Policy of Academic Honesty

ARC-PA 6th ed. Standards A3.14g

As students willingly accept the benefits of membership in the Gardner-Webb academic community, founded on Christian ideals, they acquire obligations to observe and uphold honesty, integrity, and truthfulness.

Please refer to the Policy of Academic Honesty embraced by Gardner-Webb University Gayle Bolt Price School of Graduate Studies.

Note: Additionally, the PA Department considers collusion and unfair advantage/sabotage as infractions of the Code of Academic Integrity.

  • Collusion: When two or more students work together to produce individually submitted work without the faculty member’s permission. These activities include, but are not limited to:
    • When one student produces work and knowingly allows another student to copy it and submit that copy for assessment. In such a case, both students will be considered to have colluded.
    • Any student who helps another student commit academic dishonesty is considered to have colluded. This includes, but is not limited to, sharing assessment scenarios, information on what is being tested or performed in lab simulations/skill/OSCEs before all students complete the assessment, potentially giving the student an unfair advantage, and sharing answers to lab examinations.
  • Unfair Advantage/Sabotage: Obtaining an unfair advantage includes activities that directly or indirectly compromise fair assessment or grading or constrain other students’ abilities to complete their assignments successfully. These activities include, but are not limited to:
    • Stealing, reproducing, circulating, or otherwise gaining access to examination materials before the faculty member authorized it.
    • Stealing, destroying, defacing, or concealing library or other reference materials, resulting in others being deprived of their use or the faculty member cannot check students’ work.
    • Possessing, using, or circulating previously administered examinations unless authorized by the faculty member.

APC SUBCOMMITTEE

Should a student be accused of an infraction, an Academic Progression Committee (APC) Subcommittee may be requested by the accused to review the circumstances surrounding the accusation and the validity of the offense. This committee will consist of three (3) APC members appointed by the program director. Upon concluding an investigation, this committee will decide whether to uphold or dismiss the accusation. The findings of each investigation will remain confidential, disclosed to the accused, the accuser, and the program director unless an investigation reveals the guilt of the student(s), at which time the APC Chair will be informed. At that time, the following will occur:

  1. The faculty member will follow policy regarding completing the Report of Academic Dishonesty and follow protocol per the “Faculty Responsibilities.”
  2. The APC Chair will convene the academic progression committee to discuss the charge and a recommendation regarding the penalty for the violation.
  3. Such a penalty will be made as a recommendation to the program director, who will follow the university policy of reporting to the Dean of Graduate Studies.