Academic Dishonesty

Students at Saint Mary’s University are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic honesty. Academic dishonesty, in any form, will not be tolerated and may subject the student to disciplinary sanctions, up to and including dismissal.

Academic dishonesty comes in a variety of forms. The most common forms include, but are not limited to, plagiarism, fabrication, cheating and academic misconduct.

Plagiarism is the inclusion of someone else’s words, ideas, or data as one’s own. When a student submits work that includes the words, ideas, or data of others, the source of that information must be acknowledged through complete, accurate, and specific citations, as well as quotation marks if verbatim statements are included. By placing their names on submitted work, students certify the originality of all work not otherwise identified by appropriate acknowledgments.

Student work submitted to fulfill course requirements is subject to analysis by a third party that will check for plagiarism. Submitted work will be encoded so as not to identify the student.

Fabrication is the intentional use of invented information or the falsification of research or other findings with the intent to deceive. Examples include, but are not limited to, the citation of information not taken from the source indicated; submission of falsified, invented or fictitious data in a lab report; submitting work prepared by another.

Cheating is an act or attempted act of deception by which students seek to misrepresent that they have mastered information. Examples include, but are not limited to, copying from another student’s test, allowing another student to copy from a test paper, taking a test for someone else, collaborating during a test with another student by giving or receiving information. Unless assigned by the instructor, work done collaboratively constitutes cheating.

Other examples of academic misconduct include, but are not limited to, the intentional violation of university policies by tampering with grades, by taking part in obtaining or distributing any part of an unadministered test, or by using or distributing copyrighted material without appropriate permission. It includes accessing academic files without appropriate permission and duplicating copyrighted computer software.

Consequences of Academic Dishonesty

All members of the Saint Mary's University community are responsible for upholding the academic integrity of the institution. Suspicion of academic dishonesty must be reported to the program director. The program director initiates and documents an investigation in conjunction with a dean. The program director will meet with the individual to provide a fair opportunity for response to the allegation. After doing so, the program director may consult with others. If the program director has reason to believe academic dishonesty has occurred, he or she recommends a sanction to the dean. The dean will render judgement and impose sanctions. Students may appeal the judgement or sanction by instituting the grievance procedure.

Student Behavior

As members of a Lasallian community of scholars, students are expected to adhere to the highest levels of ethics and professionalism in all interactions with other members of the Saint Mary’s University community. In cases where a student’s behavior is not professional or is disrespectful toward others within the Saint Mary’s University community, the student may be subject to disciplinary action. Complaints about unethical, unprofessional, or disrespectful behavior must be made, in writing, to the program director. The program director will notify the dean of the allegation.

In order to determine if disciplinary action is appropriate, a disciplinary hearing will be held by an appointed committee. The committee will be chaired by the program director of the program in which the student is enrolled. Other members of the committee will be: a representative from the Saint Mary’s community chosen by the student, and administrators or staff selected by the dean. The dean may attend the hearing as an interested party, but is not a member of the committee.

At the hearing, the student may address the allegations and respond to questions from committee members. The committee may hear from other appropriate individuals. At the conclusion of the hearing, the committee will discuss the allegations, and determine if disciplinary action should be recommended to the dean.

The dean will review the committee’s recommendation and make decisions regarding disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal. The dean will notify the student. Students may appeal the to the vice president.

Saint Mary’s University reserves the right to take disciplinary action against a student for his or her behavior independent of a written complaint and independent of this procedure.

Class Attendance

While the university recognizes the diverse responsibilities of adult learners, students are expected to attend all classes. Students must consult the course syllabus for the specific attendance policy of each course. Canceled classes will be rescheduled.

Students are expected to notify instructors of a pending absence prior to the class meeting. The student must contact the instructor to receive make-up work to compensate for the learning experiences missed. The instructors may assign make-up work and evaluate its completion. Failure to contact the instructor and complete make-up assignments may impact the student’s final course grade as indicated in the course syllabus.

Students should not register for a course for which they will be absent 20% or more of the scheduled class time. This includes time when the student will be late for class or time when the student will leave early. Please also note the university withdrawal policy.

Copyright Law

It is a violation of federal law to reproduce copyrighted materials without appropriate permission. Copyrighted materials include, but are not limited to, theses, dissertations and other student work. Saint Mary's University considers a violation of copyright law academic misconduct. The university requires permission to copy all print material duplicated for classroom use and will purchase all proprietary computer software or site licenses. The use of copied software on any university equipment is prohibited.

Students may contact the library for further information and for a copy of the Copyright Act (Title 17 United States Code).

Electronic Communications Policy

Saint Mary's University recognizes that individuals occasionally have a situation in which they need to be accessible to their employers and/or families during scheduled class time. It is also recognized that some individuals' employment or personal responsibilities require that they be accessible at all times. Cellular telephones and personal paging devices are the primary method used to ensure this communication linkage.

It is also recognized that persistent use of such devices can be disruptive to the classroom environment. Therefore, individuals who have this kind of communication need should notify their instructor. They should reduce and/or eliminate audible signals and respond to nonemergency calls during classroom breaks and take all calls outside of the classroom.

Students in off campus locations should follow the policies of the location, which may prohibit use of cell phones.

Staff are encouraged to discuss the use of such devices as part of faculty orientation. Faculty are encouraged to discuss the use of such devices as part of the course overview.

Good Name Policy

Members of the University community recognize that freedom means the acknowledgement of responsibility to the subjects used in classroom discussions. Students and faculty are responsible for protecting the good name of any organization under discussion. They should communicate no information that either implicitly or explicitly impugns the good name of an organization, person, place, or thing being discussed or studied.

Conflict of Interest

Saint Mary’s University seeks to avoid conflicts of interest in teaching and advising. A conflict of interest occurs when a student or employee of Saint Mary’s University is engaged in both a teaching or advising relationship and a familial, cohabitational, supervisory, financial, professional or personal relationship with another student or employee of the university. Examples of conflicts of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• the use of class lists to solicit business for purposes other than university business;
• the duality of relationships within coursework, advisement and/or professional organizations;
• or, any present or past relationship that causes discomfort for either party to the relationship.

Any student or employee of Saint Mary’s University will immediately notify the program director or a university administrator if a conflict of interest has developed in a teaching or advising relationship. The program director or university administrator will take action as appropriate.

Grievance Procedure

In order to encourage attention to individual concerns, the School of Graduate and Professional Programs of Saint Mary's University of Minnesota has developed this grievance procedure. The university believes that concerns ought to be handled at the lowest possible level of organizational structure. Grievants who wish to address concerns will observe the following procedures:

The grievant should discuss the matter with the student, faculty, or staff member concerned. If the concern relates to sexual harassment by the student, faculty, or staff member concerned, the grievant may refer the matter immediately to the program director.

1. If a satisfactory resolution is not achieved, the grievant will discuss the matter with his or her program director. The program director will attempt to resolve the issue between the student, faculty, or staff member.
2. If a satisfactory resolution is not achieved, a dean will attempt to resolve the issue.
3. If a satisfactory resolution is still not achieved, the dean will forward a written statement describing the grievance to the vice president.
4. Upon receiving the dean's statement, the vice president will review the grievance, make a decision, and impose sanctions, if necessary, within a reasonable time. Sanctions may include any action up to and including expulsion, termination, and legal action.
5. If either party is not satisfied with the vice president's decision that party must, within fifteen days, submit to the vice president a written request to establish an ad hoc committee of individuals from the university community. The student may select a peer advocate to serve as a member of the committee. The committee will determine its own procedures to hear the case. The case will be heard within a reasonable time. The committee then has a reasonable time to complete its deliberations. A majority vote of the committee is needed to make a recommendation on the grievance.
6. The committee shall notify all parties of its recommendation.
7. The vice president will confirm or modify the recommendation, and notify the parties involved and the student of the decision.
8. This decision may be appealed in writing to the president of Saint Mary's University of Minnesota for further consideration.
9. The parties shall be notified of the president's decision within a reasonable time.

The grievance procedure must be initiated within four months of the event causing the grievance.

Discrimination/Sexual Harassment/Sexual Assault Policy

POLICY on the APPROPRIATE USE of TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES