Academic Honesty Policy Procedures

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A. Procedures for Handling Academic Honesty Violations

The WIT faculty and administration have developed a set of procedures to investigate and determine whether or not undergraduate and graduate students have engaged in violations of academic honesty. 

Students are allowed to continue in their course pending resolution of the case.

The procedures for handling academic honesty allegations are found below:

  1. The faculty member has evidence of a potential violation.
  2. The faculty member will notify (email, discussion or meeting) the student of the potential violation within two to four business days (excluding breaks, vacations and end of semester obligations) of discovering the potential violation.
  3. After the notification and considering the response of the student, the potential violation is either:  
    1. Dropped, or
    2. The faculty member determines the grade sanction (up to an F in the course with Chair notification). The Faculty member submits an incident report
  4. The student may seek review of the grade sanction imposed by the faculty member using the Academic Review Process.

B. The Academic Discipline Board

The Director of Academic Operations will refer a student to the Chair of the Academic Discipline Board (“ADB”) if the student has multiple incidents (2 or more) of academic honesty violations. The Chair of the Department, Dean of the College and/or Chair of the Academic Discipline Board may also refer an incident to the ADB based upon its severity after the faculty member has assigned a sanction and, if necessary, the appeals process has been completed. The Chair of the ADB will decide whether or not to convene the ADB to review the incident and the student’s history of academic honesty violations. When academic dishonesty also includes misconduct violating the Student Code of Conduct in other areas, the case will also be referred to the Director of Community Standards.

  1. The ADB has jurisdiction over acts of alleged academic dishonesty involving the three academic colleges and the Center for Professional and Continuing Education. The ABD determines whether or not additional sanctions need to be imposed, in addition to the grade assigned by the faculty member, because of the student’s prior history and/or the severity of violations of academic honesty. These sanctions may include, but are not limited to: grade reduction, institute probation, suspension and expulsion from the Institute.
  2. The members are appointed by the Provost and may include faculty, chairs and the deans. A dean shall serve as Chair of the Academic Discipline Board. A panel of three to five members will hear each matter. The Director of Academic Operations (or designee of the Provost) will serve as the administrator for the ADB and does not vote.
  3. Notice to Student
    If the Chair of the Academic Discipline Board determines the ADB should review the student’s history of academic honesty violations or a single incident because of its severity, the Director of Academic Operations (or designee) will notify the student by email of the names of the possible panel members, meeting date, time, and location and provide the student with a copy of all of the incident reports on record and appeal decisions, if any, and any material to be used at the meeting.  Reasonable effort will be made to schedule the date and time of the meeting around the class schedule of the student.  The panel members are also provided with all materials before the meeting.  If the student has reason to believe a panel member is not able to be objective, they will provide the reason in writing to the Director at least two days before the hearing.  The Chair of the Academic Discipline Board will decide whether a member will be replaced.
  4. Meeting Process Guidelines:
    The following guidelines generally apply to ADB meetings. Since every case is unique, the guidelines may be changed or modified as needed.
    1. The meeting is informal and no legal rules apply.
    2. The student has the right to a support person (not an attorney).  Support persons are present for support only and are not permitted to ask questions, answer questions, or present evidence. Students need to notify the Director in writing at least 48 hours prior to a meeting with the name of the support person.
    3. All written or physical material to be used by the student at the meeting must be presented to the Director 48 hours before the meeting is scheduled to begin.
    4. The meeting will be conducted in private, only the members, administrator, student and support person and any witnesses are allowed.
    5. Admission of any person into the meeting will be at the discretion of the Chair.
    6. In incidents involving more than one student, the meeting may be conducted jointly, at the sole discretion of the ADB.
    7. The student may present witnesses who can speak from personal knowledge about any past violation.  No character witnesses are allowed.
    8. The ADB members may ask the student and witnesses (faculty, staff and others) questions and may request additional material or witnesses be made available.
    9. If at any time during the course of the meeting a student exhibits behavior or language that is disruptive or threatening, they shall be dismissed and the process will continue without their presence.
    10. The student may make a summary statement at the end of the meeting.
    11. The ADB will meet in closed executive session to deliberate.
    12. The meeting may not be recorded.

C. Decision of ADB:

The ADB will provide the student with a written decision within five business days (excluding holidays and break periods) after the conclusion of the meeting.

D. Appeal of ADB Decision

If a student does not agree with the decision of the ADB they may make a written appeal to the Provost within five business days (excluding holidays and break periods). If the written appeal is not filed on time it will be dismissed.

The written appeal must demonstrate one or more of the following bases:

  1. The hearing did not substantially follow the Guidelines or a change from the Guidelines substantially affected the outcome of the hearing.
  2. The sanction is too severe.

E. Appeal Procedure:

The Provost (or designee from the Provost's Office) will meet with the student, review the decision of the ADB and all materials presented at the meeting, speak to any persons involved in the matter whom the Provost (or designee from the Provost's Office) determines they want to interview and review all relevant materials. The Provost (or designee from the Provost's Office) will make a written decision on the appeal within five business days (excluding holidays and break periods) completing their review.  The Provost (or designee from the Provost's Office) has the right to change the sanction, including imposing a more severe sanction.

Last updated: June 18, 2019