Catalog 2013-2014

Contents
Catalog Links
Share

Appeal

An appeal to the Academic Integrity Hearing Committee can arise for two reasons.

  • Student Request for Appeal. If the student disagrees with the decision made by the Office of the Associate Provost, the student may appeal to the Academic Integrity Hearing Committee by writing to the Office of the Associate Provost requesting a hearing before the Academic Integrity Hearing Committee. The student’s correspondence must detail the specific reasons for the hearing request and why prior adjudication was deficient in his/her mind.
  • Faculty Member Request for Appeal. If a student’s petition to the Office of the Associate Provost results in the faculty member’s charges being overturned or the sanctions being altered, the faculty member may appeal the decision by writing to the chairperson of the Academic Integrity Committee requesting a hearing by the Academic Integrity Hearing Committee. The faculty member’s correspondence must detail the specific reasons for the hearing request and why prior adjudication was deficient in his/her mind.

The Academic Integrity Hearing Committee will follow this course of action:

  1. The Committee will obtain all relevant reporting forms and related documents from the Office of the Associate Provost. At the completion of the hearing, the Committee will return this material to the Office of the Associate Provost. All additional copies made to support the hearing process will be destroyed completely by shredding or a similar process and will not simply be discarded.
  2. The Committee will review the hearing request, the reporting forms and related documents provided by the Office of the Associate Provost, and based on the merits of the argument that prior adjudication was deficient or that the prior adjudication failed to consider new information that was unavailable at that time, the Committee may decide to conduct or not to conduct a hearing.
  3. If the Committee decides that a hearing is not merited, they will communicate that decision to all parties involved.
  4. If the Committee decides to conduct a hearing, the Committee will expeditiously schedule a hearing date and notify the student, the faculty member, the Office of the Associate Provost and the Office of the Dean of Students. The hearing will be scheduled to permit a finding to be issued as quickly as is reasonably possible.
  5. The person who is bringing charges (normally a faculty member) and the student who is being accused, shall be accorded the right of being present at hearings, except during the Committee’s final deliberation. Each of these people will be afforded a reasonable opportunity to state their arguments, give evidence related to the accusation and answer questions posed by the Committee.
  6. Witnesses may be present to make statements or answer questions, but must leave the hearing room upon completion of their statements.
  7. To assist the student both before and during the hearing, the Dean of Students will assign a student advocate to the student, whose job is to ensure that the student’s rights to due process are upheld and to give the student advice. The student may reject the Dean of Students’ student advocate and substitute his/her own student advocate to attend the hearing with the student. The student advocate will not speak for the student, will not speak on the record, may not lobby the committee members, is not to be mistaken for a legal adviser and, in fact, the student advocate cannot be a lawyer. To protect the privacy of the student’s academic record, no other person may be present during any part of the hearing session or final deliberations.
  8. If a student fails without good cause to appear at a scheduled hearing, the hearing may be held and the matter resolved with the student in absentia.
  9. The Committee will record the hearing, except for the final deliberations by the Committee members. No other recording devices will be allowed in the hearing. The recording will be stored by the Office of the Associate Provost along with the relevant reporting forms and related documents.
  10. The Committee may either uphold or change/deny the original sanction. All decisions of the Committee are final.
  11. The Committee will inform all affected parties of its findings within 24 hours of the end of the hearing.

If the student is found not responsible, the student will be given a letter acknowledging that the student was not responsible for the alleged violation and the student may choose to withdraw from the course or from the University. If the published withdraw date has passed, the action of the Committee shall supersede the published drop date so the student will still have the opportunity to withdraw without any penalties.