Honor Statement

(1) Honor Statement. An essential feature of the University is a commitment to maintaining an atmosphere of intellectual integrity and academic honesty. As such the University utilizes an Honor Statement that reads, “As a student of the University, I pledge that I will neither knowingly give nor receive any inappropriate assistance in academic work, thus affirming my own personal commitment to honor and integrity.” (2) Informing Students and Faculty. The following methods will generally be used to inform students and faculty members about the Honor Statement: (1) the Honor Statement appears on undergraduate and graduate applications for admission, and applicants will be required to acknowledge his/her affirmation of the Honor Statement in writing; (2) information regarding the Honor Statement is included in the undergraduate and graduate catalogs, Hilltopics; (3) the Honor Statement is discussed during student orientation programs; (4) faculty members are encouraged to discuss the Honor Statement with students in their courses; (5) faculty members are encouraged to include the Honor Statement in their course syllabus; (6) implementation methods and alternatives are discussed during faculty orientation programs; and (7) the enforcement of the Honor Statement is through the Standards of Conduct (Section .04(1)) and the student conduct process. (3) Academic Dishonesty. The Honor Statement prohibits cheating, plagiarism, and any other type of academic dishonesty. (4) Plagiarism. Plagiarism is using the intellectual property or product of someone else without giving proper credit. The undocumented use of someone else’s words or ideas in any medium of communication (unless such information is recognized as common knowledge) is a serious offense, subject to disciplinary action that may include failure in a course and/or dismissal from the University. Specific examples of plagiarism include, but are not limited to: 1. using without proper documentation (quotation marks and citation) written or spoken words, phrases, or sentences from any source; 2. summarizing without proper documentation (usually a citation) ideas from another source (unless such information is recognized as common knowledge); 3. borrowing facts, statistics, graphs, pictorial representations, or phrases without acknowledging the source (unless such information is recognized as common knowledge); 4. collaborating on a graded assignment without the instructor’s approval; and 5. submitting work, either in whole or partially created by a professional service or used without attribution (e.g., paper, speech, bibliography, or photograph). (5) Examples of Other Types of Academic Dishonesty. Specific examples of other types of academic dishonesty include, but are not limited to: 1. providing or receiving unauthorized information during an examination or academic assignment, or the possession and/or use of unauthorized materials during an examination or academic assignment; 2. providing or receiving unauthorized assistance in connection with laboratory work, field work, scholarship, STUDENT CODE OF CONDUCT CHAPTER 1720-04-03 or another academic assignment; 3. falsifying, fabricating, or misrepresenting data, laboratory results, research results, citations, or other information in connection with an academic assignment; 4. serving as, or enlisting the assistance of, a substitute for a student in the taking of an examination or the performance of an academic assignment; 5. altering grades, answers, or marks in an effort to change the earned grade or credit; 6. submitting without authorization the same assignment for credit in more than one (1) course; 7. forging the signature of another or allowing forgery by another on any class or University-related document such as a class roll or drop/add sheet; 8. gaining an objectively unfair academic advantage by failing to observe the expressed procedures or instructions relating to an exam or academic assignment; and 9. engaging in an activity that unfairly places another student at a disadvantage, such as taking, hiding, or altering resource material, or manipulating a grading system. (6) Responsibilities Associated with the Honor Statement. All members of the University community have responsibilities associated with the Honor Statement. These responsibilities are unique to each sector of the University community. Each student is responsible for his/her own personal integrity in academic life. Each student is responsible for knowing and adhering to the terms and conditions of the Honor Statement and may acknowledge his/her adherence to the Honor Statement by writing, “Pledged,” and signing on a graded class assignment or examination. Although there is no affirmative duty to report the academic dishonesty of another, each student, given the dictates of his/her own conscience, may choose to report any violation of the Honor Statement to a faculty member or to SCCS. The discouragement of academic dishonesty, and the response to academic dishonesty, is the immediate responsibility of the instructor. However, students are not excused from complying with the Honor Statement because of an instructor’s failure to address or discourage academic dishonesty. (7) Academic Dishonesty. (a) Notice of Academic Dishonesty and Informal Opportunity to Respond. When an act of alleged academic dishonesty, in violation of Section .04(1) is discovered by, or brought to the attention of, an instructor, the instructor shall notify the student about the alleged academic dishonesty, describe the information supporting the allegation, and give the student an informal opportunity to respond to the allegation(s) and information. (b) Referral by Academic Department to SCCS. After the instructor provides the student with an informal opportunity to respond, and if the instructor still believes that an act of academic dishonesty has occurred, the instructor shall refer the incident to SCCS. In referring the incident to SCCS, the instructor shall include the academic penalty that the instructor plans to impose, if any. The referring instructor will not assign an academic penalty or a final grade for the course pending resolution of the allegation by SCCS. If a grade must be submitted at the end of the grading period, the student will receive a temporary grade of “Not Reported” (NR) until the case is resolved. The instructor does not have the authority under the Code to impose a sanction identified in Section .10(2) or Section .10(3). (c) Academic Penalties and Appeals of Academic Penalties. If, at the conclusion of the student conduct process, SCCS determines that a student is not responsible for violating Section .04(1), the instructor shall not impose any academic penalty. If SCCS determines that a student is responsible for violating Section .04(1), the instructor may impose an academic penalty, in addition to any sanctions imposed by SCCS under Section .10(2) or .10(3). Academic penalties may include, without limitation, dismissal from a program of study; a failing or reduced grade in the academic exercise, assignment, examination, and/or course; loss of credit for the work involved; an assignment to repeat the work, to be graded on its merits; and/or a warning. An instructor may impose more than one (1) academic penalty. A student may appeal an STUDENT CODE OF CONDUCT CHAPTER 1720-04-03 academic penalty, as distinct from a student disciplinary sanction, through the appropriate institutional academic misconduct or grade appeal procedures, including the Undergraduate Council Appeal Procedure or Graduate Council Appeal Procedure. (8) Academic Dishonesty – Resolution through the Student Conduct Process. After receiving any conduct referral for academic dishonesty, SCCS will proceed with the student conduct process. SCCS may issue a Notice of Allegations for violating Section .04(1) regardless of the response of the instructor to the alleged academic dishonesty. If SCCS issues a finding of responsibility and Notice of Sanctions for a violation of Section .04(1), then the allegations shall be resolved through a Resolution Agreement, a Formal Hearing, or an Alternative Resolution Process, pursuant to Section .07 of the Code. (9) College of Law. The University of Tennessee College of Law has adopted and promulgated its own Code of Academic Conduct, Chapter 1720-04-09. Chapter 1720-04-09 shall control in the event of a conflict between this Code and Chapter 1720-04-09. (10) Research Misconduct. Notwithstanding anything in this Code to the contrary, allegations of research misconduct shall be reported, assessed, inquired into, investigated, and resolved consistently with the University’s Policy on Misconduct in Research and Service.