Office of Student Conduct
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Office of Student Conduct |
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The University of Nevada, Reno, has established a process for upholding the academic standards concerning the scholarly work of students. The goals of the Academic Standards Policy are:
For the university community to maintain integrity of the University's academic standards for all students through the maintenance of strong standards of academic honesty; and,
To provide due consideration for the individual student's circumstances, including his or her values and interest in addressing the misconduct and returning to the student community.
There are three important elements of the Academic Standards Policy:
Faculty are committed to providing assignments that allow students to work independently to produce their work. This is accomplished by the faculty discussing their policies for maintaining high academic standards in their course in the early class sessions of the term and in their respective syllabus prepared for each class.
More information on University Support
Students are encouraged to seek assistance in their assignments and course work throughout the semester by using the services of the many faculty and staff-sponsored programs that provide academic support. These services include: The Writing Center (784-6030), the Academic Support Services Center (784-6801), Getchell Library Reference Librarians (784-0000), and, attending advertised Faculty Office Hours and course review sessions.
In order to prevent cheating and plagiarism on this campus, the faculty and administration work closely on promoting secure, well-supervised learning environments for students.
Prevention of Cheating
Course instructors proctor their exams and provide a positive test-taking setting for their students. The rules that a faculty member imposes on his or her students on the day of a test are all established to prevent any student from (unknowingly or knowingly) allowing another student access to their exam to see their answers.
Instructor Requirements may include:
Prevention of Plagiarism
Prevention of plagiarism is an important issue to our faculty. (Plagiarism is defined as the submittal of other's work as one's own) Faculty plan their take-home written assignments to prevent temptation of students to use others' work or to unknowingly provide work to another student to use as their own. Assignments are devised by faculty that will address the unique topics of issues discussed in the course lecture, in order to prevent students from using generic papers from their other courses, from other students, or from the internet.
Faculty may require their students to submit an outline of the proposed term paper and to submit a draft of the paper in progress - both to prevent plagiarism and to assist students having trouble writing the paper. To counter the temptation of students to acquire term papers off of the internet, faculty may use internet services such as "Turnitin.com" (Formerly known as: "Plagiarism.org") and internet service that provides faculty with the means to compare their students' papers with others down-loaded from the internet.
Faculty Responsibilities:
The instructor notifies the student in writing of the allegation of academic dishonesty and the proposed academic sanction within fifteen days of submittal of the assignment or test in question.
The instructor provides the student with an opportunity to respond to the charges within ten days of receipt of the written notification;
The instructor informs the student that this response may include an appeal of the faculty member's decision; and if so,
The instructor explains to the student that this appeal is to be submitted in writing to the department chairperson within the same ten day period.
When the faculty member decides that academic dishonesty has occurred, he or she takes academic action, which involves imposing one of the following sanctions, of choices:
If substantiated, the decision on sanctioning is finalized and prepared in writing for the student, with a copy of the decision also provided to the Department Chair and to the Director of Student Conduct.
The Academic Standards Policy and the Academic Dishonesty Procedures appear in the "Student Code of Conduct" section of the UNR Student Handbook, and on the Office of Student Conduct website, at: http://www.unr.edu/sjmas/
Student Responsibilities:
There are three ways in which the student may choose to respond to the faculty member's charges:
Through a personal meeting, through a telephone conversation, or, in writing. Students are responsible for being acquainted with the procedures outlined in the Academic Standards Policy for resolving an accusation of academic dishonesty.
The student has the responsibility of communicating their decision about accepting or not accepting the charge to the instructor. It is very important that the student take an active role in effectively resolving the charge and/or assisting the instructor in investigating the charge.
It is the student's responsibility to inform the faculty member about whether he or she is accepting the academic sanction (and responsibility for the academic dishonesty), or wishes to appeal the decision of the faculty.
Student Appeals:
If the student wishes to appeal, then it is very important that the student communicate this fact to the chairperson of the department and to the director of student conduct within the time limits allowed. It is strongly recommended that the student contacts the director of student conduct anytime he or she is considering and appeal.
The appeal procedures will be explained in detail to the student by the director, who is responsible for administrating the appeal process in behalf of the University.
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