Academic Honor Policy for Undergraduate Students in the Arts and Sciences

Policy Statement

Dartmouth's Academic Honor Principle states: "Academic integrity is foundational to a Dartmouth education. All members of the Dartmouth community—faculty, staff, and students—are responsible for maintaining a culture of integrity, honesty, and respect in teaching, learning, scholarship, and creative work. By upholding this principle, we foster an atmosphere of intellectual growth and personal development both within and beyond Dartmouth."

In the pursuit of academic excellence in the Arts and Sciences, we are committed to upholding the values of integrity, responsibility, and accountability. As the foundation of our academic community, these values require collective dedication and active participation from all students, staff, and faculty. We acknowledge that academic dishonesty not only undermines the integrity of our educational community but also erodes trust. Together, we create a culture that promotes individual scholarship, collaborative learning, and collective accountability.

Student Responsibility:
Students bear the primary responsibility for their education and for their academic work. They represent their work truthfully by acknowledging the ideas, words, research results, or creative work of others through proper citation and attribution. Students refrain from any form of academic dishonesty, including plagiarism, cheating, or unauthorized collaboration.

Students do not presume that authorization (regarding use of technology, collaboration, shared notes, etc.) in one class applies to any other class, even classes in the same subject area or taught by the same instructor. Students are expected to discuss with instructors in advance any questions or uncertainty regarding the application of the academic honor policy in their courses.

Students take ownership of their assignments, ensuring that they are genuine representations of their individual understanding. Even in matters of unintentional violation, students are responsible for their work and for upholding the standards of our community.

Staff and Faculty Support:
Faculty and staff play crucial roles in supporting academic engagement and promoting a culture of integrity.

Faculty members are responsible for upholding academic integrity within the educational community by modeling integrity in their work and by maintaining learning environments with the highest standards of academic honor. Instructors provide essential guidance to students, including outlining expectations for academic integrity in their course syllabi and creating classroom and lab spaces that foster trust and responsibility.

Dartmouth is a community of learners and scholars. As experts in their field, faculty members instruct and support students in learning not just about ideas but also about how to convey those ideas appropriately and with integrity. Instructors have discretion, within the limits of the principles defined above, to articulate in their syllabi and their assignments the boundaries of acceptable and unacceptable work and collaboration, what tools they allow for use in the classroom and for submitted academic work, and how they administer examinations.

Staff members are partners and important resources in ensuring academic integrity, offering guidance to students, enhancing student academic efforts, and supporting faculty classrooms and initiatives.

Intent and Academic Honor Violations:
Dartmouth understands Academic Honor to extend both to intentional academic dishonesty and to unintentional actions, whether through carelessness, ignorance, or negligence. Each alleged violation of Academic Honor is treated on the merits of context and precedent. For purposes of equity, all alleged violations of Academic Honor must be reported. The degree of intentionality is one of many factors for determining potential responses.

Reporting Alleged Violations of the Academic Honor Policy:
Examples of academic misconduct include but are not limited to:

1. Plagiarism: Presenting someone else's ideas, words, research results, or creative work without proper credit and attribution.
2. Cheating: Using materials, generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), tools, methods, or assistance during exams, quizzes, or assignments outside of the permissions granted by the instructor.
3. Unauthorized Collaboration: Collaborating with others on assignments or projects whether explicitly prohibited or beyond the boundaries established by the instructor.
4. Fabrication: Inventing or falsifying information, data, or evidence, or using data or information fabricated by GenAI in academic work.
5. Multiple Submission: Submitting the same work for multiple courses without the knowledge and approval of all instructors involved.
6. Contract Cheating: Paying someone else to complete your academic work, such as hiring a ghostwriter or purchasing pre-written essays or papers.
7. Unauthorized Access to Exam Materials: Gaining access to exam questions or answers before the exam takes place, thereby gaining an unfair advantage.
8. Misrepresentation: Providing false information to gain accommodations or extensions on assignments or exams, such as claiming a medical condition that does not exist.
9. Forgery: Forging signatures, documents, or official records to deceive instructors, administrators, or others involved in academic processes.
10. Sabotage: Deliberately interfering with the academic work of others, such as hiding or destroying someone else's work or research materials.

Responsibility for Reporting:
In the face of academic dishonesty, inaction by Dartmouth students, faculty, and staff jeopardizes the integrity of the educational community and undermines the principles upon which the Academic Honor Policy is founded. Thus, it is a collective responsibility to uphold the standards of academic integrity and to ensure that alleged violations are addressed promptly and effectively.

Potential violations of this Academic Honor Policy can be reported here: Academic Honor Principle Violation Reporting Form.

Any student who becomes aware of an alleged violation of the Academic Honor Policy is not merely an observer but is bound by honor to report it to an appropriate authority, such as an instructor, department or program chair, academic dean, or the Office of Community Standards & Accountability. Failure to do so threatens both the spirit and operation of the Academic Honor Policy.

In cases where an instructor suspects a potential violation of the Academic Honor Policy by a student(s), the instructor may initiate a discussion with the student(s) to gather additional information, which may alleviate or confirm their suspicion. The instructor is strongly encouraged to seek the input of a colleague or the department/program chair to help promote objectivity in assessing the situation. If, after consultation and due consideration, the instructor believes the suspicion is substantiated, they should promptly report the matter to the Office of Community Standards & Accountability. Simultaneously, they should inform the department/program chair of their actions.

Any staff member (including teaching assistants and post-doctoral fellows) who becomes aware of an alleged violation of the Academic Honor Policy should report it to an appropriate authority, such as an instructor, department or program chair, academic dean, or the Office of Community Standards & Accountability.

Responsibility for Resolution:
In accordance with the Dartmouth College Student Handbook:

The Trustees of Dartmouth College have ultimate authority for the structure and operation of the undergraduate disciplinary system at the College. The Trustees have delegated to the Dean of the College and the Committee on Standards (COS) authority for promulgation, revision, and enforcement of rules concerning the disciplinary system as it relates to undergraduates. Regularly matriculated undergraduates and all special and exchange undergraduate students are subject to this authority. Students are subject to disciplinary action in accordance with this Handbook as soon as they arrive on campus. Structure and Operation of the Undergraduate Disciplinary System.