Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is to represent one’s own academic work and actions in an honest and responsible way. As a testimony to God and faithfulness to the work of others, the LBC | Capital community – including administration, faculty, staff, and students – prioritizes integrity in all matters through knowing and following this Academic Integrity Policy. This policy is outlined in the student handbooks, course syllabi, and in orientation; therefore, students are responsible for knowing this policy and complying.
Types of Academic Dishonesty
Cheating: Using or attempting to use unauthorized material, persons, technology devices, or study aids for personal assistance in examinations or other academic work.
Fabrication: Submitting altered, contrived, or invented information in any academic exercise.
Misrepresentation of Academic Records: Tampering with any portion of a student’s record.
Unfair Advantage: Attempting, in an inequitable manner, to gain a more favorable playing field than fellow students on an academic exercise.
Multiple submissions: Submitting the same work to fulfill the requirements for more than one course without authorization of all instructors involved.
Facilitating Academic Dishonesty: Helping another individual violate the Academic Integrity Policy.
Tolerating Academic Dishonesty: When a student knows about academic dishonesty and fails to address it with the other student, that student is complicit in the dishonesty. If the confronted student fails to confess to the instructor and cease and desist, the other student is responsible for addressing the issue with the instructor.
Plagiarism: Claiming as one’s own, fully or in part, information that is copied, paraphrased, or purchased from a written or spoken source, without proper acknowledgment of that source.
Several types of plagiarism exist but are not limited to:
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Direct Plagiarism: Word-for-word transcription of someone else’s work, without citation and quotation marks.
- Self-Plagiarism: Submitting one’s own work from previous classes without permission of all professors involved. If all professors involved approve, about 10% of the previous work is acceptable for resubmission.
- Mosaic plagiarism: Borrowing phrases from a source without quotation marks.
- Accidental plagiarism: Neglecting to cite sources, misquoting sources, or unintentionally paraphrasing sources by using similar words.
- Adopting work that is not your own: Submitting an assignment written by someone else or generated by artificial intelligence.
Violations of the Academic Integrity Policy
Minor offenses are often due to lack of experience or knowledge and may have been unintentional.
Flagrant offenses demonstrate indicators of ill-intent, may have been repeated multiple times, or tend to be pervasive in nature.
Violations of the Academic Integrity Policy— In a Course
First Offense:
If a violation of the Academic Integrity Policy is suspected, the instructor should meet with the student(s) to discuss the incident and determine if a violation has occurred. The instructor and student(s) may choose to have a witness present at the discussion. Both parties should be notified that a witness will be present and be given the opportunity to bring his or her own witness.
After meeting with the student, if the instructor determines that a violation occurred, he or she will complete a report (via the form on the Employee Portal) and send it to the Registrar, copying the Program Director/Coordinator, and Department Chair. The instructor, in consultation with the Registrar, Program Director/Coordinator, and/or Department Chair will determine whether the offense was minor or flagrant. If the student is noncompliant in scheduling or attending the meeting, a decision about the violation will be made regardless of the student’s attendance.
All violations of the Academic Integrity Policy, even minor offenses, should be reported by the instructor to the Registrar because this will allow multiple violations to be kept on record across departments.
- In cases of a first minor offense, the instructor should counsel the student on academic integrity. The instructor, in consultation with the Program Director/Coordinator, and/or Department Chair, should then determine if a grade penalty is appropriate and if a resubmission should be required.
- A first flagrant offense warrants a 0% on the assignment without a chance for resubmission. The student will also be required to seek counsel through the Ally Center, by consulting with Writing Services staff members about the nature of plagiarism and how to avoid it in the future.
Subsequent offenses:
After meeting with the student, the instructor will complete a report (via the form on the Employee Portal) to the Registrar, and copy the Program Director/Coordinator and Department Chair. In some cases, multiple instances of plagiarism may be found at the same time. In these instances, the instructor in consultation with the Program Director/Coordinator, Department Chair, and Registrar may conclude that multiple cases may be treated as a single offense.
- A second minor offense will be considered a first flagrant offense. All additional offenses will be considered flagrant.
- A second flagrant offense warrants a course failure.
- A third flagrant offense will result in the student being recommended for dismissal with the right to appeal.
If a student is found to be in violation of the Academic Integrity Policy after the completion of a course, the Registrar in consultation with the Program Director/ Coordinator and/or Department Chair will determine academic sanctions in line with the spirit of this policy.
The steps outlined in this policy are the minimum disciplinary standards for flagrant offenses. In certain circumstances, depending upon contextual factors, more serious consequences may be fitting in flagrant cases. Consequences that are above these minimum disciplinary standards must be approved by the Program Director/Coordinator and the Department Chair. Students should consult their program handbook for additional information and policies related to academic integrity.
Violations of the Academic Integrity Policy— Outside a Course
For instances of violating the Academic Integrity Policy outside a course (such as interfering with college records), the Provost, or his or her designee, will investigate the alleged offense, and based on evidence, suspend the student.
For second offenses, a student will be recommended for dismissal with the right to appeal.
Academic Integrity Appeals
A student’s intent to appeal an instructor’s response to a violation must be communicated in writing to the Registrar within one week of the receipt of the written notification from the instructor dealing with the incident. The student must supply information that substantiates the grounds on which the appeal is being made and cite at least one of the following grounds for appeal:
1. Fair consideration was not provided to the student.
2. New and significant information has become available.
3. The sanction imposed is not in due proportion to the seriousness of the offense.
The Registrar will convene the Student Appeals Committee to review the appeal and related documents. The decision of the Committee will be final.