Livingstone College students are expected to display the highest ethics and honesty in their academic work. Cheating, unauthorized assistance, or the theft of another person‟s words or ideas in college-level coursework will not be tolerated.
Any student who participates in, allows to occur, makes possible, or encourages academic dishonesty may be punished with sanctions up to, and including, dismissal from the College. The following list describes some, but not all, of the types of situations and actions that are considered academically dishonest and are subject to punishment.
Plagiarism: defined as the copying of another person‟s words, ideas, research, or style and submission of the same as the student‟s own, original work. This includes plagiarism of an entire work, or of merely a part of a work. This includes the copying of material, such as quotations, research data, or statistics, from Web sites or other publications and presentation of same as the student‟s own original work or research.
Academic Dishonesty: defined as any attempt to falsify results of an assignment or examination, including deliberate falsification of data or false statements about a student‟s work for a course. This includes:
(a) fabrication – examples: making up quotes, information, data, citations, or any part of an assignment;
(b) denial of access to course materials – examples: stealing a library book, or disabling access to a computer, software program, or online site so that fellow students cannot complete an assignment;
(c) obstruction, defined as any action that prevents the instructor from carrying out the business of teaching and evaluating students – examples: stealing test papers or classroom materials so they cannot be used, disabling classroom technology, blocking access to classrooms or facilities;
(d) unauthorized access, defined as the theft, copying, and/or distribution of answers to assignments or exams; and any access to, or distribution of, course materials prior to the time they have been released by the instructor (assignments, answers, quiz questions, etc.); and/or
(e) Any other activity which has the potential to allow one or more students an unfair advantage or illicit access to the grading process or course materials, with the potential of allowing students to receive grades they did not legitimately earn.
Cheating: defined as the use of any unauthorized or illicit study aid in completion of an assignment or examination, including but not limited to using notes (“cheat sheets”), gaining unauthorized information on an examination (i.e. looking at the answers); re-submitting an assignment in more than one course as though it were an original production for that course; or altering a previously-graded assignment with the goal of insisting that it was graded improperly and obtaining a higher grade as a result.
Any student who commits any of these offenses; who colludes or collaborates in the commission of any of these acts; or who knowingly allows such an offense to take place without reporting it to the instructor or proper authorities, shall be held responsible for these activities and be subject to punishment under the Livingstone College judicial system.
Individual faculty members, departments, schools, or units of the College may provide areas of specific concern not covered above. Students are encouraged to discuss academic dishonesty with faculty and staff members to be certain they understand the policy, procedures, and consequences.