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SPEA Student Honor Code

SPEA takes matters of honesty and integrity seriously because SPEA is the training ground for future leaders in government, civic organizations, health organizations, and other institutions charged with providing resources for the public, and for members of society who are vulnerable and who are lacking in power and status. Precisely because SPEA graduates tend to rise to positions of power and responsibility, it is critical that the lessons of honesty and integrity are learned early.

Scope

SPEA’s Student Honor Code focuses on all aspects of behavior and conduct of students at SPEA and Indiana University. Most salient, it applies to all courses offered by SPEA, and to all students who take SPEA classes, regardless of whether students are SPEA majors. Students who have been admitted to SPEA are expected to continue their commitment to ethical behavior in all of their endeavors, including, but not limited to, course work inside and outside of SPEA, internships, community service, and overseas study.

SPEA’s code draws heavily on the IU Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct as well as that of the Kelley School of Business Student Honor Code (Sections in the SPEA Student Honor Code on “Scope,” “Violations,” “Reporting,” and “Civil and Professional Conduct” are heavily redacted from the Kelley Student Honor Code). The code covers all aspects of a student's academic work. Academic dishonesty includes submitting fraudulent work, giving or receiving unauthorized assistance, tampering with the credibility of coursework, plagiarism, cheating on exams or similar measures of performance, or any other suspect behavior. SPEA’s code also extends to matters of civility and professional conduct, including, e.g., expectations about class attendance, punctuality, participation in class, and decorum in class.

Violations

According to the Indiana University Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct, the following behaviors reflect academic integrity:

• Academic integrity requires that students take credit only for ideas and efforts that are their own. A student must not adopt or reproduce ideas, opinions, theories, formulas, graphics, or pictures of another person or organization without acknowledgment.

• A student must give credit to the originality of others and acknowledge indebtedness whenever:

• directly quoting another person’s actual words, whether oral or written;
• using another person’s ideas, opinions, or theories;
• paraphrasing the words, ideas, opinions, or theories of others, whether oral or written;
• borrowing facts, statistics, or illustrative material, or
• offering materials assembled or collected by others in the form of projects or collections without acknowledgment.

• A student must not use or attempt to use unauthorized assistance, materials, information, or study aids in any academic exercise.

• A student must not use external assistance on any "in-class" or "take-home" examination, unless the instructor specifically has authorized such assistance.

• A student must not use another person as a substitute in the taking of an examination or quiz.

• A student must not steal examinations or other course materials.

• A student must not allow others to conduct research or to prepare any work for him or her.

• A student must not take any credit for a team project unless the student has made a fair and substantial contribution to the group effort.

• A student must not steal, change, destroy, or impede another student's work, nor should the student unjustly attempt, through a bribe, a promise of favors or threats, to affect any student’s grade or the evaluation of academic performance. Impeding another student’s work includes, but is not limited to, the theft, defacement, or mutilation of resources so as to deprive others of the information they contain.

• A student must not violate course rules as contained in a course syllabus or other information provided to the student.

• A student must not intentionally or knowingly help or attempt to help another student to commit an act of academic misconduct.

Reporting

Violations of the honor code should be reported by those who have observed the violation or who have knowledge of a violation. Students should not only honor the code themselves, but they should also accept responsibility for reporting the suspected violations of others. Violations of the honor code should be reported directly to the instructor of the course in which the violation has occurred.

Handling Academic Dishonesty

The process used by SPEA to handle cases of academic dishonesty are the same as those described in the Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct, Indiana University: Procedures for Bloomington Campus which is accessible at http://dsa.indiana.edu/Code/CodeProcedures2006-7.pdf. This document specifies the steps used to pursue suspected cases of misconduct, including procedures for initial findings of misconduct through sanctioning. Appeals processes available to students are also described.

Civility and Professional Conduct

SPEA endorses the importance of civil behavior as stated in the Indiana University Code of Academic Ethics (found at: www.indiana.edu/~ufc/docs/AY05/Circulars/U8-2005c.approved.rtf) as well as in the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities promulgated by Harvard University.

SPEA requires that all members of its community – students, faculty, and staff – treat others with an attitude of mutual respect both in the classroom and during all academic and nonacademic activities outside the classroom. A student is expected to show respect through behavior that promotes conditions in which all students can learn without interruption or distraction. These behaviors foster an appropriate atmosphere inside and outside the classroom:

• Students are expected to attend class regularly and to be prepared for class.

• Students must be punctual in their arrival to class and be present and attentive for the duration of the class. Eating, sleeping, reading the newspaper, doing work for another class, and packing up or leaving class early are not civil or professional behaviors.

• Students must responsibly participate in class activities and during team meetings.

• Students must address faculty members, other students, and others appropriately and with respect, whether in person, in writing, or in electronic communications.

• Students must show tolerance and respect for diverse nationalities, religions, races, sexual orientations, and physical abilities.

• Students must not destroy or deface classroom property nor leave litter in the classroom.

Concluding Remarks

SPEA takes pride in training generations of leaders in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. Part of our leadership training involves instilling respect for the academic enterprise, for fellow students, and for instructors. SPEA excels when all elements of this code are internalized and practiced by SPEA community members.