Academic Dishonesty

Academic dishonesty encompasses a wide range of activities, including, but not only: all forms of fraud, plagiarism, any failure to cite explicitly all materials and sources used in one’s work, cheating, lying, deception, and directly harming the work of others.

Before proceeding, be sure to review the College of Health and Human Development's academic integrity policies and procedures.

Academic Integrity Form

Academic Integrity Form

If Charged with Academic Misconduct, You Have the Following Options

1. Accept the charge(s) and sanction(s) as presented to you by the instructor.

Unless a prior charge of academic dishonesty is discovered or your instructor recommends a disciplinary sanction, the College of Health and Human Development’s Academic Integrity Committee will complete a review of your case. The instructor’s recommended sanction(s) will be implemented and your case file will be sent to the Office of Student Conduct for recordkeeping.

2. Contest the charge(s) and sanction(s).

The College of Health and Human Development’s Academic Integrity Committee will review your case. The committee conducts paper reviews in the majority of cases and no hearing will be held. You will be notified if the committee determines that a hearing is needed and you will be requested to appear at the hearing.

Students in the Schreyer Honors College should consult the honors college’s guidelines concerning academic integrity violations. The honors college may impose additional sanctions on students who violate the University’s or the honors college’s academic integrity policies. The honor college’s policies concerning academic integrity can be found at: www.shc.psu.edu/students/advising/ai.

Note: Whether you accept or contest the charge(s) and sanction(s), you have five business days upon your receipt of the Academic Integrity Form to sign and return the form to the instructor or to the office of the college’s academic integrity coordinator, Dr. Dennis Shea c/o Heather Zimmerman, in the dean’s office, 345 Health and Human Development. Failure to sign the form will be interpreted as noncontesting.

What To Do If You Contest the Charges

• Inform yourself fully about the relevant academic integrity policies and procedures. Links to the official college and University policies can be found on the College of Health and Human Development Academic Integrity pages.
• Prepare a statement detailing the case from your perspective. Your statement is your chance to voice your perspective, provide relevant evidence, describe special circumstances regarding your case, etc. Be thorough but stay focused on the alleged incident. Maintain a professional and composed tone.
• Gather any other supporting documentation that you feel is relevant to your case (i.e., a list of cited sources used for an essay; a statement from a peer, teacher, or doctor; a set of e-mail messages; etc.).
• All supportive documentation must be received by the College within ten business days.
• Note that you will receive a copy of the instructor’s statement/documentation and the instructor will receive a copy of your statement/documentation.
• If the committee recommends a hearing instead of, or in addition to, a paper review, read the college’s policies and procedures outlined on the Health and Human Development academic integrity policies and procedures pages.
• It is very important that you continue to attend class and complete all assignments until the Health and Human Development Academic Integrity Committee reaches a final decision on your case.

Remember

UPUA Legal Affairs

314 HUB

Walk-in Hours: Monday – Friday, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

psulegalaffairs@gmail.com

www.psulegalaffairs.org

814-867-2197

• You may contact the College of Health and Human Development academic integrity coordinator, Dennis Shea (dgs4@psu.edu or 814-865-1427), if you have questions or concerns, or if you would like guidance throughout the academic integrity process. The coordinator attends committee meetings but is not a voting member of the committee.
• You may have another member of the University community (faculty, staff or currently enrolled student) accompany you to a hearing. Family members or legal counsel (unless part of the University community) may not attend.
• You may elect to seek an adviser from UPUA Legal Affairs, a student organization committed to advising and assisting students with disciplinary issues on campus. UPUA provides free and confidential advising services for students charged with academic integrity violations.

• You should continue to attend class. Do not drop the course; doing so violates University policy. The following is an excerpt from the G-9 Procedures for Academic Integrity:
  “Once a student has been informed that academic dishonesty is suspected, the student may not drop the course during the adjudication process. Any drop or withdrawal from the course during this time will be reversed. A student who has received an academic sanction as a result of a violation of academic integrity may not drop or withdraw from the course at any time. These actions include regular drop, late drop, withdrawal, retroactive late drop and retroactive withdrawal. Any such drop action of the course will be reversed.”
• Check your Penn State e-mail account regularly for updates on your case.
• Having a single academic integrity offense on your record typically does not constitute having a disciplinary record. For more information regarding your student disciplinary record, you may contact the Office of Student Conduct.