Faculty and graduate student lecturers are responsible for instructing students about the meaning and importance of academic integrity and for maintaining this concept throughout the educational process.

Rather than assuming a common understanding of academic integrity, please clearly define this concept to your students. Students should be told at the outset of a course that the work they submit must be their own. Any form of collaboration that is encouraged or permitted in the course should be clearly described, and rules regarding the acknowledgment of sources should be explained.

Instances of dishonesty should immediately be given serious attention, not ignored or humorously tolerated. Deliberate fraudulence by a student to advance his or her academic status usually merits a penalty of some severity.

Academic integrity policies

One purpose of Cornell's Code of Academic Integrity is to assure students of due process, thus protecting them from possibly arbitrary, unreasonable, or mistaken actions by an instructor. Another purpose is to provide a means of accumulating a confidential record of integrity violations, so that repeated offenses by the same student will be noted and will draw appropriate response.

We urge you to familiarize yourself with the university's policies on academic integrity and research conduct and with the Student Code of Conduct.

We also encourage you and your students to watch the 14-minute video entitled Cheating from the Office of the Provost.

If necessary action is required, strictly follow the outlined procedures. Remember, an informal discussion with a student does not constitute a primary hearing. For your own protection and for the protection of the student's rights, stop any discussion in which plagiarism is admitted or perceived and arrange to hold a primary hearing with an independent witness.

Academic misconduct

Misconduct is any activity that disturbs the normal course of operations in the classroom or in an examination but does not amount to or cannot be established as a violation of academic integrity.

You may impose a grade penalty for misconduct: talking during an examination, bringing unauthorized materials into the examination room (but not actually using them), and disruptive behavior in the classroom.

You must promptly notify the student of the grade penalty and to what degree the student's grade will be affected. This notification should also include the student's right to appeal. Please refer to the university faculty handbook for further information.

Alcohol policy

Faculty, graduate students, lecturers, and TAs are agents of the university and are expected to uphold the standards of the Student Code of Conduct and University Policy 4.8 Alcohol and Other Drugs by maintaining a workplace free of drugs and acohol abuse and by behaving responsibly around these substances.