The following excerpts are drawn from the New Jersey City University Academic Integrity Policy, adopted February 17, 2004. The complete and most up-to-date Academic Integrity Policy is available at https://www.njcu.edu/directories/offices-centers/university-senate/policies.

An academic community of integrity advances the quest for truth and knowledge by requiring intellectual and personal honesty in learning, teaching, research and service. 

New Jersey City University (NJCU) is committed to nurturing the growth of intellectual reasoning, academic and professional values, individual ethics and social responsibility in its students. Academic integrity is central to this growth and is defined as a commitment, even in the face of adversity, to five fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. From these values flow principles of behavior that enable academic communities to translate ideals into action. 

The University maintains that all students are expected to embrace the highest standards of academic integrity in their course work. Any violation of such may be subject to a penalty based on the infraction that may include a reprimand, reduction in grade, failing grade, suspension or dismissal from the University. 

Faculty, students and administrators must report all violations of academic integrity, other than Level I; such violations represent serious infractions and undermine the University’s mission. 

DEFINITIONS OF VIOLATIONS OF ACADEMIC INTEGRITY 

Cheating: Cheating is an act of deception by which a student misrepresents his or her mastery of material on a test or other academic exercise.
Examples of cheating include, but are not limited to the following: 

• Copying from another student’s work; 
• Allowing another student to copy from one’s work; 
• Using unauthorized materials such as a textbook or notebook during an examination; 
• Using specifically prepared unauthorized materials such as notes written on clothing, formula lists, etc., during an examination; 
• Unauthorized collaboration with another person during an examination or an academic exercise; 
• Unauthorized access to or use of someone else’s computer account or computer files, for any purpose, without the permission of the individual; 
• Possessing or obtaining an examination without the professor’s authority or prior knowledge. 

Plagiarism: Plagiarism occurs when a person represents someone else’s words, ideas, phrases, sentences or data as one’s own work. When a student submits work that includes such material, the source of that information must be acknowledged through complete and accurate references. All verbatim statements must be acknowledged by means of quotation marks. 

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

• One person quoting another’s words directly without acknowledging the source; 
• Using another’s ideas, opinions or theories without acknowledging the source, even if they have been completely paraphrased in one’s own words; 
• Using facts, statistics or other illustrative material taken from a source, without acknowledging the source, unless the information is common knowledge; 
• Using words or work of others taken from the Internet without acknowledging their source(s). 

Fabrication: Fabrication refers to the deliberate use of invented information or the falsification of research or other findings with the intent to deceive.
Examples of fabrication include, but are not limited to the following: 

• Citing information not taken from the source indicated; 
• Listing sources in a bibliography or other report that are not used in one’s project; 
• Fabricating data or source information in experiments, research projects or other academic exercises; 
• Taking a test for another person or asking or allowing another to take a test for one’s self; 
• Misrepresenting oneself or providing misleading and false information in an attempt to access another user’s computer account. 

Other Examples of Academic Misconduct:

• Changing, altering, falsifying or being accessory to the changing, altering or falsifying of a grade report or form, or entering any University office, building or accessing a computer for that purpose; 
• Stealing, buying, selling, giving away or otherwise obtaining all or part of any unadministered test/examination or entering any University office or building for the purpose of obtaining an unadministered test/examination; 
• Submitting written work to fulfill the requirements of more than one course without the explicit permission of the instructors; 
• Coercing any other person to obtain an unadministered test; 
• Altering test answers and then claiming instructor inappropriately graded the examination; 
• Unauthorized collaboration with any other person in preparing work offered for credit (e.g., purchased term papers*). 

* NJSA 18A: 2-3 (c) prohibits the preparation for sale of any term paper, thesis, dissertation, essay, report or other written, recorded, pictorial, artistic or other assignment knowing that it is intended to fulfill requirements for a degree, diploma, certificate or course at any educational institution. The law specifies up to a $1,000 fine for violations of its provisions. 

Penalties of Violations for Academic Integrity 

Level I 
Level I penalties apply in circumstances involving ignorance or inexperience on the part of the person(s) committing the violation and ordinarily include a minor portion of the course work. The imposition of these penalties is considered an academic issue and not disciplinary. 

Example: Improper documentation of sources or unauthorized collaboration on an academic exercise. 

Possible Penalties: Make-up assignment, assignment of no-credit for the work in question, or a required assignment on preparation of term papers. 

These penalties are subject to the discretion of the faculty member. Faculty will meet with the student offender to discuss the allegation and possible penalties. 

Level II 
Level II penalties involve incidents of a more serious nature and affect a significant aspect or portion of the course. 

Example: Copying from or giving assistance to others on a mid-term, final or other examination; plagiarizing major portions of an assignment; using unauthorized material on an examination; or altering a graded examination for the purposes of re-grading. 

Possible penalties: A failing grade on the assignment and/or in the course, which ever is applicable, may be given subject to the discretion of the faculty member. Violations at this level will be reported to the department chair and the Academic Dean (for major courses, the report will be made to the corresponding Academic Dean, for general studies courses, the report will be made to the Dean of Arts and Sciences, in the case of an undergraduate student). A notation of plagiarism shall be placed in the student’s record following this offense, and the student will not be allowed to expunge the grade of F from his/her GPA should he or she re-take the course. Confidential copies of the report will also be sent to the Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Dean of Students or the Dean of Graduate and Continuing Education. Should the Vice President for Academic Affairs upon receipt of a report of plagiarism, find that a student has a prior record of plagiarism, the offense will be upgraded to Level III, and the Vice President for Academic Affairs will notify the instructor, the chair and the academic dean so that appropriate action can be taken. Any violation that involves repeat offenses at Level I is considered a Level III violation. 

Level III 
Level III penalties apply to offenses that are even more serious in nature and involve pervasive dishonesty on a significant portion of course work, such as a major paper, mid-term, final exam or other examination. 

Example: Using a purchased term paper presenting the work of another as one’s own; having a substitute take an examination; or possessing or obtaining an examination without the professor’s authority or prior knowledge. 

Possible Penalties: A failing grade on the assignment and/or in the course, which ever is applicable, may be given subject to the discretion of the instructor. Violations at this level will be reported to the department chair and the academic dean (for major courses, the report will be made to the corresponding Academic Dean, for general studies courses, the report will be made to the Dean of Arts and Sciences). In the case of an undergraduate student, a notation of plagiarism shall be placed in the student’s record following this offense, and the student will not be allowed to expunge the grade of F from his/her GPA should he or she re-take the course. Confidential copies of the report will also be sent to the Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Dean of Students or the Dean of Graduate and Continuing Education. Should the Vice President for Academic Affairs or the Dean of Graduate and Continuing Education discover, upon receipt of a report of plagiarism, that a student has a prior record of plagiarism, the Vice President for Academic Affairs or the Dean of Graduate and Continuing Education will notify the faculty member, the chair and the academic dean so that appropriate action can be taken. 

In the event the faculty member determines that the violation is severe, she/he may recommend to the department chair/ academic dean that the student be placed on probation, suspension, or expulsion for one or more semesters with a notation of “disciplinary suspension” indicated on the student’s record, or that the student be permanently dismissed from the University in case of repeat offenses. The Academic Dean, in consultation with the faculty member, will be responsible for deciding the additional penalty.