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Academic Integrity Policies and Procedures

The community of scholars that is Missouri State University is committed to developing educated persons. Educated persons accept the responsibility to practice personal and academic integrity. Each participant of the University community refrains from and discourages behavior that threatens the freedom and respect each member deserves. The policies and procedures described in the Student Academic Integrity Policy specifically address student academic integrity, but recognize that student academic integrity is only part of the entirety of academic integrity in a community of scholars, and that all members of the community share the responsibility for fostering academic integrity.

The Faculty Handbook states that course policy statements must include a statement of the instructor’s policies concerning cheating and plagiarism, including consequences. An instructor’s policies on academic integrity issues, while they may reflect the instructor’s personal views, should also be consistent with the University policy on student academic integrity. The instructor must allow a student who has been charged with academic dishonesty to continue attending class until all appeals are resolved. If an academic integrity matter is pending at the end of a semester, the instructor will issue an Incomplete (I) grade to the student until the appeal process is completed.

The complete Student Academic Integrity Policies and Procedures document, including information on the Academic Integrity Proceeding, is available on the Office of the Provost's web site.

Definitions

Academic Integrity Council (AIC): The 23-member Academic Integrity Council (AIC) consists of ten voting student members and ten voting faculty members, plus the Provost or designee, who is the non-voting Chair of the Council. In addition, the Dean of Students (or designee) and the SGA Legislative Director for Academic Affairs serve as ex officio members (without voting privileges). The Council is charged with enforcing the Missouri State University academic integrity policy, including overseeing academic integrity proceedings. The Council is also responsible for organizing and conducting campus activities designed to educate members of the campus community on matters of academic integrity and the academic integrity policy, and promoting a campus-wide climate of academic integrity.
Academic Integrity Proceeding: An Academic Integrity Proceeding is conducted by a five-member panel drawn from the AIC membership. The purpose of a proceeding is to explore and investigate allegations of student academic dishonesty and to reach informed conclusions as to whether or not academic dishonesty is likely to have occurred.
Academic Dishonesty: Any one of the following acts constitutes academic dishonesty:
  • Cheating: The term “cheating” refers to using or attempting to use unauthorizedtechnology, materials, information, or study aids in any academic exercise (whether intentional or not).
  • Fabrication or other misconduct in research: The term “fabrication” refers to unauthorized falsification or invention of any information (including research data) or any citation in any academic exercise; “misconduct in research” refers to any violation of ethical guidelines for attributing credit and authorship inresearch endeavors, non-compliance with established research policies, or other violations of ethical research practice. 
  • Plagiarism: The term “plagiarism” includes, but is not limited to, the use, by paraphrase or direct quotation, of the published or unpublished work or sections of a work of another person without full and clear acknowledgement (whether intentional or not). This includes any material copied directly or paraphrased from the Internet. The unacknowledged use of materials prepared by another person or agency engaged in the selling of term papers or other academic materials, including material taken from or ordered through the Internet, also constitutes plagiarism.
  • Facilitating academic dishonesty: Assisting or attempting to assist another to violate any provision of this Academic Integrity Policy, whether or not that action is associated with any particular course, is considered academic dishonesty.

Reporting Academic Dishonesty

All members of the University community share the responsibility and authority to challenge and make known acts of apparent academic dishonesty. Any student, faculty member, or staff person who has witnessed an apparent act of student academic dishonesty, or has information that reasonably leads to the conclusion that such an act has occurred or has been attempted, is strongly encouraged to report said act. Acts of apparent academic dishonesty that occur in the classroom may be reported directly to the course instructor, and/or the course instructor’s department head, and/or the instructor’s college dean. Incidences of apparent academic dishonesty, whether associated with a particular course or not, may also be reported directly to the Academic Integrity Council (AIC) by contacting the Chair of the Council (the Provost or designee) in the Office of the Provost, Carrington Hall 209. The Academic Integrity Council will not accept or act upon anonymous reports but will hold in strict confidence the identity of any person reporting a suspected instance of academic dishonesty, unless that person consents to having his or her identity revealed. If the act of academic dishonesty that is reported to the AIC is alleged to have occurred in a particular course, the AIC Chair will notify the course instructor of the allegation. If the instructor elects not to pursue sanctions, or if the reported allegation is not associated with any particular course, the AIC Chair may convene an Academic Integrity Panel to conduct an Academic Integrity Proceeding to explore the allegation, provided that at least one person making an allegation is willing to be identified and to participate in the proceeding.

Academic Dishonesty Not Associated with Enrollment in a Course

Any incident of alleged academic dishonesty by a student not enrolled in a particular course but sitting in the course for a student duly-enrolled (for example, taking a test for a duly-enrolled student) should be reported directly to the AIC, which will convene a panel to address the alleged incident. Similarly, any incident of alleged academic dishonesty committed by any student at Missouri State University outside the context of enrollment in any particular course should be reported directly to the AIC, which will convene a panel to address the alleged incident.

Revoking a Grade/Degree

If an instructor discovers academic dishonesty after final grades have been assigned and wishes to retroactively impose an “F” or “XF” grade for the course as a sanction for the academic dishonesty, the instructor must send written notification to the Chair of the Academic Integrity Council, with copy to the instructor’s department head and dean, and in the case of a graduate student, with copy to the Dean of the Graduate College. In order for an instructor to be able to impose a sanction, the written notice must be received by the Academic Integrity Council within five calendar years of the last class meeting day of the class in which the alleged academic dishonesty took place. In the case of an act of alleged academic dishonesty not associated with enrollment in a class, written notification must be received by the Academic Integrity Council within five years of the date of the alleged act. After five years, an instructor can no longer impose any direct sanction for an alleged infraction; however, alleged academic dishonesty may be reported to the AIC regardless of how much time has passed since the alleged act.
 
The written notification from the instructor shall include a detailed description of the alleged academic dishonesty and the intended sanction. The Chair of the Academic Integrity Council will notify the student of the allegation by certified letter with return receipt. The student will be allowed full appeal rights as outlined in the following sections of this policy: “Addressing Alleged Academic Dishonesty and Notifying the AIC of an Alleged Incident” and “Student Request for an Academic Integrity Proceeding.” When the appeal process has been concluded, if the allegation is upheld and if it was brought forward within the five-year time limit, the instructor’s recommended sanction (“F” or “XF”) will replace the original grade. If the revocation of a course grade affects the student’s graduation status because the course was necessary for graduation, a degree that has been granted will be revoked.  

The Academic Integrity Council can at any time and at its discretion recommend to the Provost that a degree be revoked even if all degree requirements have been met, in cases where the academic dishonesty, including misconduct in research, is egregious and/or occurred multiple times. A recommendation to revoke a degree even if all degree requirements were met requires an affirmative vote of at least 14 of the 20 voting members of the Council. The Provost’s decision to revoke a degree requires consultation with the Dean of the college which awarded the degree and, in the case of a graduate degree, consultation with the Dean of the Graduate College. The Provost’s decision to revoke a degree requires the concurrence of the President of the university. The decision to revoke a degree may be appealed by the student to the Board of Governors, which may, at its discretion, hear the appeal.