Scholastic Integrity

In keeping with its mission, Sacred Heart Major Seminary expects each student to be responsible and honorable in course work and in the classroom. A student who is involved in any unethical practices in connection with any work required for a course will be held accountable. A student whose conduct does not meet with the standard of SHMS will be asked to resign from the academic program.

In academic life, there are conventions by which we express our debt to the ideas and language of other writers. To violate these conventions deprives an author of the credit for the originality of ideas and their expressions. Students who violate these conventions pass off as their own work that of other minds. This violation is called "plagiarism." This is a form of stealing. Cheating is to deceive fraudulently or to violate the rules dishonestly.

• Undergraduate norm: A grade of F will be given for the specific test, paper or assignment and a copy of the item will be made for evidence.
• Graduate norm: Any student cheating on any test, assignment, or term paper, or who commits plagiarism received an automatic F for the course.

The faculty member will schedule a meeting with the student at the time of the offense to discuss the situation. The dean of studies will be notified of the meeting and will be given the evidence in a confidential manner.

If the dean of studies receives two notifications of academic dishonesty for any one student, the dean of studies will schedule a conference with the student and the faculty member(s) involved. If the faculty member requests a conference after one notification, then the dean of studies will schedule such a conference. The dean of studies will be an objective observer at all such conferences.

At the time of the conference, the evidence will be presented and a decision rendered. If academic dishonesty is not evident, all documents will be destroyed and no further action will be taken. If the dean of studies determines that evidence indicates academic dishonesty, a letter of academic misconduct will be sent to the student and a copy filed in the student's academic file.

Further sanctions may be imposed depending on the seriousness of the matter:

• The student will be placed on a one semester academic probation
• The student will be suspended for one semester
• The student will be dismissed from the institution

These sanctions will be imposed according to the following guidelines:

• Clarity of evidence
• Nature of the course (e.g. research, etc.)
• Weight of the assignment (refer to the syllabus)
• Standing of the student within the institution (first year, continuing education, etc.)
• Type of academic dishonesty (which includes, but is not limited to, the degree of plagiarism , stealing of exam , cheating on tests/exam s, or re -submission of assignments for which credit has been given previously, alteration of documents or re cords, forgery, stealing or defacing institutional or library materials)
• The number of times the individual student has been involved in cases of academic misconduct.

The student has a right to request an appeal through the academic review board. The academic review board is assembled by the dean of studies to address the appeal. The academic review board is comprised of three professors selected by the dean. The board meets with the student making the appeal as well as the professor. After the meeting, the academic review board submits its decision to the dean of studies.

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