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. 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. Many professors will require students to submit papers through Turnitin, 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 Associate Vice-President of Academic Administration describing the infraction and the consequences administered. The professor shall also give the student a copy of the report. 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 Associate Vice President will notify the dean or chair of the student's major. 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.