Academic Integrity View in Kuali Update Delete

Academic Integrity

Morally and spiritually, Southern Adventist University is dedicated to scholastic integrity. The university’s academic community affirms that education involves both the pursuit of knowledge and the formation of character, and that honesty and integrity are essential to the University’s academic mission and Christian commitments. Honesty requires truthfulness in academic work, including the submission of work that reflects independent effort, appropriate acknowledgment of sources, and accurate representation of how assignments are completed. Integrity extends beyond honesty to reflect consistency between values and actions, calling for full engagement in the learning process and the avoidance of shortcuts that undermine intellectual and spiritual growth.

Additionally, graduate students are expected to uphold the highest standards of academic integrity as members of a broader scholarly and professional community.  They are responsible for understanding and adhering to academic integrity expectations both within their disciplines and as part of Southern Adventist University as a whole. Academic dishonesty at the graduate level represents a serious breach of ethical conduct and professional responsibility. Consequently, both students and faculty are required to maintain high, ethical Christian levels of honesty and integrity.

FACULTY RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Professors must explain clearly the requirements for assignments, examinations, and projects, such as "open book," "take home," or "peer collaboration."
2. Professors may assume "no collaboration" is the rule unless they state otherwise.

STUDENT RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Tools such as artificial intelligence, translation software, and online resources may be used only as permitted by course instructors and should never be used to supplant the cognitive processing necessary for creativity and learning.
2. Representing the output of generative AI as one’s own work is always considered a violation of this policy.
3. Students assume responsibility to avoid plagiarism by acting with integrity and learning the proper procedures for acknowledging borrowed wording, information, or ideas. Otherwise, students might misrepresent others' material as their own.
4. Students unfamiliar with procedures for citing sources should confer with their professors.
5. Students are to assume that all coursework is "no collaboration" unless stated otherwise by the professor.
6. Professors reserve the right to require students to submit written work through an originality-checking application, and may use generative AI detection tools.

SCHOOLS/DEPARTMENTAL POLICIES:

Some departments/schools, due to the nature of their programs, have additional integrity policies that carry the same force as those published here. Such policies will be presented to students before implementation.

PROCEDURES FOR HANDLING ACADEMIC DISHONESTY:

1. When a professor suspects a lack of academic integrity, the professor should first privately discuss the incident with the student. After the meeting, if the professor is convinced the student violated this policy, he or she will file an incident report with the Dean of Graduate Studies describing the infraction and the consequences administered. The professor shall also provide a copy of the report to the student and to the dean of the student’s program. The report should include:
   1. a short narrative describing the dishonesty and its timeline.
   2. a summary of interactions with the student, including dates.
   3. a short description of the assignment (summative assessment).
   4. the professors’ syllabus statement on dishonesty, if one exists separately from the university policy.
   5. copies of the work in question.
2. In verified instances of policy violation, the commonly applied consequences include, but are not limited to the following:
   1. Record a failing grade on the exam, assignment, or project.
   2. Assign a failing grade in the class.
   3. Allow the student to resubmit the assignment with a reduced value for the assignment.
   4. Assign the student a paper, project, or activity that improves the student's understanding of the value and nature of academic integrity.
3. The University keeps a centralized file of integrity reports in the Academic Administration office. After two reported incidents of academic dishonesty, the Dean of Graduate Studies will notify the dean of the student's program. Two incidents also make a student eligible for dismissal from the University.
4. At any point, the student may appeal any of the above actions through the established appeal procedures spelled out in the "Academic Grievance Procedure" section of this Catalog.

Student Authentication

The Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 [viewable here; see p. 3325] requires Southern Adventist University to authenticate the identity of all students who enroll in distance education courses offered by the university.  Southern requires students enrolled in an online course or program to authenticate their identity at the time of initial registration in their first semester at Southern in order to ensure that a student who is enrolled is the same student who completes and submits work and assignments in that course or program.  This process helps protect the integrity of the education provided by Southern Adventist University. 

If authentication is required, the student will receive a personal email outlining the steps to complete the authentication.

The student should authenticate their identity by using ONE of the following options: 

1. Authenticate in person at Southern Adventist University.

2. Authenticate online with a secure identity verification partner chosen by Southern Adventist University. 

Students who do not authenticate their identity during their first semester in which they are enrolled in online classes will receive an incomplete in these course(s). If they do not complete their authentication by the end of the following semester, their final grade will automatically convert into an F.  The student will not be allowed to register for further online classes until the authentication process is completed.  In addition, non-compliance with the authentication policy may make the student subject to discipline according to the Procedures for Handling Academic Dishonesty in the Southern Adventist University Graduate Catalog.