Academic Integrity

Principles of Conduct

The community of scholars at Lewis & Clark College is dedicated to personal and academic excellence. Joining this community obligates each member to observe the principles of mutual respect, academic integrity, civil discourse, and responsible decision making.

Academic Integrity Policy

Academic integrity finds its genesis in the fundamental values of honesty, tolerance, respect, rigor, fairness, and the pursuit of truth. Scholarship is at the heart of this academic community, and trust between faculty and students is essential to the achievement of quality scholarship. At times scholarship is collaborative, at times independent. All sources, both written and oral, should be properly cited. Acts of academic dishonesty are contrary to the mission of the College and constitute a serious breach of trust among community members.

Academic Integrity in Practice

Lewis & Clark College believes that each member of the community is responsible for the integrity of his or her individual academic performance. In addition, because each act of dishonesty harms the entire community, all individuals—students, faculty, and staff members alike—are responsible for encouraging the integrity of others, by their own example, by confronting individuals they observe committing dishonest acts, and/or by discussing such actions with a faculty member or academic dean, who will respect the confidentiality of such discussions. When any individual violates this community’s standards, we are committed as a community to take appropriate steps to maintain standards of academic integrity.

Acts of academic dishonesty involve the use or attempted use of any method or technique enabling a student to misrepresent the quality or integrity of his or her academic work.

Academic dishonesty with respect to examinations includes but is not limited to copying from the work of another, allowing another student to copy from one’s own work, using crib notes, arranging for another person to substitute in taking an examination, or giving or receiving unauthorized information prior to or during the examination.

Academic dishonesty with respect to written or other types of assignments includes but is not limited to: failure to acknowledge the ideas or words of another that have consciously been taken from a source, published or unpublished; placing one’s name on papers, reports, or other documents that are the work of another individual, whether published or unpublished; flagrant misuse of the assistance provided by another in the process of completing academic work; submission of the same paper or project for separate courses without prior authorization by faculty members; fabrication or alteration of data; or knowingly facilitating the academic dishonesty of another.

Academic dishonesty with respect to intellectual property includes but is not limited to theft, alteration, or destruction of the academic work of other members of the community, or of the educational resources, materials, or official documents of the College.