University of Holy Cross Academic Honesty Policy

At University of Holy Cross intellectual integrity and academic honesty are fundamental to the processes of learning and of evaluating academic performance. Maintaining this integrity is the responsibility of all members of the University. Violations of academic honesty by any student are not tolerated and are dealt with severely.

Academic Dishonesty includes but is not limited to cheating, plagiarism, collusion, academic misconduct, falsification, and the attempt to commit such a violation. All work that is submitted by a student for credit must be the work of that student ONLY. Students should not allow anyone else to write their papers in part or whole. Failure to report the academic dishonesty of other students also constitutes a violation of this policy.

Plagiarism is a particularly serious violation of academic integrity. When students use words, ideas, or data from any source, including the Internet, that source must be cited (usually parenthetically but possibly with footnotes or endnotes, depending on the discipline), even if it is paraphrased. In addition to the citation, if the exact words of the source are used, they must be placed in quotation marks.

Turnitin.Com:

In order to identify and discourage plagiarism, it is strongly advised that instructors require all papers written outside of class to be submitted electronically to Turnitin.com so that an originality report may be generated. Other written assignments (such as homework exercises, informal essays, and take-home tests) are submitted if the instructor determines it is necessary.

This procedure is highly recommended in all University of Holy Cross courses—classroom, hybrid, and online—at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. The academic departments or instructors have the right to require the use of Turnitin.com for all papers written outside of class. When Turnitin.com is required, a student will not receive a grade on a paper, get the paper back, or be allowed to revise the paper unless the paper is first submitted to Turnitin.com. Instructions on how to use Turnitin.com are included with the writing assignments.

Results of the originality report: If the originality report is in the red (75-100% unoriginal) or orange (50-74% unoriginal) category, the instructor will ask to meet with the student to discuss the issue. The instructor may, at his or her discretion, call the student in for discussion of the originality report with less than 50 percent of unoriginality, as deemed necessary. The instructor may also ask to meet with the student even if the originality report does not reveal a source has been used without citation, if the instructor has other evidence of or strongly suspects plagiarism.

Instructors may determine that a student has plagiarized by other means than using Turnitin.com. All evidence of plagiarism should be documented in hard copy.

Consequences and Sanctions—3 Strike Policy:

In all cases of plagiarism and any other form of Academic Dishonesty, including cheating on tests and submitting work that someone other than the student has written, a “3 Strike Policy” applies:

1^st Offense:

For a first violation of any part of the Academic Honesty Policy,

The student receives a grade of F for the assignment.
If the instructor and/or department Chair determines that, in the case of plagiarism, the student did not understand or was not aware of procedures for citing sources and therefore did not intend to plagiarize, an F for the assignment is the only consequence for a first offense. But the offense is recorded according the procedure given below and counted as a first offense.

OR
The student receives a grade of F in the course and is placed on Academic Probation during the semester following the first offense.
If the instructor and/or department Chair determines that, in the case of plagiarism, the student did understand and was aware of procedures for citing sources and therefore did intend to plagiarize, the student receives a grade of F in the course. This is also the sanction for any other act of Academic Dishonesty, including cheating OR having someone else write a paper for the student, in whole or in part.

2^nd Offense:

For a second violation of any part of the Academic Honesty Policy,

The student receives a grade of F in the course.
A student may not plead ignorance of procedures for citing sources in a 2^nd offense.

AND
The student is placed on Academic Suspension during the semester following the second offense.
AND
The department Chair of the student’s program may decide to dismiss the student from his or her major program.

3^rd Offense:

For a third violation of any part or the Academic Honesty Policy, the student is permanently dismissed from University of Holy Cross.

Procedure for Reporting and Recording All Offenses and For Applying Sanctions:

The instructor submits a report, in writing, of the student’s violation to the Chair of the instructor’s department and the Dean of the instructor’s college, accompanied by the plagiarized assignment, the Turnitin.com originality report, or other evidence gathered of plagiarism, or evidence of any other violation of Academic Honesty, including cheating on tests (such as eyewitness testimony by the instructor or reports by other students).
The Dean submits the above report to the Provost of the University, and the report is kept on file in the Office of Academic Affairs.
After reviewing the student’s file, the Provost informs the Dean and the Chair if previous offenses by the student have been reported.
The Provost consults with the Dean and the Chair, who comprise an advisory committee, and receives their recommendations for the appropriate sanction. The Provost then makes the determination and informs the student of the sanction to be applied, whereupon the student has the right to appeal. (See below.)
If the student does not appeal or if the appeal is not successful, the Provost informs the student and authorizes the Registrar to apply the appropriate sanction to the student’s academic record.

Appeal:

The student has the right to appeal the Provost’s sanction to the Board of Review through the Coordinator of Student Life. The appeals process is described in the UHC Student Handbook.