Academic Honesty

Manhattan Area Technical College - Academic Honesty Policy (Policy No.  4.3.2)

Academic honesty at the Manhattan Area Technical College (MATC) is an important part of student success.  MATC views academic honesty as an integral part of student development and learning.  All MATC students are expected to understand the college’s policy on academic honesty, as well as, how the college defines academic dishonesty.

Academic dishonesty is any action taken by a student which violates the college’s policy on academic honesty.  MATC defines academic dishonesty as the following:

Cheating
  • Giving or receiving unauthorized help on an individual or group assignment, paper, or exam
  • Reusing an assignment written for another course without proper authorization
  • Taking an exam for another student or having another student take an exam for a student
  • Using unauthorized material on an exam
  • Altering or fabricating academic data, records, or documents with the use of conventional or electronic devices
Plagiarizing
  • Using others’ ideas and/or words without correctly acknowledging the source of that information
  • Copying someone else’s copyrighted material without written permission of the copyright owners
  • Taking credit for an assignment or research project done by another student
  • Doing work or research for another student
Falsification and Fabrication
  • Altering, counterfeiting, or inventing information or material presented in an academic evaluation activity
  • Presenting data in a piece of work that were not gathered in accordance with guidelines defining appropriate methods for collecting or generating data
  • Including substantially inaccurate account of the method by which the data were gathered or collected
Abuse of Academic Materials
  • Destroying, stealing, altering, or making inaccessible library, laboratory, or other academic resource materials, including computer data, or attempting to do so
  • Stealing examinations, or other course materials, or attempting to do so
Complicity in Academic Dishonesty
  • Helping, or attempting to help, another to commit an act of academic dishonesty
  • Providing material or information to another person with knowledge that the material or information will be used deceitfully in an academic evaluation activity
  • Permitting one’s own work to be submitted by another person as if it were that person’s original work
Falsification of Records and Official Documents
  • Altering documents affecting academic records
  • Forging signature of authorization or falsifying information on any official academic document, including a permission form, a petition or any other document designed to meet or exempt a student from an established academic regulation
  • Failing to report previous academic records
Personal Misrepresentation and Proxy
  • Participating in an academic evaluation activity in the place of another person either before or after enrollment
  • Assisting in any arrangement whereby any work, placement or proficiency tests, classroom performance, examination or other academic evaluation activity is submitted or performed by a person other than the student in whose name the work is submitted or performed
  • Having another person participate in an academic evaluation activity or evaluation in place of oneself
Bribes, Favors, Threats
  • Bribing or attempting to bribe, promising favors to, or making threats against any person, with the intention of affecting a record of a grade or evaluation of academic performance
  • Conspiring with another person who then performs one of these acts on one’s behalf

Consequences for students in violation of the MATC Academic Honesty Policy will be at the discretion of faculty and/or administration. Consequences include, but are not limited to:

  • Oral or written reprimand
  • An “F” or zero points given for the assignment, paper, or exam
  • An “F” or zero points given for the course (XF notation on transcript of academic dishonesty)
  • Removal from the course and/or program
  • Expulsion from the college

Any student accused of academic dishonesty may request written confirmation of the violation and consequence(s). If a claim of academic dishonesty is in dispute, the student may file a grievance, following the Student Grievance Appeal Procedure.