Academic Integrity
As a graduate institution preparing future health care professionals, the highest standards of ethical behavior are expected of all members of the Institute’s community. As a critical component of this commitment, the Institute expects all faculty and students to adhere strictly to standards of academic integrity. These are expressed through practices of intellectual honesty. Any forms of: (1) cheating, (2) plagiarism, (3) distortion of materials related to a person's performance, or (4) collusion in another's dishonesty constitute a fundamental violation of intellectual honesty and is unacceptable. In order to promote the integrity of the professions, the Institute embraces three broad principles:
Each faculty member and student should benefit from being able to rely upon the honesty of another.
Each faculty member and student is held personally accountable for being intellectually honest.
Each faculty member and student is held accountable for reporting observed violations of intellectual honesty. The Institute defines violations of academic integrity as the following:
Cheating is the attempt by a person to alter his or her performance by the use or attempted use of unauthorized aids in any material submitted for evaluation. Authorized aids include only those explicitly permitted by the course instructor(s).Cheating includes, but is not limited to:
- Use of unauthorized resources of any kind (including electronic resources)
- Copying from or using another's work;
- Submissions of the same written work in more than one course without prior written approval from the instructor(s) involved;
- Obtaining, copying or distributing (verbally, electronically or in writing) items from a student examination or performance assessment that have not been permanently returned to students.
Plagiarism is the deliberate act of taking the words, ideas, data, illustrative material, or statements of someone else, without full and proper acknowledgment, and presenting them as one's own. It also includes, but is not limited to, ignoring proper forms for quoting, summarizing, and paraphrasing.
Distortion of information/materials related to a student’s performance includes, but is not limited to:
- Misleading or false reasons being given for requests for either extensions on papers or make-up examinations;
- Forgery;
- Alteration or knowing misuse of Institute documents including research data, graded examinations, other evaluation materials, grade lists, transcripts, letters of recommendation, and instruments of identification;
- Unauthorized destruction by the student of evaluation materials for the purpose of altering the record of performance.
Collusion includes agreement to act with another or assisting or attempting to assist another in an act of intellectual dishonesty.
It is the obligation and responsibility of students with any questions about what is acceptable or not acceptable conduct relative to academic integrity to seek out and discuss the matter immediately with the appropriate faculty member or faculty advisor. As a condition of enrollment, students must document by the first day of classes that they have reviewed and understand the Institute’s Academic Integrity Policy via their IONLINE account.
Any violations of academic integrity that result in a grading penalty or any other formal recommendation for academic or disciplinary action will be reported by the faculty member to the Chair or Director of the student’s program and the Dean of Student and Alumni Services. In the instance of an egregious violation or more than one offense, disciplinary action up to and including dismissal is at the discretion of the department.