As members of the CU Denver academic community; faculty, staff, and students accept the responsibility to maintain the highest standards of intellectual honesty and ethical conduct in all forms of academic work.
As a member of the University of Colorado Denver community, I pledge to:
I will honor these commitments in every part of my life.
Academic Integrity is defined by the International Center for Academic Integrity (ICAI) as “a commitment to six fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage.” (ICAI, 2021 p. 4)
By adopting these fundamental values CU Denver’s scholarly community will thrive. Here are some examples of ways to demonstrate each value (Adapted from ICAI, 2021):
International Center for Academic Integrity [ICAI]. (2021). The Fundamental Values of Academic Integrity. (3rd ed.)
The CU Denver Academic Integrity Committee (AIC) is charged with promoting and enforcing the CU Denver Academic Integrity Policy. The AIC is composed of faculty, students, and staff as well as a non-voting member from the Office of Student Conduct & Community Standards who coordinates the committee. There are two Canvas Classes designed to inform faculty and students regarding Academic Misconduct at CU Denver:
To disseminate a consistent message and support college-wide integrity standards, CU Denver suggests that all faculty utilize a portion of their course syllabi to inform students of ethical behavior and the Academic Integrity Policy.
While most student violations center on cheating or plagiarism, the CU Denver Academic Integrity Policy is more comprehensive and includes the following categories:
Use of unauthorized assistance in attempt to deceive an instructor or other person who is assigned to evaluate the student’s work in meeting course and degree requirements; or actions that interfere with the ability of the instructor to fairly judge the work of the student or other students.
Use of another person’s distinctive ideas or words without acknowledgment. The incorporation of another person’s work into one’s own requires appropriate identification and acknowledgment, regardless of the means of appropriation. Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to the following, when the source is not noted: 1) Word-for-word copying of another person’s ideas or words; 2) The mosaic (the interspersing of one’s own words here and there while, in essence, copying another’s work); 3) The paraphrase (the rewriting of another’s work, yet still using their fundamental idea or theory); 4) Fabrication of references (inventing or counterfeiting sources); 5) Submission of another’s work as one’s own; or 6) Neglecting quotation marks on material that is otherwise acknowledged.
The possession, communication, or use of information, materials, notes, study aids, or other devices not authorized by the instructor in an academic exercise, or communication with another person during such exercise for the purpose of obtaining or providing unauthorized information or materials. "Authorization" is legitimate only if given by the faculty member responsible for the evaluation of the student's work. Examples of cheating include but are not limited to: 1) Copying from another’s paper or receiving unauthorized assistance from another during an academic exercise or in the submission of academic assignments; 2) Using a calculator, cell phone, or other electronic device when not permitted; 3) Collaborating with another student during an academic exercise without the prior consent of the instructor.
Inventing or counterfeiting information, such as creating results not obtained in a study or laboratory experiment.
Deliberately altering or changing results to suit one’s needs in an experiment or other academic exercise.
The submission of academic work for which academic credit has already been earned, when such submission is made without instructor authorization.
Includes, but is not limited to, the following:
Knowingly contributing to another’s academic misconduct.
Faculty are encouraged to try to handle alleged academic dishonesty cases at the faculty level. Many cases of academic dishonesty involve miscommunications, absence of clear policies on syllabus or assignments, or cultural differences, all of which are best handled at the classroom level.
All proceedings concerned with academic dishonesty against a student are confidential to the extent permitted by applicable laws.
1. A faculty member, student, or staff may bring charges of academic dishonesty against a student.
An individual who has evidence suggesting that a student committed academic misconduct shall:
2. The Academic Integrity Committee (AIC) will convene a hearing when
The AIC hearing should occur within a reasonable period of time of the request for a hearing. At least three days before a hearing is scheduled, the AIC will inform all parties, including the student by email sent to the student's CU Denver email address, involved in the case of the following...
3. The hearing before the AIC shall consist of four parts:
The student, faculty member and others involved in the case shall be present for the first three parts of the hearing. The final part (discussion and determination) shall take place in the presence of only the AIC members, and no new evidence may be introduced at this time.
4. All parties to the case shall be notified of the committee's decision.
The Chair of the Committee will forward, within seven calendar days, the confidential written decision to the Office of Student Conduct & Community Standards, the student, the faculty member(s) involved, The Dean of the College the student is seeking a degree from, and the Dean of the College in which the incident occurred. The decision will be reached by majority vote of all members of the AIC in attendance, and, in the case of a tie vote, the finding will be in favor of the student since the burden of proof resides with the faculty member.
Decisions may include the following:
5. Upon receiving the Committee's decision:
The student charged and/or the faculty member who brought the charge will have 14 calendar days from receipt of the written decision to appeal the decision by completing the Academic Integrity Committee Decision Appeal form. Appeal decisions are final.