In order to maintain a high-quality learning environment, higher education institutions work hard to preserve academic integrity. This is why each member of the campus community - students, staff, and faculty - is required to live up to integrity standards in all of their academic feats and endeavors. But for students especially, the stakes are high.
It's important for students accused of academic misconduct to seek the help of an experienced attorney advisor. A legal professional understands what it takes to clear your name, salvage your reputation, and avoid tarnishing your academic record.
What is Academic Misconduct?
In Minnesota higher education institutions there are guidelines imposed that specifically address students accountability and transparency when it comes to submitting their own respective scholastic words, and the intellectual property of others. Academic misconduct occurs when a student fails to comply with these guidelines.
Academic Misconduct Violations
There are numerous forms of academic misconduct. Here are some of the most common definitions and examples of academic misconduct that may be punishable at your school:
Cheating: using deceitful, fraudulent, or dishonest methods to gain academic merit.
- Copying from others during an exam
- Sharing answers from a take-home exam (unless specifically authorized by an instructor)
- Having a stand-in take an exam for you, or standing in for someone else
- Allowing another person to write a paper for you
- Using materials, written notes, prepared answers, or concealed information that isn't allowed to complete a project, exam, or homework
Plagiarism: using intellectual material created by another person in your academic work without acknowledging the source.
- Passing off the concepts, words, or ideas of another person as your own
- Using the work of another in your scholastic work without giving them the proper credit. In order to give them the proper credit, you must cite the source. Correctly citing the source entails giving credit for every summary, direct quote, paraphrased idea, or information that isn't considered common knowledge
Fabrication/Falsification: inventing or modifying information in an academic exercise.
- Creating or altering citations for a paper
- Making up a dialogue, interactions, people, or events to complete an assignment
Complicity: aiding or attempting to aid another student in performing academically dishonest acts.
- Allowing another student to copy your exam, project, or homework
- Letting another student use your identification to access a restricted area of campus
Consequences
Most administrators don't take kindly to those who are found “responsible” for committing academic misconduct. Therefore, the consequences of failing to comply with the rules that preserve integrity are harsh. Depending on the circumstances, students have been subject to sanctions that include a failing course grade, being booted from degree programs, suspension, or even expulsion from an institution.
The consequences that come with having an academic misconduct violation on your record may extend beyond college sanctions. And some students have learned the hard way that this violation can follow them into their professional life. Jobs with access to your academic record are justified in denying your employment merely because you acquired an academic misconduct violation.
Minnesota Academic Misconduct Advisor
A finding of responsibility for academic misconduct can jeopardize the academic and professional goals you or your college student have set. If you value the investment you've made into your education and your professional future, contacting a skilled student defense attorney is a must. Attorney Joseph D. Lento has helped students who've acquired serious academic misconduct charges recover from these allegations, and he can do the same for you. Contact him today for more information.
Minnesota colleges and universities where Joseph D. Lento can help as your or your student's academic misconduct advisor during investigations, hearings, and appeals include, but are not limited to, the following schools:
- Academy College
- Alexandria Technical & Community College
- Anoka Technical College
- Anoka Ramsey Community College
- Argosy University Twin Cities
- Augsburg College
- Bemidji State University
- Bethany Lutheran College
- Bethel University
- Brown College Brooklyn Center
- Brown College Mendota Heights
- Capella University
- Carleton College
- Central Lakes College Brainerd
- Century Community and Technical College
- College of Saint Benedict
- College of Visual Arts
- Concordia College at Moorhead
- Concordia University Saint Paul
- Crossroads College
- Crown College Saint
- Dakota County Technical College
- DeVry University Minnesota
- Duluth Business University
- Dunwoody College of Technology
- Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College
- Globe University Minneapolis
- Globe University Woodbury
- Gustavus Adolphus College
- Hamline University
- Hennepin Technical College
- Herzing University Minneapolis
- Hibbing Community College A Technical and Community College
- Institute of Production and Recording
- Inver Hills Community College
- Itasca Community College
- ITT Technical Institute Brooklyn Center
- ITT Technical Institute Eden Prairie
- Lake Superior College
- Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts Minneapolis
- Macalester College
- Martin Luther College
- McNally Smith College of Music
- Mesabi Range Community and Technical College
- Metropolitan State University
- Minneapolis Business College
- Minneapolis College of Art and Design
- Minneapolis Community and Technical College
- Minnesota School of Business Blaine
- Minnesota School of Business Brooklyn Center
- Minnesota School of Business Elk River
- Minnesota School of Business Lakeville
- Minnesota School of Business Moorhead
- Minnesota School of Business Plymouth
- Minnesota School of Business Richfield
- Minnesota School of Business Rochester
- Minnesota School of Business Shakopee
- Minnesota School of Business Waite Park
- Minnesota State College Southeast Technical
- Minnesota State Community and Technical College
- Minnesota State University Moorhead
- Minnesota State University Mankato
- Minnesota West Community and Technical College
- National American University Bloomington
- National American University Brooklyn Center
- National American University Roseville
- Normandale Community College
- North Central University
- North Hennepin Community College
- Northland Community and Technical College
- Northwest Technical College
- Northwest Technical Institute
- Northwestern College
- Northwestern Health Sciences University
- Oak Hills Christian College
- Pine Technical College
- Rainy River Community College
- Ridgewater College
- Riverland Community College
- Rochester Community and Technical College
- Saint Cloud State University
- Saint John's University
- Saint Mary's University of Minnesota
- Saint Paul College A Community and Technical College
- South Central College
- Southwest Minnesota State University
- St. Catherine University
- St. Cloud Technical and Community College
- St. Olaf College
- The Art Institutes International Minnesota
- The College of Saint Scholastica
- University of Minnesota Crookston
- University of Minnesota Duluth
- University of Minnesota Morris
- University of Minnesota Rochester
- University of Minnesota Twin Cities
- University of Phoenix Minneapolis/St Paul Campus
- University of St Thomas
- Vermilion Community College
- White Earth Tribal and Community College
- Winona State University
It is an unfortunate reality that academic misconduct charges can upend an accused student's life if not properly addressed, and Joseph D. Lento and the Lento Law Firm have unparalleled experience passionately fighting for the future of his clients at colleges and universities in Minnesota and throughout the nation. He does not settle for the easiest outcome, and instead prioritizes his clients' needs and well-being. Joseph Lento is a licensed attorney in New Jersey and New York, is admitted as an attorney pro hac vice in state and federal court if needed when representing clients nationwide, and serves as an academic misconduct advisor for students facing disciplinary cases in Minnesota and throughout the nation. Make certain your or your student's interests are protected - Contact National Academic Misconduct Advisor Joseph D. Lento today at 888-535-3686.
