Academic Integrity
Johnson & Wales University is committed to providing an education characterized by academic integrity. An academic integrity violation is a violation of the Johnson & Wales University Student Code of Conduct. Violations can include, but are not limited to
- cheating
- plagiarism
- unauthorized submission of work previously completed
- unauthorized distribution of course material
- unauthorized collaboration
- falsification of records
- conduct inconsistent with a specific academic program’s standards of professional conduct and/or ethics
A faculty or staff member who suspects that a violation of academic integrity has occurred should notify the student of the concern and explain that the faculty or staff member will be submitting a report of the alleged violation.
The faculty or staff member should then complete and submit the electronic Academic Integrity Referral Form (“Form”), available on JWUlink; on submission, the Form will go to the provost’s office and Community Standards and Conduct. When completing the Form, the faculty or staff member alleging the violation should recommend a sanction related to the work product at issue and/or the course grade (“Recommended Sanction”). The Recommended Sanction will apply by presumption if the student acknowledges responsibility or is found responsible (subject to input by other appropriate personnel noted below) for the alleged violation(s). The Form may be submitted any time, including for alleged violations discovered after the completion of the applicable course, degree, lab, practicum, program, etc.
On receipt of the Form, Community Standards and Conduct and/or the provost, or their designee, may decide to conduct further investigation of the alleged violation. The provost, or their designee, shall appoint an academic liaison to assist throughout the investigatory process ("Investigatory Academic Liaison") and may request other personnel, including Campus Safety & Security, to assist in the investigation.
For purposes of the adjudication process, the provost, or their designee, will appoint a different academic liaison (“Hearing Academic Liaison”), who will assist Community Standards and Conduct through the Conduct Review Process by considering all of the relevant evidence and advising Community Standards and Conduct as needed.
On review of the Form and on the completion of any additional investigation, the affected student may be offered the opportunity to accept responsibility for the alleged violation and accept (1) the Recommended Sanction and (2) any Additional Sanctions (defined below) Community Standards and Conduct and/or the Hearing Academic Liaison propose. Such Additional Sanctions are defined to include, but not be limited to, academic conduct warning, academic conduct probation, suspension or dismissal from the university, or revocation of the student’s degree. If the affected student declines this opportunity, the university shall provide the student a hearing.
Except as provided herein, the hearing will be administered as provided in the university’s Conduct Review Process.
After conclusion of the hearing, if the affected student is found responsible, the Hearing Academic Liaison shall recommend appropriate sanctions. The Hearing Academic Liaison shall recommend the Recommended Sanctions unless there is good reason to depart from the presumption that such Recommended Sanctions shall apply. The Hearing Academic Liaison may also recommend Additional Sanctions as warranted, subject to considering the relevant evidence and any prior academic integrity violations. The Hearing Academic Liaison’s recommendations regarding sanctions shall be final, and those sanctions shall be imposed on the affected student (subject to the affected student’s right of appeal), except that if the Hearing Academic Liaison recommends revocation of the affected student’s degree, the Hearing Academic Liaison shall submit that recommendation to the applicable campus president for approval, who shall approve or disapprove the recommendation in the campus president’s sole discretion and shall advise the Hearing Academic Liaison of the decision within 15 days. At any time in this process, the provost, the academic liaisons, Community Standards and Conduct, the campus president, or any other personnel involved in this process may consult with other university personnel as they deem appropriate.
The provost or the provost’s designee shall hear any appeals from a finding of an academic integrity violation in accordance with and pursuant to the standards of the appellate process generally applicable to other appeals in the Conduct Review Process.
Community Standards and Conduct, in coordination with the Hearing Academic Liaison, will notify the reporting faculty or staff member in writing of the outcome of the Conduct Review Process after the time for an appeal expires or an appeal is filed and resolved.
Students agree that by taking courses at Johnson & Wales University, papers may be subject to submission to Turnitin.com (or any other plagiarism and originality detection software) for textual similarity review and/or for the detection of plagiarism. All submitted papers will be included as source documents in the Turnitin.com (or any other plagiarism and originality detection software) reference database solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism or misuse of such papers. Use of the Turnitin.com (or any other plagiarism and originality detection software) service is subject to the usage policy posted on the website.