We were pleased to see LAUC President and UPUA Academic Affairs Committee Chairman Sam Loewner’s recent informed and thoughtful post on academic integrity at Penn State. LAUS shares the AAC’s goal, after all: to give students “an equal chance at success based on their individual merits.” I thought I’d continue this important discussion by sharing a bit about the academic integrity process here in Liberal Arts.
Our academic integrity committee’s task is twofold: discussing ways to promote academic integrity (which involves educating both students and faculty), and dealing with specific cases of academic dishonesty in Liberal Arts courses that merit our attention.
The committee, which actually just met yesterday afternoon, performs paper reviews of two types of cases at meetings: those in which the student contests a charge of academic dishonesty made by a faculty member, and those in which a student accused of academic dishonesty has a prior academic integrity violation on file at Penn State. We are careful to follow our Policies and Procedures regarding committee membership and meetings. While I do not vote on the committee, I coordinate its efforts and serve as the point of contact for any faculty member or student who has a question about this process.
I would like to correct one statement in Sam’s post. He writes that receiving a grade of XF for an AI violation “indicates that there was a criminal element involved (a student who steals a copy of a test from a professor’s briefcase, for instance).” Receiving an XF does not necessarily indicate that the academic dishonesty was criminal in intent. Rather, an XF is reserved for either repeat AI offenses or for particularly egregious first offenses (that may or may not be criminal in nature). Before it is assigned, an XF – which we view as a very serious sanction – must be approved by three parties: the instructor, our AI committee, and the Office of Judicial Affairs.
We encourage anyone who is interested in our process, or in tips for maintaining academic honesty in the classroom, to check out the materials on our website. A recent addition – part of our efforts to ensure that students facing academic integrity charges in Liberal Arts courses receive due process – is the Student Instructions document. Here, we list UPUA Legal Affairs as a resource for students seeking additional counsel regarding the academic integrity process.
Sam Loewner says
Ashley –
Thanks for the information – I’ll get a correction up right away! Thanks for reading.
I also think that the student instructions document is an excellent addition to the AI information on the website, and UPUA Legal Affairs is always happy to serve students.