Students found committing acts of academic dishonesty will be subject to the Marquette procedures for incidents of academic dishonesty.
In what follows the wording “chair” refers to either a department chair or an equivalent official, “associate dean” refers to either an associate dean or an equivalent official, or in the case of the Graduate School it shall refer to the assistant vice provost, the word “college” refers to a college, school or other academic unit and the words “assigned college” refers to the college granting the degree (i.e. for graduate students the assigned college is the Graduate School).
Many, perhaps most, incidents of academic dishonesty involve accusations based on clear evidence and not contested by the accused student. In such cases, if the infraction is relatively minor and there is no indication that the accused student has previously been involved in such incidents, it is most appropriate that the matter be resolved between the student, faculty member and chair of the department offering the course.
When a faculty member has evidence of a student’s academic dishonesty, the faculty member must initiate communication with the student within 15 calendar days of discovering evidence of academic dishonesty. The faculty member must then present the evidence to the student in a private meeting, always with a facilitator present (e.g., department chair or designee). This meeting should take place within 15 calendar days of the student being notified of the allegation or as soon thereafter as possible. If, after this meeting, it is decided that the student did participate in academic dishonesty, the faculty member may follow up with one or more of the following actions:
The faculty must maintain careful documentation of the incident.
It is essential that any disciplinary action be reported in writing to the student in a letter from the faculty member. The faculty member is strongly encouraged to consult with his or her associate dean for questions about appropriate discipline and the form and content of the letter sent to the student. Reference to the Marquette University Policies on Academic Honesty should be included in the letter. The letter to the student must be sent within 15 calendar days of the meeting and may be sent by e-mail with settings for "notify sender of receipt and of opening."
At the same time the letter is sent to the student, a copy must be sent to the department chair and associate dean of the college offering the course. In turn, within five working days, the associate dean of the college offering the course will communicate in writing details of the incident to the associate dean of the student’s assigned college to ensure that penalties assessed are commensurate with the offense and that repeated infractions be detected and dealt with appropriately. The associate dean of each college is responsible for maintaining confidential records concerning academic dishonesty of students enrolled in that college. All letters reporting faculty-imposed academic penalties for academic misconduct will be included in these files.
In most incidents, the disciplinary response and procedure for incidents of academic dishonesty concludes at this step.
Students have the right of appeal of the allegations of academic dishonesty and the disciplinary actions of the instructor if the student believes the alleged incident of academic dishonesty and/or resultant academic discipline to be unfounded, biased or capricious. In this case, the student should submit a formal written appeal stating the grounds for appeal and available documentation to the associate dean of the college offering the course within 15 calendar days of the notification of the instructor’s decision.
Upon receipt of the appeal, the associate dean may convene a review of the student’s actions by a college panel. The associate dean and/or panel reviews the details of the student’s actions and may ask to speak to the student, instructor, chair of the department offering the course, associate deans and others. The associate dean of the college offering the course will determine the appropriate disciplinary action and, within 15 calendar days of receipt of the appeal, will provide a written statement to all parties concerned.
If the faculty member recommends that the student be administratively withdrawn from the course and assigned a final grade of UW or F be assigned, the associate dean of the student’s assigned college will review the details of the incident and make the final decision within five working days of receipt of the request and provide a written statement to all parties concerned.
Students have the right to appeal the decision of the associate dean to issue grades of ADW or F to the dean of the student’s assigned college (the dean of the Graduate School in the case of graduate students). This appeal must be made within 15 calendar days of the notification of the grade change. The final decision to uphold or modify the action of the associate dean will be provided to the student and associate dean within 15 calendar days of receipt of the appeal. The decision of the dean is final.
When the associate dean (in the case of graduate students to the assistant vice provost for graduate programs) of the student’s assigned college is aware of or determines that the student has engaged in multiple incidents of academic dishonesty or the incident in question is of a more serious nature, he/she will convene a review of the student’s actions by a college panel within 15 calendar days of learning of the most recent incident.
More serious incidents may involve repeat offenses, cause injury or harm to others outside the academic community or other actions deemed to warrant additional consideration. These incidents of academic dishonesty call for more serious disciplinary action up to and including campus-wide sanctions of suspension or expulsion. Where incidents involve possible violations of the University Code of Conduct, in addition to the alleged academic dishonesty, consultation with the Office of Student Development is recommended.
Each college will have guidelines for the composition and selection of the college panel to assure a review by experienced faculty and/or administrators not directly involved in the incident(s). The panel reviews all aspects of the student’s record, the details of the student’s behavior, and may ask the student, instructor(s) and others to speak with the panel. Within 15 calendar days of being given the charge, the panel will forward its recommendations for appropriate and just disciplinary action to the associate dean (in the case of graduate students to the assistant vice provost for graduate programs) of the student’s assigned college with a copy to the dean. All disciplinary decisions that involve a campus-wide sanction, such as suspension or expulsion, will be made by the dean of the student’s assigned college with all other actions being taken by the associate dean.
Within 15 calendar days of receiving the panel’s recommendation, the associate dean or dean, as appropriate, makes the decision known to the student via written documentation that includes a description of the academic dishonesty, process the decision went through, resulting decision and appeal procedures. A copy of the decision is placed in the student’s academic file with a copy provided to the Office of the Provost.
Students have the right of appeal of the allegation of academic dishonesty and the disciplinary actions of the associate dean or the dean of the student’s assigned college. Such appeals must be made within 15 calendar days of receipt of the letter. Actions taken by the associate dean should be appealed to the dean of the student’s assigned college. The final decision to uphold or modify the action of the associate dean will be provided to the student and associate dean within 15 calendar days of receipt of the appeal. The decision of the dean is final.
For actions of the dean involving campus-wide sanctions, such as suspension or expulsion, students have the right of appeal to the Office of the Provost. A formal written appeal stating the grounds for appeal and available documentation is to be submitted within 15 calendar days of the notification of the decision of the dean to the Office of the Provost. The provost or designee will conduct a review of the appeal materials, may seek additional information, and may consult with the student, faculty, chair(s), associate dean(s), deans and others. The final decision to uphold or modify the action of the dean will be provided to the student and to the dean and associate dean of the student’s assigned college within 15 calendar days of receipt of the appeal. A copy of the provost’s decision will be placed in the student academic file. The decision of the provost is final.
The associate dean may exclude students who have on file recorded acts of academic dishonesty, as defined by this policy from consideration for academic honors at graduation. Exclusion from consideration for honors is not for the purposes of this policy to be considered a campus-wide sanction.
As an institution of higher education, love of truth is at the center of the university's enterprise, and academic honesty, in all its forms, is an explicit value of the university.
Marquette's Academic Honesty Policies and Procedures Main Page
