The Honor System

The McDaniel College community confirms its commitment to the ideals of personal integrity and community honor in all aspects of professional studies, including academic endeavors, use of the library and other facilities, and respect for community and personal property. The college-wide honor system affirms that honest people are the most important elements of the learning community and that the rights of the honest majority must be protected against the actions of individuals acting dishonestly. Therefore, all graduate students are required to adhere to the campus-wide honor pledge to neither give or receive unauthorized help on assigned work, nor tolerate others doing so. Both students and faculty have an obligation to themselves and to their peers to discourage honor code violations. Copies of the complete honor code are available from the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies.

Academic violations consist of plagiarism and cheating in coursework as well as misuse of library or departmental materials and borrowing privileges. When an Honor Code violation is suspected, the faculty member responsible for the course should inform the student and must report the Honor Code infraction to the Dean of Graduate and Professional Studies with a written explanation and supporting documentation that details the alleged violation. If the alleged violation is of a sufficiently serious nature to require an Honor and Conduct hearing, the Dean of Graduate and Professional Studies will notify the Vice President of Student Affairs to schedule a hearing. If grades must be submitted prior to the resolution of an Honor Code violation, the faculty member will assign a grade of IP until the matter is resolved.

The Honor and Conduct Board is established to objectively evaluate academic honor violations. The Vice President shall appoint two graduate students and two graduate faculty members (preferably faculty who have previously been elected to the Honor and Conduct Board) to serve as a Hearing Board. Students and faculty members on the board will be chosen from a variety of programs other than that of the accused. The Vice President or designee serves as a chairperson and recorder. Whenever possible, the hearing should be convened prior to the start of the next academic session. As soon as the time and place of the hearing have been established, at least forty-eight hours prior to the hearing, the Vice President shall notify the accused in writing of the exact nature of the charges and the time and place of the hearing. The accused will have the right to an advisor of his/her choice from the college community present at the hearing. The Hearing Board will request declarations of fact from the accuser, the accused, and the witnesses, and will arrive at a decision on whether or not the student violated the Honor Code. A guilty decision requires the vote of three members of the Board. If a graduate student is found guilty of an academic violation of the Honor Code, the student will be dismissed from the graduate program and the College. All hearings will be recorded; the recording will be given to the Provost after the hearing and remains property of McDaniel College.

If the accused believes that either the conviction or penalty is unjust, he/she may appeal in writing to the College Provost within forty-eight hours of the end of the initial hearing. The circumstances under which a student may legitimately appeal are: faulty procedures, lack of sufficient evidence, sanctions believed to be too severe, or new evidence. The Provost shall call the Appeals Board to review both convictions and penalties. The Appeals Board shall follow procedures outlined in the Honor Code handbook.