Academic Honesty

Students on a Christian campus are expected to do all academic work with integrity. This means that they should practice academic honesty without exception. The university takes this so seriously that we ask all incoming students to sign a statement guaranteeing that they understand the notion of academic integrity and will conform to the policies described below.

All forms of academic dishonesty, which includes cheating and plagiarism, are inappropriate on our campus. Cheating and plagiarism are variations on a theme: both involve offering the work of another as one's own. Students cheat and/or plagiarize when they:

• Give or receive aid from another student or another person during a test, quiz, or homework assignment when they were told to work alone.
• Use notes or books when taking a quiz or test (either in a class or on-line) unless an instructor has given permission to use them.
• Copy all or part of another student’s work—an exam, worksheet, homework assignment, essay, speech, musical composition, web production, etc.—and submit it as their own work.
• Copy all or part of any published or copyrighted source such as a book, periodical article, or musical composition and submit it as their own work.
• “Cut and paste” information from a digital source such as a CD-ROM or web page and submit it as their own work.
• Steal ideas or conceptual frameworks from another source and submit them as their own without giving proper credit to the source.
• Submit other people’s work as their own (e.g., a roommate’s term paper or one purchased over the internet).
• Ask someone else to complete a writing project for them and revise and edit the work in such a way that they are not really the one responsible for the final document. (Please note: GU’s faculty often encourage students to share their work in progress with others. In fact, the university even pays writing tutors to help students think through revising an assignment. This is simply a good habit for any scholar that we fully endorse. What we do not want students to do is let another person take over and complete an academic task that is their own responsibility.)

This list is not exhaustive, but should give a clear idea of what constitutes academic dishonesty. In general terms, academic dishonesty occurs when people knowingly or unknowingly take credit for words or ideas that are not their own, in work that is produced for a class, presentation, publication, or other public domain. All forms of cheating and plagiarism involve intellectual theft, and thou shalt not steal!

Students are responsible to use appropriate quotation marks whenever they use words from another source. They must cite sources for ideas that originated from others. They are responsible to learn the specific documentation methods required in their chosen academic disciplines. Whenever they are in doubt about how to cite sources or use others’ writings in their own, they should ask a professor.

At GU, academic dishonesty has severe consequences. If instructors discover any instance of cheating or plagiarism, they are well within their rights to assign a failing grade for that assignment or for the course. Furthermore, they must report the student to the department chair and the Office of Academic Affairs. This office will forward the information to the appropriate department head. If a second instance of academic dishonesty occurs, the student will normally receive a failing grade for the course, and the case will be forwarded to the Chief Academic Officer for review and possible further disciplinary action. If cheating or plagiarism is discovered after grades have been posted, it is within the discretion of the instructor to change the final grade. A student may be expelled from the institution for repeated or extreme violations of academic integrity. Appeals can be handled through the normal judicial process.

Class Attendance Policy

• Classes will be held immediately before and after breaks unless arrangements are made with the Chief Academic Officer.
• Face to face courses are required to have a final meeting period for an exam, presentation or other comprehensive course activity.  The final meeting period must meet on the day and hour scheduled. Changes in location or time from the in-class Final Class Meeting Schedule require authorization from the Chief Academic Officer.