Academic Integrity

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As members of the St. Lawrence community, all faculty, staff, and students are expected to uphold the highest standards of personal integrity. Academic integrity occupies a special place in the university's values, as the educational and scholarly enterprises depend on open, honest, and accurate exchange of information and ideas.

The university's standards for academic integrity are outlined in the Constitution of the Academic Honor Council, the full text of which is available in both the Student Handbook and the Faculty Handbook. As stated in the Constitution, "All faculty share responsibility in teaching the ethics of research, scholarship, and scholarly integrity. This responsibility includes holding students to the highest ethical standards in their work and being consistently intolerant of dishonesty. If an instructor encounters any form of academic dishonesty, s/he has an obligation to call the offending student(s) to account."

Instructors who believe a student has engaged in academic dishonesty must call the student to account:

  • The instructor may propose to the student an appropriate consequence for the act of academic dishonesty. If the student accepts this consequence, the instructor writes to the Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs with the pertinent information and it is recorded in the student's internal university file. However, if the student has previously been found guilty of academic dishonesty or the instructor's proposed sanction would result in the student failing the course, the case must be heard by the Academic Honor Council.
  • If the student does not agree to the instructor's proposed consequence, the student can ask that the case be heard by the Academic Honor Council. In this case as well, the instructor writes to the Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, providing all of the relevant information for the Academic Honor Council hearing.
  • The instructor may choose to send the evidence of academic dishonesty directly to the Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, to be heard by the Academic Honor Council.

If the case is to be heard by the Academic Honor Council, the Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs will forward all case material to the student chair of the Academic Honor Council. A copy of the materials submitted by the instructor will be sent to the student, and both student and instructor will be notified of the date and time of the hearing. Following the hearing, a letter will be sent to the student, the student's academic advisor, and the course instructor notifying them of the outcome of the case as well as any penalty imposed if the student is found to have violated the Academic Honor Code. Academic advisors should work with students to address how any penalty imposed will affect their long-term academic plans.

Questions regarding issues of academic dishonesty or the Academic Honor Council should be directed to Dr. Ronnie Olesker, the Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs.