Academic Honesty Policy

Please refer to the policy concerning Academic Honesty at the Dean of Students home page located at http://www.umass.edu/dean_students/academic_policy . All members of the University community must participate in the development of a climate conducive to academic honesty. While the faculty, because of their unique role in the educational process, have the responsibility for defining, encouraging, fostering, and upholding the ethic of academic honesty, students have the responsibility of conforming in all respects to that ethic.

Intellectual honesty requires that students demonstrate their own learning during examinations and other academic exercises and that other sources of information or knowledge be appropriately credited. Scholarship depends upon the reliability of information and reference in the work of others. No form of cheating, plagiarism, fabrication, or facilitating of dishonesty will be condoned in the University community.

Formal definitions of academic dishonesty, examples of various forms of dishonesty, and the procedures that faculty must follow to penalize dishonesty are contained in the ACADEMIC HONESTY POLICY, which follows ACADEMIC REGULATIONS herein. A student identified by an instructor or another student of having committed a breach of the academic honesty regulations has the right to appeal before any penalty can be imposed. Appeals must be filed within ten days of notification by the instructor that s/he suspects dishonesty. Information on the appeals process is also contained in the Academic Honesty Policy, or can be obtained from the Ombud's Office, where appeals are filed. In addition, the Academic Standards Committee adopted the Policy Concerning Academic Honesty in June of 2004, which states the following:

Policy Concerning Academic Honesty

The integrity of the academic enterprise of any institution of higher education requires honesty in scholarship and research. Academic honesty is therefore required of all students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Academic dishonesty is prohibited in all programs of the University. Academic dishonesty includes but is not limited to:

Cheating - intentional use, and/or attempted use of trickery, artifice, deception, breach of confidence, fraud and/or misrepresentation of one's academic work.

Fabrication - intentional and unauthorized falsification and/or invention of any information or citation in any academic exercise.

Plagiarism - knowingly representing the words or ideas of another as one’s own work in any academic exercise. This includes submitting without citation, in whole or in part, prewritten term papers of another or the research of another, including but not limited to commercial vendors who sell or distribute such materials.

Facilitating dishonesty - knowingly helping or attempting to help another commit an act of academic dishonesty, including substituting for another in an examination, or allowing others to represent as their own one’s papers, reports, or academic works.

Sanctions may be imposed on any student who has committed an act of academic dishonesty.

Any person who has reason to believe that a student has committed academic dishonesty should bring such information to the attention of the appropriate course instructor as soon as possible. The procedures are intended to provide an efficient and orderly process by which action may be taken if it appears that academic dishonesty has occurred, and by which students may appeal such actions.