Physician Assistant Studies Program – Academic Honesty
GRADUATE PROGRAMS CODE OF ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
PREAMBLE
As students willingly accept the benefits of membership in the Gardner-Webb academic
community, which was founded on the ideals of Christianity, they acquire obligations to observe
and uphold honesty, integrity, and truthfulness. Gardner-Webb University expects its graduate
students and faculty to display academic integrity. As in any community, this institution must be
governed by regulations, which function best when they are fully understood, accepted and
cherished by every member of the academic community. Therefore, all graduate students and
faculty members are expected to be familiar with, and to base their actions upon, the following
statements regarding academic integrity.
CODE OF GRADUATE STUDENT ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
The Code of Academic Integrity governs the responsibility of students in the various graduate
programs of Gardner-Webb University to maintain integrity in academic work, defines violations
of the standards, describes procedures for handling alleged violations of the standards, and lists
applicable penalties.
STUDENT RESPONSIBILITIES
1. Students should recognize that the regulations governing academic integrity exist for the
protection of the honest and that dishonesty in an academic setting must not be tolerated,
much less condoned.
2. Students are responsible for their own work. Any assignment turned in by a student is
assumed to be the work of the student whose name appears on the assignment.
3. Students are ultimately responsible for understanding faculty members’ instructions for
assignments. If instructions are not clear, students must seek clarification from
professors.
4. Students must understand the definitions of cheating, plagiarism, and other forms of
academic dishonesty.
5. Students should familiarize themselves with the proper use of citations and quotations in
order to avoid submitting other people’s work as their own.
6. Students are expected to report incidents of academic dishonesty to their professor.
7. Students who threaten or coerce other students or faculty members for reporting a
violation of the Code of Academic Integrity will face disciplinary action, with dismissal
from graduate study at Gardner-Webb University being the recommended punishment.
INFRACTIONS OF THE CODE OF ACADEMIC INTEGRITY INCLUDE, BUT ARE NOT
LIMITED TO, THE FOLLOWING:
1. Cheating – Intentionally using or attempting to use unapproved materials, information,
notes, or other devices including unauthorized communication during an academic
exercise.
2. Fabrication and Falsification – Intentional and unauthorized alteration or manufacturing
of any information in an academic exercise. Fabrication is a matter of inventing
information for academic purposes, whereas falsification is a matter of altering
information.
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Physician Assistant Studies Program – Academic Honesty
3. Multiple Submission – The submission of substantial portions of the same academic work
(including oral reports) for credit more than once without authorization.
4. Plagiarism – Intentionally or knowingly presenting the work of another as one’s own
(i.e., without proper acknowledgment of the source). The sole exception to the
requirement of acknowledging sources is when the ideas, information, etc., are common
knowledge.
5. Abuse of Academic Materials – Intentionally or knowingly destroying, stealing or
making inaccessible library and other academic resource material.
6. Complicity in Academic Dishonesty – Intentionally helping or attempting to help another
to commit any act of academic dishonesty.
FACULTY RESPONSIBILITIES
1. Faculty must explain all assignments as thoroughly as is reasonable and should address
any extraordinary limitations on outside assistance.
2. Faculty members should take reasonable precautions in giving tests to reduce the
likelihood that violations occur. The fact that a faculty member did not take a specific
precaution does not, however, constitute an excuse for any form of academic dishonesty.
3. Faculty must be willing to investigate and, if circumstances warrant, press charges
against students suspected of academic dishonesty.
4. Faculty members must file an Academic Dishonesty Report any time they charge a
student with an infraction.
5. Faculty members must seek to be fair in their dealings with students, particularly
regarding cases of academic dishonesty, and must realize that no student can be convicted
on suspicion alone.
PROCEDURES
A student is accused of, and charged with, violating the Code of Academic Integrity by the
professor in the course. A Report of Academic Dishonesty form describing the alleged violation
in full is initiated by the professor and completed either in person, by registered mail, by email,
or by fax between the graduate student and the professor. The student is required to enter on the
report a plea of either Responsible or Not Responsible within two business days. No response is
considered as Responsible.
RESPONSIBLE
A plea of Responsible means that the student is not contesting the allegation and accepts the
penalty to be imposed by the professor. The professor then sends the completed Report of
Academic Dishonesty to the Chair of the Graduate Council, who sends a copy to either the
Dean of the Graduate School or Director of Graduate Programs in Business.
NOT RESPONSIBLE
A plea of Not Responsible means that the student is going to appeal the allegation and the
recommended penalty. This plea requires that a written explanation be filed with the Chair of
the Graduate Council within seven days of the date of the plea. The written explanation
should include all of the circumstances and the grounds for contesting the charges. The
professor sends the Report of Academic Dishonesty, and the student sends his/her written
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Physician Assistant Studies Program – Academic Honesty
explanation, to the Chair of the Graduate Council, who sends a copy to either the Dean of the
Graduate School.
When the Chair of the Graduate Council receives the completed Report of Academic
Dishonesty and the student’s written explanation, the chair, in consultation with either the
Dean of the Graduate School appoints an Appeals Committee composed of the Chair and two
other members of the Graduate Council. The Appeals Committee examines the Report of
Academic Dishonesty and the student’s written response. The committee may hear from the
professor and the student, if they wish to appear before the committee. The committee
decides whether to uphold or overturn the faculty member’s allegation and the proposed
punishment. It reports its findings to the Graduate Council, the faculty member, and the
student.
Once the Appeals Committee makes its report, either the faculty member or the student may
appeal the findings to the Provost within seven days, only on the basis of additional evidence,
improper procedure, or a punishment inconsistent with the offense. The Provost may decide
to hear the appeal or deny a further hearing. The Provost’s decision is final.
PENALTIES
A graduate student who fails a course due to academic dishonesty will receive a grade of Fx on
his/her transcript and will then be suspended from the program. The student may seek re-entry by
applying for admission during the normal admissions cycle. This requires a new application,
which will be reviewed by the admissions team. In the event that a student is invited to interview
and subsequently re-admitted into the program, the program faculty reserves the right to attach
contingencies to the admittance. In this scenario, a student is in effect decelerated and required
to matriculate fully into the next starting class.
Student Policy Acknowledgment
I hereby signify that have read the Academic Honesty Policy. I understand the policy and
consequences associated with it to include dismissal from the GWU PA Program.
Signature______________________________________ Date _______________________
Printed Name ______________________________________
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