The mission of Dana College is to provide higher education in harmony with the Christian faith as taught by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. In keeping with its Christian purpose and ideals, the college has a primary concern to create an environment that values academic integrity. Academic integrity can be defined as a set of intellectual and moral values that rests on honesty. Members of the Dana community are ethically obligated to be honest in all of their interactions with one another, ranging from communications about student absences to student performances on papers and on tests. In addition, those who witness or know of a student’s academic dishonesty have an ethical responsibility to report what they witnessed or know to the appropriate class instructor or to the Associate Dean of Student Success.

This policy defines some major areas of academic behavior that violate the principle of academic integrity and that are subject to sanctions. The listed violations are examples only and should not be construed as comprising a definitive list of unethical academic behavior. The procedure for handling a case of academic misconduct can be found in the Student Handbook.

Plagiarism occurs whenever a person presents words, ideas, images, music, electronic files and/or other work of another without customary and proper acknowledgement of the source. Examples of plagiarism include, but are not limited to, copying another person’s work and submitting it for an assignment, using someone else’s ideas without crediting the source, and presenting someone else’s words without using quotations marks. Students who may be uncertain as to what constitutes plagiarism or the exact procedures to follow for proper documentation should consult their professors for assistance. Ignorance is not an acceptable defense for plagiarism.

Cheating in an academic context includes any form of attempted deceptive behavior involving examinations or other academic work. Cheating includes but is not limited to the following activities:

• using cheating instruments in exams;
• sharing oral or written information during an exam;
• inventing data or fabricating sources for a research project;
• helping other students violate the principle of academic integrity (for example, by allowing them to copy a paper for an assignment);
• collaborating with others on academic assignments without permission from the course instructor;
• submitting all or part of the same work for the determination of a grade in two or more different courses without obtaining advance approval from instructors in the involved courses;
• lying about the need for extensions on paper assignments or exams; and
• seeking academic accommodation for an undiagnosed or nonexistent disability.

Misrepresenting academic records occurs when a student distorts, falsifies, or tampers with his or her academic record. Examples include knowingly furnishing false information to the college, forgery, and altering computer information, transcripts, or other college documents.

Academic misconduct is any behavior that disrupts or obstructs classroom activities. Example of academic misconduct include, but are not limited to, communicating with other students during an exam, entering a class in which the student is not enrolled without permission of the instructor, and refusing to comply with directives from the class instructor. A faculty member has the discretion to define academic misconduct and to determine the grade penalty for any act of academic misconduct in his or her class.

This page was last modified on February 9, 2006