Section 8: Student Rights and Responsibilities

Saint Mary's College holds the following student rights and responsibilities to be essential in order to preserve and guarantee for students those conditions indispensable to the full achievement of her objectives.

Personal Rights

• –The human dignity of each student must be recognized by all other members of the academic community. Each student has the responsibility of recognizing the human dignity of all members of this community.

• –Each student has the right to equal education and social opportunities without regard to race, religion, or national origin. Each member of the College community has the responsibility to respect this right.
• –Each student has the right to manage personal affairs except where it conflicts with the good of the community.
• –Each student, as a citizen, has the right of petition, freedom of speech, and peaceful assembly. She also enjoys the same civic and legal right and responsibilities.
• –Each student has the right to freedom of conscience relating to religious worship. Each member of the College community has the responsibility to respect this freedom.
• –Each student has the right to effective separation of academic and personal records.
  Information from disciplinary or counseling files is not made available to any person without the written consent of the student involved, except under legal compulsion or in cases where the safety of the person or property is at issue. Additionally, parents may be notified of alcohol and drug violations. No records are kept which reflect the political activities or beliefs of the student.
• –Each student has the right under law to gain access to her education records as specified by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974.

Social Rights

• –Students have the right to associate with any group or individual.

• –Students have the right to organize and join associations to promote their own interests. Such organizations must be respectful of the Catholic tradition and the mission of Saint Mary's College. Campus organizations, including those affiliated with an off-campus organization, should be open to all students without respect to race, creed, or national origin.
• –Students are expected to be informed of local, state, and federal laws. Saint Mary's College does not condone violation of these laws and supports local, state, and federal agencies in developing and enforcing its policies and regulations.
• –Students who violate the civil law off campus are not routinely subject to penalty by the institution. Saint Mary's College does have the authority to take action against a student who is found to pose a threat to herself or the College community as a result of her off-campus activities.
• –Student publications and the student press should be free from censorship. However, the editors and managers are reminded of their responsibility to maintain the canons of responsible journalism.

Academic Rights

• –Students have the right, without fear of penalty, to engage in academic inquiry concerning attitudes, doctrines, or facts about which they desire to learn.

• –Students have the right to invite and hear speakers of their own choosing, according to the procedures stated in the student government association constitution. Students are responsible for making clear to the academic community and the community at large that sponsorship of guest speakers does not necessarily imply approval or endorsement of the views expressed, either by the sponsoring group or by the institution.
• –Students have the right to know which instructors will be teaching the section or courses for which they register if the instructor is assigned. Students also have the right to change sections or courses without penalty if the instructors are changed after registration.
• –Students have the right to academic evaluation based on criteria established by the instructor at the beginning of the semester. Students have the right to protection through orderly procedures against prejudiced or capricious academic evaluation. Students are responsible for maintaining standards of academic performance established for courses in which they are enrolled.
• –Students have the right to have assignments read, evaluated, and discussed if these are graded on any basis other than completion.
• –Students have the right to receive correct and fair grades in their courses. If they believe a grade received is incorrect or unfair, they should discuss the matter with the instructor of the course. If they are not satisfied with the instructor's explanation, they should refer the matter to the chair of the department. For an appeal beyond this level, students should contact the appropriate academic administrator. In such an appeal the burden of proof is on the student. The procedure for contested grades is the same as the appeal for violations of the academic honesty code.
• –Students have the right to rigorous and reasonable academic standards and the maintenance thereof by every member of the faculty and administration. Students have the right to receive adequately prepared lectures and assignments. Students are responsible for maintaining these standards insofar as they affect them. Academic dishonesty in any form is a subversion of these standards.
• –Students have the right to information on major academic policies. These policies can be found in the college bulletin or governance manual. Deadlines for course changes are included in the schedule booklet.

Student Government Association Rights

Saint Mary's College endorses the fundamental concept of shared governance through the inclusion of faculty and student participation in the board of trustees, the committees of the board of trustees, and the committees and councils of the College. The student government association fully endorses this concept, and students participate fully in the shared governance of the College. In recognition of their special needs, the students at Saint Mary's College have established their own autonomous governance body, the student government association (SGA).

• –Students have the right to establish a student government association.

• –The SGS has the right and responsibility to express itself on all matters affecting the student community.
• –The SGA has the right to affiliate with national student government organizations.
• –The SGA has the authority to legislate and administrate in all areas under its constitution according to procedures stated in its constitution.
• –The SGA has the right to clearly define participation in formulation and implementation of regulations affecting student affairs.

Political Activities

• – From time to time, students and faculty, either individually or in organized groups, engage in political activities which might be interpreted as being for the purpose of influencing legislation or as participating in political campaigns on behalf of candidates for public office. Participation by students, faculty, or staff in any of these activities does not necessarily imply that Saint Mary's College as an institution approves or endorses the views expressed.

ACADEMIC HONESTY CODE

When a student submits any work for academic credit, she makes an implicit claim that the work is wholly her own, done without the assistance of any person or source not explicitly noted, and that the work has not been previously submitted for academic credit in any area. Students are free to study and work together on homework assignments unless specifically asked not to by the instructor. In the case of examinations (tests, quizzes, etc.), the student also implicitly claims that she has obtained no prior unauthorized information about the examination and neither gives nor obtains any assistance during the examination. Moreover, a student shall not prevent others from completing their work.

Examples of violations include, but are not limited to, the following:

• –the supplying or receiving of completed papers, outlines, or research for submission by any person other than the author;

• –the submission of the same or essentially the same paper or report for credit on two different occasions;
• –the supplying or receiving of unauthorized information about the form or content of any examination, specifically including unauthorized possession of examination material prior to the examination;
• –the supplying or receiving of partial or complete answers, suggestions for answers, or assistance in interpretation of questions on any examination from any source not explicitly authorized (included are: copying or reading of another student's work or consultation of notes or other sources during examinations);
• –alteration of any material or apparatus which would interfere with another student's work;
• –copying or allowing copying of assigned work or falsification of information;
• –unauthorized removal of study or research material or equipment intended for common use in assigned work;
• –plagiarism (see the following statement)

PLAGIARISM

Plagiarism means presenting, as one's own, the words, the work, or the opinions of
someone else. It is dishonest since the plagiarist offers as her own, for credit, the
language, information, or thought for which she deserves no credit.

Plagiarism occurs when one uses the exact language of someone else without putting the quoted material in quotation marks and giving its source. (Exceptions are very well - known quotations such as from The Bible or Shakespeare, for example.) In formal papers, the source is acknowledged in a footnote; in informal papers, it may be put in parentheses; or made a part of the text. This first type of plagiarism, using without acknowledgment the language of someone else, is easy to avoid. When a writer uses the exact words of another writer or speaker, she must put those words in quotation marks and cite the source.

A second type of plagiarism is more complex. It occurs when the writer presents as her own, the sequence of ideas, the arrangement of material, or the pattern of thought of someone else, even though she expresses it in her own words. The language may be hers, but she is presenting as hers and taking credit for the work of another. She is, therefore, guilty of plagiarism if she fails to give credit to the original author of the pattern of ideas.

Students writing informal themes, in which they are usually asked to draw on their own experience and information, can guard against plagiarism by a simple test. They should be able to honestly answer "No" to the following questions:

–Am I deliberately recalling any particular source of information as I write this paper?

–Am I consulting any source as I write this paper ?

If the answer to these questions is "No," the writer need have no fear of using sources dishonestly. The material in mind, which she will transfer to her written pages, is genuinely digested and her own.

The writing of a research paper presents a somewhat different problem, for here the student is expected to gather material from books and articles read for the purpose of writing the paper. In the carefully written research paper, however (and this is true of term papers in all college courses), credit is given in footnotes for every idea, conclusion, or piece of information which is not the writer' s own; and the writer is careful not to follow closely the wording of the sources she has read. If she wishes to quote, she puts the passage in quotation marks and gives credit to the author in a footnote; but she writes the bulk of the paper in her own words and her own style, using footnotes to acknowledge facts and ideas she has taken from her reading.*

*Saint Mary's College, which has edited this material, reprints it with the permission of the publisher from Understanding and Using English, by Newman P. Birk and Genevieve B. Birk (Odyssey Press: 1971).

VIOLATIONS OF THE ACADEMIC HONESTY CODE

Each student shall be honest in her academic work and shall support the honesty of others. She shall, moreover, guard against any appearance of dishonesty.

Each faculty member has the responsibility to refer to the College policy on academic honesty at the beginning of each course. Faculty shall foster the honesty of their students by conducting each course in such a way as to discourage cheating or plagiarism. Faculty, moreover, are to investigate thoroughly any evidence of cheating] in their classes.

PROCEDURE IN CASES OF VIOLATION OF THE ACADEMIC HONESTY CODE

Faculty members who have evidence of cheating or plagiarism are to make known to the student the charge and any subsequent action. Only then shall an appropriate penalty be imposed. It is recommended that the faculty member submit in writing to the appropriate academic administrator the name of any student found guilty of academic dishonesty serious enough to have been penalized, along with a description of the penalty imposed. Such reports will be kept in confidence, except in the case of continued violations by a student, when reports may be presented to the academic standards committee for possible disciplinary action. The student in violation will be notified before any such referral is made.

The faculty member of the course in which a violation of academic honesty occurs is to determine an appropriate penalty. Penalties may range from a refusal of credit for an individual assignment to failure in the course, depending upon the seriousness of the offense. In cases recommended for further consideration, the Academic Standards Committee may also recommend other penalties, including academic dismissal from the College.

Any member of the College community who has evidence is encouraged to report a violation of academic honesty to the instructor of the course. Any member of the College community who has evidence has the right to refer a violation of academic honesty to the appropriate academic administrator.

Any student has the right to refer an accusation of or a grade resulting from academic dishonesty to the appropriate academic administrator for further consideration.

ACADEMIC APPEALS PROCEDURES

Academic honesty violations, contested grades, waivers of academic policies:

Academic Hearing Board

At the written request of any involved party, the assistant to the vice president and dean of faculty or the director of academic affairs for first-year students is to refer the matter to the chair of the academic standards committee who appoints a three-member ad hoc committee -- the academic hearing board. The academic hearing board is comprised of one faculty member, one student, and one academic administrator selected from the members of the academic standards committee. The academic hearing board conducts a hearing and renders a recommendation in writing to the chair of the academic standards committee. All proceedings are kept confidential. The chair must ensure that student rights to due process are protected. Unless it is appealed, the recommendation of the academic hearing board is final and binding.

An appeal of academic hearing board recommendations is made to the academic appellate board.

Academic Appellate Board

The academic appellate board acts as a review board for any case in which a decision is being contested. The board consists of one student, one faculty member, and one administrator appointed by the chair of the academic standards committee.

The student must initiate the appeal of a judicial action in writing to the chair of the academic standards committee within 48 hours of receiving the notification. All appeals must be based on new evidence or violation of rights to due process. The academic appellate board will meet to discuss the merit of the appeal. If the board believes the appeal lacks merit, the appeal is denied. If the board requires additional information, it may require a meeting with the student. If the appeal has merit, the student will be granted a hearing before the academic appellate board.

Section 9: Emergency Procedures >>>