’s intent to appeal a faculty member’s response to a violation must be communicated to the Program Director in writing within one week of the receipt of the written notification from the faculty member dealing with the incident. The faculty member filing the initial report of a violation should be recused from the program committee handling the appeal. The program committee should be comprised of faculty members from its own graduate program and include at least three individuals. In the event a program has fewer than three faculty members, directors of other graduate programs will supplement the existing group in order to reach a minimum of at least three committee members hearing a student appeal.
  8. The student may appeal the decision of the graduate program in writing to the Assistant Provost/Dean of the School of Graduate Studies, whose decision will be final. In the event the graduate program processing an appeal is also a graduate program that is directed by the Assistant Provost/Dean of the School of Graduate Studies, the student may appeal the decision in writing to the Provost.

Procedures for Multiple or Egregious Violations of Academic Integrity

  1. If the student has committed two or more violations of academic integrity, or if the Assistant Provost/Dean of the School of Graduate Studies determines that the violation is egregious, the Assistant Provost/Dean of the School of Graduate Studies will meet with the student who has committed the violation. Unless the violation is egregious, this meeting will take place after the appeals process ends.
  2. The Assistant Provost/Dean of the School of Graduate Studies will consult with the faculty member who first determined that a violation had occurred; with that faculty member’s Program Director; and with the Director of the student’s program of study, if other than the Director of the program in which the violation occurred. The Assistant Provost/Dean of the School of Graduate Studies will determine appropriate sanctions.
  3. The Assistant Provost/Dean of the School of Graduate Studies will notify the student in writing of the sanctions determined, and send copies to the student’s advisor(s), and to the Director of the student’s program of study, if other than the Director of the program in which the violation occurred.
  4. The student may appeal the decision of the Assistant Provost/Dean of the School of Graduate Studies in writing to the Provost, whose decision will be final. In the event the student’s initial appeal was heard by the Provost due to the Assistant Provost/Dean of the School of Graduate Studies being recused from the process, the student may appeal the Provost’s decision in writing to the President.

Penalties for Violations of the Academic Integrity Policy

  1. In all instances of violations of the Academic Integrity Policy, the faculty member will assign sanctions within the context of the course. If the violation is a second offense, or is determined to be an egregious offense, the Assistant Provost/Dean of the School of Graduate Studies will assign appropriate sanctions that go beyond the course. In the case of an egregious offense, the Assistant Provost/Dean of the School of Graduate Studies may temporarily suspend the student before and during any appeal process.
  2. For a non-egregious first offense, a faculty member may exercise broad discretion when responding to violations of the Academic Integrity Policy. The range of responses may include failure of the course to a grade reduction of the given assignment. The typical consequence for violations will be failure of the assignment. Some examples of serious offenses which might necessitate the penalty of the failure of the course include cheating on an examination, plagiarism of a complete assignment, etc.
  3. The policy of the College is to act, whenever possible, in redemptive rather than merely punitive ways. We believe that simply to ignore an offense is to be neither loving nor redemptive. Consequently, if a second report of a violation of the Academic Integrity Policy is received, or if the Assistant Provost/Dean of the School of Graduate Studies determines the violation to be egregious, the range of possible responses includes suspension of the student, disciplinary probation, or other appropriate sanctions.

Time and Record-Keeping Considerations

Academic integrity violations should be processed in a timely manner.

  1. Faculty should report academic integrity violations within a week of their discovery.
  2. Student appeals must be filed within a week of receiving the written report of an academic integrity violation.
  3. The recipient of student appeals should acknowledge receipt of the appeal within one week.
  4. Timing constraints only apply when school is in session, but processing of violations may continue during breaks.
  5. When violations occur at the end of the semester or term, faculty may file a grade of incomplete until the investigation and possible appeals are complete.
  6. Academic Integrity Violations will continue to be processed if the student withdraws from the course in which the violation occurred.
  7. Academic Integrity Violations may be reported within one semester after the course if first discovered at that time.
  8. The final results of all Academic Integrity investigations, including all appeals, should be filed with the registrar’s office.
  9. A record of academic integrity violations will be maintained by the registrar’s office in accordance with the College’s Schedule for Records Retention. However, undergraduate records will not count against students who return as graduate students.
  10. The Assistant Provost/Dean of the School of Graduate Studies will notify the faculty member filing the report and the student’s advisor(s) of the results of all appeals. In the case of multiple or egregious violations, Assistant Provost/Dean of the School of Graduate Studies will also notify the Director of the student’s program of study , if other than the Director of the program in which the violation occurred, of the results of any appeal.
  11. On-campus program areas conducting required background checks of students (for example, teacher certification, professional advisor) should submit the students’ names and ID numbers to the registrar’s office for clearance. The registrar’s office will determine that an appropriate need to know exists under FERPA guidelines.
  12. If a Director and the registrar’s office have established that the Director has an on-going need to know about academic integrity violations, the registrar’s office will automatically notify the Director of any violations by students in that program of study after all appeals are resolved.