Academic Honesty Policy
Board Policy 5505 Academic Honesty

Reference: Education Code Sections 66300; 70902; and 76037
The West Hills Community College District seeks to promote and ensure academic honesty and personal integrity among students and other members of the college community.  All members of the college community are responsible for knowing the policy and procedures on academic honesty.
Academic honesty is vital to the very fabric and integrity of the district.  All students must comply with an appropriate and sound academic honesty policy and code of honest behavior.  All members of the college community are responsible for creating and maintaining an honest environment and all must work together to ensure the success of the policy and code of behavior.


Student Honor Code
All students agree to abide by the following student honor code by signing the admissions application, which provides:
"I will be academically honest in all of my academic work and will not take part
in academic dishonesty of others.”


Goals
The goals of this academic honesty policy are to:

  1. Foster a culture of academic honesty in the college community.
  2. Maintain the integrity and academic reputation of the colleges and district.
  3. Process fairly and consistently matters related to academic dishonesty.

Definitions
For purposes of this policy, the following definitions are used:

  1. “Academic Honesty” means performing all academic work without plagiarism, cheating, lying, tampering, stealing, or receiving unauthorized or illegitimate assistance from any other person.
  2. “Academic Dishonesty" means knowingly performing, attempting to perform, or assisting any other person in performing any academic work that does not meet the above standard of academic honesty.
    1. •           “Academic Work" means any act performed in connection with work required to be submitted, being prepared to be submitted, or actually submitted for academic advancement in connection with courses and programs offered by the college.  Academic work includes,
    2. but is not limited to, examinations, exercises, quizzes, term papers, reports, performances,  presentations, artwork, laboratory work, and scientific experiments.  Academic work includes, but is not limited to, written and oral work presented or recorded in any media including magnetic or electronic. Academic work includes, but is not limited to, work in connection with regular college courses, whether conducted at an on campus or off campus location), independent study courses at any location, courses offered through the college's continuing education and distance learning program at any location.
  3. “Advisor” means an individual who assists a faculty member or student in preparing for an academic honesty review panel meeting.  The Chief Instructional Officer (CIO), in cooperation with the Academic Senate, will provide a list of individuals available to serve as advisors by request.
  4. “Facilitator" means a student, faculty member, or staff member certified by the CIO to assist a faculty member and student in a fair and focused discussion during a “Facilitated Discussion”, or to moderate academic honesty review panel meetings.  In the case of academic honesty review panel meetings, the facilitator is not a member of the academic honesty review panel, does not vote to determine whether a violation occurred, and does not participate in the private deliberations of the panel.  The facilitator is authorized to determine all procedural questions prior to and during discussions or meetings with academic honesty review panels.
  5. “Panelist" means any student and faculty member appointed by the Academic Senate President to serve on an academic honesty review panel.  All panelists must be acknowledged by the CIO as qualified and willing to serve.  All panelists must have received a copy of the Academic Honesty policy and procedure.  Faculty panelists must be tenured or tenure-track. Student panelists must be currently enrolled at the college. 
  6. “Academic Honesty Review Panel" means any group of panelists designated by the CIO and the Academic Senate President to review a particular accusation of academic dishonesty.  There shall be three faculty (Academic Senate President or designee; one faculty member from discipline or closely aligned discipline in which the alleged infraction occurred; and one faculty member as determined by the Academic Senate President and the CIO); the Dean over the discipline or a designee; and one student panelist (as determined by the Academic Senate President or designee and the CIO) on each panel.
  7. “Chair" means a member of each academic honesty review panel selected by the panel as the presiding officer for that panel's private deliberations.
  8. “Day" means any calendar day in which the college operates, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and district holidays. When a certain act must be completed within a certain number of days following a specified beginning date, the beginning date shall be excluded in computing the due date.
  9. “Faculty member" means any member of the West Hills Community College District approved to instruct or monitor instruction of students.
  10. “Suspension" means a defined term in which a student is excluded from enrollment at the college. A consequence of suspension is that any classes successfully completed by the suspended student at another school or college during the period of suspension will not be credited toward a West Hills College degree or calculated in the student's overall GPA.
  11. “Expulsion" means permanent separation of the student from the District.

Prohibited Conduct
No student shall knowingly perform, attempt to perform, or assist another in performing any act of dishonesty in or related to academic work to be submitted for academic credit or advancement.  The term "knowingly", as used in the preceding sentence, means that the student knows the dishonest nature of the conduct, and that the academic work involved will be submitted for academic credit or advancement.  "Knowingly" does not mean that the student must have known that the particular act was a violation of the district’s academic credit or honesty policy.  A student does not have to intend to violate the honesty policy to be found in violation.  For example, plagiarism – intended or unintended – is a violation of this policy. Any behavior that constitutes academic dishonesty is prohibited even if it is not specifically mentioned in the list of examples below.


Examples of Academic Dishonesty
The following acts by a student are examples of academically dishonest behavior:

    1. • Plagiarism – Submission for academic advancement the words, ideas, opinions or    theories of another without appropriate attribution to that other person.  Plagiarism   includes, but is not limited to, the following acts when performed without appropriate    attribution:
      1. o   Directly quoting all or part of another person's written or spoken words      without quotation marks or other means, as appropriate to the discipline;
      2. o   Paraphrasing all or part of another person's written or spoken words without      notes or documentation within the body of the work indicating so;
      3. o   Presenting an idea, theory or formula originated by another person as the      original work of the person submitting that work;
      4. o   Repeating information in academic work, such as statistics or demographics,      which is not common knowledge and which was originally compiled by another      person;
      5. o   Purchasing (or receiving in any other manner) a term paper or other      assignment that is the work of another person and submitting that term paper      or other assignment as the student's own work.
    2. •  Unauthorized assistance – Giving or receiving assistance in connection with any     examination or other academic work such that the resulting work product is not that     of the student.  During examinations, quizzes, lab work and similar activity, students     are to assume that any assistance (such as books, notes, calculators, and     conversations with others) is unauthorized unless it has been specifically authorized     by a faculty member.  Examples of prohibited behavior include, but are not limited to,     the following when not authorized:
      1. o   Copying, or allowing another to copy, answers to an examination;
      2. o   Transmitting or receiving, during an examination, information that is within the      scope of the material to be covered by that examination (including      transmission orally, in writing, by sign, electronic signal, or other manner);
      3. o   Giving or receiving answers to an examination scheduled for a later time; 
      4. o   Completing for another, or allowing another to complete for you, all or part of      an assignment (such as a paper, exercise, homework assignment,      presentation, report, computer application, laboratory experiment, or      computation); 
      5. o   Submitting a group assignment, or allowing that assignment to be submitted,      representing that the project is the work of all of the members of the group      when less than all of the group members assisted substantially in its      preparation;
      6. o   Unauthorized use of a programmable calculator or other electronic device.
    3. •  Lying/Tampering/Bribery – Bribery or an attempt to bribe a college official or     employee is prohibited conduct under this policy. Lying includes, but is not limited to:
      1. o   Providing false information in connection with the performance of any academic      work or in connection with any proceeding under this policy.
      2. o   Giving false reasons (in advance or after the fact) for failure to complete      academic work. This includes, for example, giving false excuses to the faculty      member or to any college official for failure to attend an exam or to complete      academic work;
      3. o   Falsifying the results of any laboratory or experimental work or fabricating any     data or information;
      4. o   Altering any academic work after it has been submitted, unless such alterations      are part of an assignment (such as a request of an instructor to revise the      academic work);
      5. o   Altering grade, lab, or attendance records.  This includes, for example, the      forgery of university forms for registration in or withdrawal from a course;
      6. o   Damaging computer equipment (including disks) or laboratory equipment in      order to alter or prevent the evaluation of academic work, unauthorized use of      another's computer password, disrupting the content or accessibility of an      Internet site, or impersonating another to obtain computer resources;
      7. o   Giving false information or testimony in connection with any investigation or      hearing under this policy;
      8. o   Submitting for academic advancement an item of academic work that has      previously been submitted (even when submitted previously by that student)      for academic advancement, unless done pursuant to authorization from the      faculty member supervising the work or containing fair attribution to the      original work.
  1. Theft – Stealing, taking or procuring in any other unauthorized manner (such as by physical removal from an instructor’s office or unauthorized inspection of computerized material) information related to any academic work (such as exams, grade records, forms used in grading, books, papers, computer equipment and data, and laboratory materials and data).
  2. Other – Failure by a student to comply with a duty imposed under this policy.  However, no penalty is imposed under this policy for failure to report an act of academic dishonesty by another or failure to testify in an academic honesty proceeding concerning another. 

Any behavior that constitutes academic dishonesty is prohibited even if it is not specifically mentioned in the above list of examples.
Required Conduct of Members of the College Community
Any member of the college community who has personal knowledge of facts relating to an alleged violation of this policy has a responsibility to report that alleged violation to the CIO as provided in this policy.
Required conduct includes, but is not limited to, participating in a discussion with the student believed to have violated the policy and truthfully answering questions and providing documentation of the matter to the Academic Senate President and CIO of the college.
Faculty have a responsibility to report alleged violations to the CIO as provided in this policy.  Faculty shall have the responsibility to take reasonable steps to inform students of the academic honesty rules that apply to particular academic work and the specific types of academic assistance that are permissible in connection with that academic work.  Additionally, each faculty member shall take reasonable steps to foster a climate of academic honesty.  The failure of a faculty member to meet these responsibilities shall not be a defense to an accusation of academic dishonesty against a student.
The enrollment of a student at the college constitutes the student's agreement to be bound by this policy. Every student has an obligation to be informed concerning the terms of this policy.  Lack of knowledge of the provisions of this policy is not an acceptable response to an accusation of violating this policy. Any discipline of a member of the college community, other than a student, for violation of this policy shall proceed under policies of the district applicable to faculty and staff conduct.
Board approval: 6/27/06

Administrative Procedure 5505 Academic Honesty

Resolving Matters of Alleged Academic Dishonesty
Prior to a facilitated discussion as described below, the affected faculty member and student may reach an agreement about the matter and, if dishonesty is involved, may determine the appropriate consequence(s). If no resolution is agreed upon, the matter will be discussed at a facilitated discussion as described below. If no resolution is agreed to by the faculty member and the student the matter will be forwarded to an academic honesty review panel which will determine the outcome of the allegation. A plea of no-contest (i.e., a plea which does not admit guilt but which accepts a particular sanction) is not permitted under this procedure.
Facilitated Discussion
When a faculty member believes that an incident of academic dishonesty has occurred, he/she should contact the Chief Instructional Officer (CIO).  If no agreement has been reached between the faculty member and the student, the CIO may ask the faculty member to contact the student, within a reasonable time, to arrange a date and time to discuss the matter in a facilitated discussion.  The CIO will arrange for a facilitator to be present at the meeting to assist in a fair and focused discussion about what may have occurred. The faculty member who reported the matter, the student(s) believed to have violated the policy, and the facilitator are the only participants in a facilitated discussion. These discussions may not be recorded.
The faculty member and student(s) may reach an agreement about the matter during the facilitated discussion and, if dishonesty is involved, may determine the appropriate consequence(s).  If no resolution is agreed upon, the matter will be forwarded to a panel which will determine the outcome of the allegation.


Academic Honesty Review Panel
A meeting with the academic honesty review panel is a continuation of discussion about the matter conducted by a facilitator.  The academic honesty review panel will determine whether the student(s) has violated the academic honesty policy.  If the panel determines that a violation has occurred, the panel will determine the appropriate penalty for the violation involved, including consequences when appropriate. The composition of the panel shall include three faculty members (Academic Senate President or designee; one faculty member from discipline or closely aligned discipline in which the alleged infraction occurred; and one faculty member as determined by the Academic Senate President and the CIO); the Dean over the discipline or closely aligned discipline in which the alleged infraction occurred; and one student panelist (as determined by the Academic Senate President or designee and the CIO).
Throughout the proceedings described herein, student privacy will be required to the extent possible.

Action Prior to Any Finding
Should a student request a facilitated discussion, the faculty member shall permit the student to complete all required academic work and shall evaluate and grade all work except the assignment(s) involved in the accusation of dishonesty. That faculty member may, however, take any action reasonably necessary to collect and preserve evidence of the alleged violation and to maintain or restore the integrity of exam or laboratory conditions.  Requests for a course withdrawal will not be approved unless it is determined that no violation occurred.


Action on Determination of Innocence
If it is determined that no violation occurred, the faculty member shall enter a final grade for that student determined without consideration of the alleged violation.  That grade shall be entered on or before the later of: (a) the date on which grades for that class are required by district policy to be submitted to the Registrar; or (b) 10 days following delivery to that faculty member of a notice of the student's final determination of innocence.  For this purpose, “final determination” means that agreement is reached between the faculty member and student during a facilitated discussion that dishonesty did not occur, or that a panel concludes that the student did not violate this policy.  On final determination, the CIO shall notify the faculty member as provided below in order that the appropriate grade earned may be entered.


Consequence(s) for a First Academic Honesty Violation
Facilitated Discussion – The faculty member and student may reach an agreement about the appropriate consequence(s) for a dishonesty violation keeping in mind that the process should be educational for the student who violated the policy, yet fair to other students who have honestly completed the academic work.
Academic Honesty Review Panel – A student found in violation by the academic honesty review panel must receive either a grade of "F" or the lowest possible grade on the academic work under the grading system for that course.  In addition, when the violation is a first offense, one or more of the following consequences must be assigned:

  1. Final course grade of "F”
  2. Suspension for a period of one semester other than summer
  3. Expulsion

On determination of a first violation, the panel may impose additional consequences in addition to the minimums above.  If the panel finds that extraordinary circumstances warrant the imposition of a consequence less than the minimums described above, the panel shall state in writing the reasons for the extraordinary circumstances and why the assigned consequence is considered appropriate.
Subsequent Dishonesty Violations
If the student acknowledges a second violation in a facilitated discussion, or a panel finds a second violation of this policy, the consequence shall be permanent expulsion.

Failure to Comply with Consequences
If a student fails or refuses to comply with the requirements or consequences for a dishonesty violation, the CIO may convene a panel whose sole purpose shall be to determine if the student failed or refused to comply with the requirements or consequences assigned.  If it is determined that the student did fail or refuse to comply, the panel may impose additional consequences deemed appropriate for the violation.
Board approval: 6/27/06