As members of the academic community, students are expected to recognize and uphold standards of intellectual and academic integrity. The Policy on Academic Honesty assumes as a basic and minimum standard of conduct in academic matters that students be honest and that they submit for credit only the products of their own efforts. The ideals of scholarship and the need for fairness require that all dishonest work be rejected as a basis for academic credit. They also require that students refrain from any and all forms of dishonorable or unethical conduct related to their academic work.
The policy represents a core value of the university, and all members of the university community are responsible for abiding by its tenets. Lack of knowledge of this policy is not an acceptable defense to any charge of academic dishonesty. Members of the academic community, students, faculty and staff, are expected to report violations of these standards of academic conduct in accordance with the procedures articulated in this Policy.
The university has established the policies and procedures that comprise the Student Code of Conduct (the “Code”) to both promote the university mission and protect the rights of Students, faculty and staff. The official university rules and regulations are contained in the Georgia State University General Catalog and the student handbook.The most current version of the Code may be found online at: codeofconduct.gsu.edu. In the event of a conflict between the Code and other university policies, the most current version of the Code governs.
Student conduct is governed by the Code, university policy and applicable law. Students involved in criminal matters may be sanctioned by the university in addition to any sanctions that may be imposed by a court of law. However, the relationship a Student has with the state or federal court system does not alter the Student’s relationship with the university unless the Student is also found responsible for violating university Policy.
A Dean’s Certification is a letter commonly requested by third parties for a variety of reasons (e.g., transferring to another institution, admission to graduate/professional programs, state bar associations, government agencies, and for certain forms of employment) to determine whether a student (past or current) has a disciplinary record(s) on file with the Office of the Dean of Students.
A request for a Dean’s Certification Letter is submitted online through the Dean of Students website at deanofstudents.gsu.edu and is typically completed by the student who as part of the request process gives consent for GSU to release the information to a third party. However, some requests are received directly from third parties using uploaded verification forms that include the student’s signature granting permission for the release of information.
For purposes of Dean’s Certification, the following information will be released upon request:
Information regarding the following matters will not be included in Dean’s Certification letters:
There is a growing number of websites purporting to provide homework help to students. These sites have a reputation for helping students cheat and for building their knowledge base from content contributed by students. Content may include exams, quizzes, lecture notes, homework assignments, etc. Because faculty and instructors own the rights to their course materials in most cases, only they can request takedown of their specific materials found on most of these sites. These types of sites are technically compliant with the law, but don’t offer a way to block content on a broader level, e.g., such as by course name.
Georgia State University Legal Affairs has provided takedown instructions for several sites. Download the PDFs by selecting the link below.
As a reminder, the following Student Code of Conduct Statement regarding sharing or posting course materials including audio recordings of lectures was approved by the Georgia State University Senate on August 21, 2020:
The selling, sharing, publishing, presenting, or distributing of instructor-prepared course lecture notes, videos, audio recordings, or any other instructor-produced materials from any course for any commercial purpose is strictly prohibited unless explicit written permission is granted in advance by the course instructor. This includes posting any materials on websites such as Chegg, Course Hero, OneClass, Stuvia, StuDocu and other similar sites. Unauthorized sale or commercial distribution of such material is a violation of the instructor’s intellectual property and the privacy rights of students attending the class, and is prohibited.
This student-oriented video explains the importance of academic integrity for student success. It does NOT include the embedded quiz – for that version, please see the dropdown section below this one.
The link to add in your syllabus is:
https://vimeo.com/486904319/26bcd7dd2f
This version of the video requires students to log in to Mediaspace with their campus ID and password to view the video and complete the embedded quiz.
Academic dishonesty is a serious violation of the trust upon which the success of our University depends. Cheating and plagiarism can not only result in a poor grade and penalties from the University, but it can cause your mentors and peers to mistrust you and could keep you from developing the habits to make you a successful student and a successful worker in your future career. The University’s policy on academic honesty is published in the Student Handbook, https://deanofstudents.gsu.edu/files/2019/07/Academic-Honesty-Policy.pdf, and includes dishonest actions such as cheating, plagiarism and facilitating academic dishonesty. Please be aware that violations of this policy will result in a grade of “F” for the assignment or the course. If you have any questions about the policy or are unsure if something you’re about to do counts as academic dishonesty, please come to my office hours and we can discuss it.
1) The following statement was approved by the GSU Faculty Affairs Committee (8/21/2020) regarding students posting, selling, or sharing information:
The selling, sharing, publishing, presenting, or distributing of instructor-prepared course lecture notes, videos, audio recordings, or any other instructor-produced materials from any course for any commercial purpose is strictly prohibited unless explicit written permission is granted in advance by the course instructor. This includes posting any materials on websites such as Chegg, Course Hero, OneClass, Stuvia, StuDocu and other similar sites. Unauthorized sale or commercial distribution of such material is a violation of the instructor’s intellectual property and the privacy rights of students attending the class, and is prohibited.