The Academic Honesty Board is set up to help maintain students’ intellectual integrity here at Cabrini. The board deals with students who have been caught cheating or plagiarizing by their professors and provides appropriate punishment for the severity of their offense.
The Academic Honesty Board consists of the Dean for Academic Affairs, four full-time faculty members, four full-time undergraduate students and a student from the Accelerated Degree Program. When summoned for a hearing, there must be at least three faculty members and three students present in order to hear the case.
Depending on a student’s situation, there can be different forms of violation for academic honesty. Stated in the Cabrini College Undergraduate Catalog, cheating and plagiarizing violations include soliciting information regarding an exam or test from another student, to using a source in a paper or presentation by using exact words or paraphrasing without proper citation.
Other violations include falsification or fabrication of information, theft or destruction of intellectual property and facilitation of academic dishonesty.
If it is a student’s first offense against academic honesty, the professor will determine the punishment for the student using the guidelines set by Cabrini. Any infringement committed in the same course after that will result in a failing grade for the course without the opportunity of a withdrawal. Any punishment determined after that shall be heard by a hearing of the board.
The Academic Honesty Board at Cabrini is not set up to intimidate students, but rather to guide them in using their minds to the fullest ability and to use their time wisely by doing their own work.
“The board hopes to increase opportunities for students to increase their awareness of the importance of academic honesty and to increase the students’ level of understanding of ways they can apply academic honesty in their course work,” Dr. Harold Wingerd, a member of the Education Department and also a member of the board, said.
The Academic Honesty Board also upholds the appropriate punishment for a student who may be caught violating academic honesty. For instance, if caught cheating, a student may be punished by having to rewrite the paper, receiving a lowered grade on the paper or taking a reduction of their grade for that particular course; however, if caught a second time, the student may suffer suspension or even expulsion from the college if the situation comes to that degree.
When a student commits a first violation, the professor will meet with the student and discuss the charge that is being put against him or her. Also, the professor must complete an Academic Honesty Violation Charge Form, which states the violation and assigned penalty given to the student.
The student will then sign and date the form, and then return it to the professor. The original form is then turned in to the Office of Academic Affairs. For any following charge, the student can also appeal a hearing before the board if he or she disagrees with the charge by indicating that on the form before it is returned to Academic Affairs.
The Academic Honesty Board protects the integrity of the Cabrini community, including its students and faculty members alike.
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