Sustainable Urban Horticulture and Agriculture Handbook
Academic Misconduct
Academic misconduct is behaviour that erodes the basis of mutual trust on which scholarly exchanges commonly rest, undermines the University’s exercise of its responsibility to evaluate students’ academic achievement, or restricts the University’s ability to accomplish its learning objectives.
The University takes a serious view of academic misconduct and will penalize students, faculty and staff who are found guilty of offenses associated with misappropriation of others’ work, misrepresentation of personal performance and fraud, improper access to scholarly resources and obstructing others in pursuit of their academic endeavours.
It is the responsibility of the University of Guelph students, faculty and staff to be aware of what constitutes academic misconduct and to do as much as possible through establishment and use of policies and preventive procedures, to limit the likelihood of offenses occurring. Furthermore, they have the specific responsibility of initiating appropriate action in all instances where academic misconduct is believed to have taken place. This responsibility includes reporting such offenses when they occur and making one’s disapproval of such behaviour obvious.
Academic misconduct is broadly understood to mean offenses against the academic integrity of the learning environment. These include, but are not limited to such offenses as:
- Misappropriation of Others’ Work: plagiarism, copying or unauthorized cooperation or collaboration;
- Misrepresentation and Fraud: impersonation, falsification, withholding academic documents, use of unauthorized aids and assistance;
- Improper Access and Obstruction: preventing access to materials, obstruction and interference, improper access, improper dissemination.
- Aiding and Abetting: knowingly aiding or abetting anyone in committing any form of academic misconduct
If a student is found guilty of academic misconduct, an official warning will be given and one or more of the following penalties may be assessed:
- A requirement for submission of a new or alternative piece of work;
- The rescinding of a University-funded bursary;
- Partial or total loss of marks on the examination or assignment in which the offense occurred;
- Partial or total loss of marks for the course in which the offense occurred;
- Suspension from the Open Learning program for a period of between one and six consecutive semesters;
The Director of Open Learning shall place in the student’s file, a record of all academic misconduct for which the student is penalized. This record shall be expunged from the student’s file upon completion of a certificate, diploma, or graduation from an accredited university. Students, who do not graduate from a university or complete a certificate or diploma, may submit an appeal to the Academic Review Subcommittee to have the record expunged no sooner than 5 years after the date of last registration.
