Section 2: Infractions

Infractions of the Honor Code include (1) lying, (2) cheating, and (3) stealing, under the circumstances described below. Students at the College are responsible for learning the Honor Code and ignorance of its provisions is no excuse for a violation thereof.

1.  Lying is the expression of a material untruth made with the intent to mislead another or with reckless disregard for the truth of the matter asserted. Lying is a violation of the Honor Code when the material untruth is uttered or presented, verbally, electronically, or in writing, to another member of the College community (student, faculty or staff), to any person while on College property or at activities sponsored by the College or College-affiliated groups, or to any person when the student actively represents himself/herself as a student at the College. An untruth is material when it relates to or affects in a significant way, academic as well as non-academic activities of legitimate concern to the College community. Lying includes, but is not limited to, forgery or the use of false identifications, under the above-described circumstances.

2.  Cheating is the act of wrongfully using or taking the ideas or work of another in order to gain an unfair advantage. It includes, but is not limited to: (1) the act of plagiarism; (2) the acts of giving unauthorized aid to another student or receiving unauthorized aid from another person on tests, quizzes, assignments or examinations; (3) the acts of using or consulting unauthorized materials or using unauthorized equipment or devices on tests, quizzes, assignments or examinations; (4) the acts of using any material portion of a paper or project to fulfill the requirements of more than one course unless the student has received prior permission to do so; or (5) the acts of intentionally commencing work or failing to terminate work on any examination, test, quiz or assignment according to the time constraints imposed.

The term "assignment" includes any work, required or volunteered, and submitted to a faculty member for review and/or academic credit, or any work, required or volunteered, submitted for publication in a College-sponsored or other publication, or any work, required or volunteered, submitted for use in conjunction with a College-sponsored event or activity. All academic work undertaken by a student must be completed independently unless the faculty member or other responsible authority expressly authorizes collaboration with another.

Plagiarism occurs when a student, with intent to deceive or with reckless disregard for proper scholarly procedures, presents any information, ideas, or phrasing of another as if they were his or her own and does not give appropriate credit to the original source.  Proper scholarly procedures require that all quoted material be identified by quotation marks, or indentation on the page, and the source of information and ideas, if from another, must be identified and be attributed to that source.  Students are responsible for learning proper scholarly procedure.  While any amount of improperly unattributed material may be sufficient to find plagiarism, a student may be presumed to have acted with intent to deceive or with reckless disregard for proper scholarly procedures when a significant amount of improperly attributed material is presented as if it were the student's own work.  In the absence of proof of the accused's intent, the hearing panel shall determine whether the amount of improperly attributed material is so significant that intent may be presumed.

3.  Stealing is the intentional taking or appropriating of the property of another without consent or permission and with the intent to keep or use the property without the owner's or the rightful possessor's permission. Although the prohibition against stealing includes property of whatever nature, it also covers theft of the academic work product of another.