V.D.1. General Policy Regarding Academic Integrity and Dishonesty

The College upholds the academic core values of learning: honesty, respect, fairness, and accountability. The College promotes the importance of personal and academic honesty from its students, instructors, and faculty members.  The College’s academic integrity policies embrace the belief that all learners—students, faculty, staff and administrators—produce their own work and give appropriate credit to the work of others. No fabrication of sources, cheating, or unauthorized collaboration is permitted on any work submitted to the College or work submitted to third parties.

V.D.2. Definitions

(a)   Academic Dishonesty covers many different circumstances that cannot reasonably be exhausted here. Nevertheless, academic dishonesty can involve bribing, cheating, deceiving, fabricating, impersonating, plagiarizing, engaging in professional misconduct during, and sabotaging, an academic evaluation/assessments.  Academic dishonesty means engaging in any of the acts in the preceding sentence with the intent to deceive an instructor or third party in assessing an individual’s academic mastery of an academic component, assignment, area, subject, course, class, or program.   Academic dishonesty occurs when an individual fails to exhibit and uphold academic integrity. Students and instructional employees share a responsibility to not engage in academic dishonesty.

(b)  Academic Integrity for Students means that students are committed to upholding themselves and those around them to maintain the worth of the education they are receiving and the degree or certificate that they will receive.  Students with academic integrity protect their work during tests, exams, quizzes, labs, and clinical assignments.  Students with academic integrity do not share previously used tests/papers/assignments unless their instructor (a) has allowed them to do so or (b) shares the materials themselves.  Students with academic integrity do not share information that will be on exams with other students that have not yet taken the subject test for whatever reason.  Students with academic integrity report other students that have violated the College’s academic integrity.

(c)   Academic Integrity for Faculty and Employees means that faculty members and other instructional employees value the academic rigor required to publish academic materials, value the College’s academic reputation among peer institutions, and value the contributions of all their colleagues and students.  Instructors with academic integrity base all academic evaluations upon good-faith professional judgment.  Instructors with academic integrity appropriately recognize student contributions to their research, publication, service, or other activities.   Instructors with academic integrity develop fair, consistent, and relevant forms of assessment.  Instructors with academic integrity should strive to reduce student opportunities to engage in academic dishonesty.  Instructors with academic integrity challenge academic dishonesty when it occurs.  Instructors with academic integrity in leadership, supervisory, or more experienced positions ensure that their junior colleagues exhibit, maintain, and promote academic integrity in their own fields and in their classrooms. 

V.D.3. Violations of Academic Integrity

The College treats academic integrity violations or engaging in academic dishonesty by students as grounds for disciplinary action under the College’s Student Discipline for Academic Misconduct Policy.  The College treats academic integrity violations or engaging in academic dishonesty by instructors as grounds for disciplinary action under Section IV.

LSCS Policy Manual Section adopted by the Board of Trustees on February 2, 2017