2.00 - Academic Integrity Policy

Purpose

To provide fair, consistent, and expeditious resolution of reports of student academic misconduct

Policy Statement

Kansas City Kansas Community College expects our academic community to adhere to the highest standards of excellence in their pursuit of knowledge. Academic dishonesty on the part of any student will result in consequences consistent with those documented in the KCKCC Student Handbook & Code of Conduct.

Instructors shall foster an expectation of academic integrity and make a reasonable effort to avoid situations conducive to infractions of this policy. Failure of instructors to prevent cheating does not excuse students from compliance with this policy.

The primary forms of academic dishonesty outlined below are: cheating, plagiarism, collusion and fabrication.

Cheating is the unauthorized use or exchange of information by students in meeting academic standards or requirements. Cheating includes, but is not limited to

• Unauthorized sharing of answers during an exam.
• Having another individual or entity complete assignments, projects and exams for a class.
• Use of unauthorized notes, study materials or electronic devices during an exam.
• Altering an exam and resubmitting it for re-grading.
• Submitting substantial portions of work in more than one course, without the acknowledgement of previous work product (i.e. self-plagiarism).

Plagiarism is the use of another person’s words or ideas without the proper credit or citation. Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to:

• Any attempt to take credit for work that is not your own, such as using direct quotes from an author without using quotation marks or indentation in the paper.
• Paraphrasing work that is not your own without giving credit to the original source of the idea.
• Failing to properly cite all resources in the body of your work.
• The use of complete or partial papers from internet paper mills or other sources of non-original work without attribution

Collusion is the attempt to form an agreement by a group of students to commit an act of academic dishonesty. There is no difference between students who cheat or plagiarize and those who allow such behaviors to occur. Collusion includes, but is not limited to:

• Any attempt of an unauthorized collaboration in preparing work offered for academic credit.
• Deliberately using, purchasing, selling, stealing, sharing, bribing or soliciting, in whole or in part, any information or materials to be submitted as a student’s work.
• Impersonating another student for the purpose of taking a course, exam, or to complete an academic activity.
• Any student providing access to the materials is a party to collusion and subject to the same penalties. All students should take reasonable precautions to protect their work from being compromised.

Fabrication is the intentional misrepresentation or invention of any information, such as falsifying research, inventing or exaggerating data, or listing incorrect or fictitious references. Fabrication includes, but is not limited to:

• Providing false data for a research paper.
• Creating/citing false or fictitious references.
• Unauthorized altering or falsification of data, documents, images, music, art or other work.
• Unauthorized omission of data, information, or results in documents, reports and presentations.
• Hiding data, results, or information using inappropriate scales, magnification and representation in charts, graphs and other forms of representation.
• Falsifying information pertaining to the subjects participating in an experiment.
• Unapproved deviation from a predetermined experimental procedure.

Consequences for Violation of the Academic Integrity Policy

Students who commit acts of academic dishonesty are subject to classroom penalties and conduct sanctions as outlined in the course syllabus and in this policy. Academic dishonesty is very serious, possibly including suspension or expulsion from the College. Students are expected to refer to the course syllabus for details regarding academic dishonesty in a specific course; students are expected to be familiar with this policy and the student code of conduct. If a student is unsure whether their action(s) may constitute a violation of the Academic Integrity policy, then it is that student's responsibility to consult with the instructor to clarify any ambiguities

Consequences at the course level will be at the discretion of the instructor and may include, but are not limited to, one or a combination of the following:

• Verbal or written warning to the student;
• A letter, detailing the violation, to be kept on record;
• Assignment of substitute and/or additional work;
• Requiring the student to redo the assignment for a reduced grade;
• Deduction of points, a grade of “F” or zero for the assignment, project or examination/quiz;
• Reexamination;
• Lowering of the course grade;
• A grade of "F" or "Not Passing" for the course, overriding a student withdrawal from the course. (requires approval from the division dean)
• Notification to the Dean of Student Services who will document the violation.

Specific programs: Due to program and facility requirements for professional behavior in the workplace, a first instance of academic dishonesty or plagiarism in a clinical practicum or workplace setting shall be treated as equivalent to a third offense of academic dishonesty or plagiarism in the classroom.