/Institutions/Maryville-College/json/2023-2024/Academic-Catalog-local.json

/Institutions/Maryville-College/json/2023-2024/Academic-Catalog.json

Procedure for Individual Incidents

If a teacher has information leading to a reasonable opinion that there has been an incident of academic dishonesty, the following procedures shall be followed:

1. The teacher should confer with his or her academic division chair (or some other trusted colleague if the teacher is also the division chair);
2. If both agree that the evidence establishes with certainty that academic integrity standards have been violated and if they agree on the extent of the offense, the teacher may proceed to assign without further process a grade penalty on the assignment, a penalty proportioned to the severity of the offense and not exceeding a grade of zero on the assignment. The teacher will place on file in the Registrar's Office a letter of censure recording the offense along with relevant documentation. Such a letter will not become part of the student's permanent academic record, but will be available during the student's time at the college to any faculty member who may later inquire whether the student has previously been found guilty of academic dishonesty. Before assigning a penalty, the teacher should check to see whether any prior letter of censure exists. If there is one letter of censure already on file, action is at the discretion of the faculty member who may either assign penalty or refer the case to the Academic Integrity Board (AIB). If two letters are already on file, the teacher must refer the case to the AIB. At such time, the Registrar will initiate the preliminary procedures specified below. The teacher must discuss with the student the offense and the penalty, informing the student of his or her right to appeal the decision and the penalty to the AIB. If the student does appeal to the AIB, the student should notify the Registrar's Office of the appeal, and the Registrar's Office should withhold the letter of censure from the file pending the outcome of the appeal;
3. If the teacher and the academic division chair (or other trusted colleague) finds that either the severity of the offense calls for a penalty greater than a zero on the assignment, or the evidence fails to establish with certainty the suspected student's guilt or the extent of the offense, then the teacher must confer with the student, who will be confronted with the charge. If the student admits guilt, the teacher will place a letter of censure with relevant documentation on file in the Registrar’s Office and may assign without further process one or more penalties from among the following:
   1. a grade penalty on the assignment
   2. zero on the assignment
   3. a failing grade in the course.

   The teacher should inform the student of his or her right to appeal the sanction to the Academic Integrity Board. If the student does not admit guilt, the teacher may drop the matter or may refer the case to the AIB. Any case in which the teacher seeks a penalty beyond a letter of censure and a failing grade in the course (e.g., community service, suspension, or expulsion) should be referred to the AIB;

4. In a case of plagiarism or faulty documentation involving a student who has not yet taken Composition and Speech II (ENG 120) with its discussions of plagiarism and documentation, the teacher may, upon adequate establishment of the student's guilt as outlined above, opt to provide the student an opportunity to correct or to redo the assignment either with or without penalty for the sake of the student's learning the requirements of correct documentation. This leniency of procedure applies only to students who have not been informed of the requirements of academic integrity as taught in ENG 120;
5. If the academic division chair (or colleague) does not believe that the evidence warrants pursuit of the case, the teacher is still free to discuss the matter with the student and to refer the case to the Academic Integrity Board, but the teacher must not peremptorily assign a penalty; and
6. Any member of the College community wishing to refer a case to the Academic Integrity Board must notify the Registrar, who will notify the other parties involved, request from them for safekeeping any physical evidence connected with the case, and notify the AIB chair.