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Academic Conduct

The students of Central Methodist University are expected always to follow the rules of good conduct, including the specific policies of the University as outlined in the CMU Student Handbook. When they are participating in a class, whether in the classroom, a laboratory, or another setting, students are responsible to the instructor and are expected to comply with class policies provided by the instructor and with reasonable requests made by the instructor. Course instructors may request that any student be administratively dropped from a course at any time for academic misconduct, excessive absence, or disruptive or other unacceptable classroom behavior. With the approval of the Provost, or, at the Provost's request, by the Extended Studies Committee, the student will be withdrawn from the course. Additional penalties may be imposed under the Academic Conduct Policy.

Academic Conduct Policy

Central Methodist University believes that adhering to acceptable professional practices throughout life is a significant foundation of character and personal integrity.   The University's Academic Conduct Policy applies to all forms of academic work, including but not limited to quizzes and examinations, essays and papers, lab reports, oral presentations, surveys, take-home tests, etc. Every student is responsible for understanding this policy.   By registering at the University, every student accepts the obligation to abide by this policy. Students also are responsible for understanding the particular policy applications required by each of their instructors and to ask instructors to clarify any areas of uncertainty.

Academic Conduct requires that each person accept the obligation to uphold professional standards in all academic endeavors. Any conduct that unprofessionally represents a student's academic performance violates CMU's Academic Conduct Policy. Unprofessional practices include but are not limited to the following:

  1. Cheating in any form (e.g., ghost-written papers; cheat sheets or notes; copying during exams, quizzes, or other graded class work; allowing anyone access to your courseware account to misrepresent their coursework as yours, or your coursework as theirs, etc.);
  2. Unauthorized Collaboration with others on work to be presented in ways contrary to the stated rules of the course or the specifications of a particular assignment;
  3. Stealing or having unauthorized access to examination or course materials,
  4. Falsifying Information (records, or laboratory or other data);
  5. Submitting Work Previously Presented in Another Course without the advance consent of the second instructor;
  6. Assisting Academic Misconduct (intentionally or unintentionally) - This includes allowing any other student to use or submit your academic work or performance, or other academic work supplied by you, under a name different from the author of the work; and
  7. Plagiarism includes but is not limited to (1) representing as your own work a paper, speech, or report written in whole or in part by someone else (from the un-credited use of significant phrases to the un-credited use of larger portions of material), including material found on the internet, (2) failing to provide appropriate recognition of the sources of borrowed material through the proper use of quotation marks, proper attribution of paraphrases, and proper reference citations. Always provide appropriate recognition of all borrowed materials and sources.

The University will discipline students for infractions of the Academic Conduct Policy with various sanctions which it deems appropriate, up to and including suspension or expulsion from the University. Penalties internal to a course, including grades and expulsion from the course, are at the discretion of the instructor. Students can appeal instructors' internal course penalties to the Extended Studies Committee (undergraduate petitions) or the Graduate Studies Committee (graduate petitions); the decision of either committee is final. Instructors must report all penalties which they impose for academic misconduct, with a brief account of the offense, to the Provost, so that all violations are recorded. For serious or repeated offenses, the Provost may impose further penalties beyond the course penalty.  These penalties include but are not limited to notations in the student's file, notations on the student's transcript, probation, suspension, and expulsion. A decision by the Provost can be appealed to the Extended Studies Committee (undergraduate petitions) or the Graduate Studies Committee (graduate petitions) by using a Grievance Form; the decision of either committee is final.