Academic integrity is the core of a thriving learning environment. This is why higher education institutions are adamant about enforcing rules to preserve academic integrity. If students fail to comply with these rules, they may be subject to serious consequences.
It's important for students accused of academic misconduct to seek the help of an attorney advisor. An experienced legal professional can help you clear your name, salvage your reputation and avoid getting you an academic record for employers and outside institutions to see.
What is Academic Misconduct?
Vermont colleges and universities impose guidelines to maintain academic integrity. These rules are imposed to keep students accountable and transparent when it comes to creating their own academic works, and respecting the work of others. Therefore, any actions that could violate these rules is known as academic misconduct.
Academic Misconduct Violations
There are various forms of academic misconduct. Here are some of the most common definitions and examples of actions that might be punishable at your college:
Cheating: displaying dishonesty, fraud, or deceit in the completion of an academic exercise.
- Having a stand-in take an exam for you, or standing in for someone else
- Using unauthorized materials, concealed information, written notes, or prepared answers to complete an exam or project
- Copying from another student during an exam
- Allowing another person to write a paper for you
- Sharing answers from a take-home exam unless specifically authorized by an instructor
Plagiarism: the act using the works of another in your work without crediting them.
- Passing off the words, ideas, or concepts of others as your own
- Using portions or the entire work of another in your work without acknowledging the source. This is known as citing the source. Citing must be done properly, and credit must be given for every direct quote, paraphrased ideas, summaries, or information that isn't considered common knowledge
Fabrication/Falsification: inventing or modifying information in an academic exercise.
- Creating or altering citations within a paper
- Making up people, events, or interactions to complete an assignment
Complicity: intentionally aiding or attempting to aid another student to perform academically dishonest acts.
- Allowing another student to copy answers from your exam onto theirs
- Letting another student use your identification to access restricted parts of campus
Consequences
Due to the nature of an academic misconduct violation, most administrators do not take kindly to students accused and found responsible for it. This is why the consequences of this violation are almost always harsh. So harsh, in fact, that the effects of these repercussions extend beyond college sanctions and into a student's professional life. Many job prospects with access will question the integrity and morale of students with this violation. Government jobs, professions in law, careers in academia, for example, are prospects that may use this violation to justify denying people of employment.
Vermont 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.
Vermont colleges and universities where Joseph D. Lento can help as your or your student's academic advisor during investigations, hearings, and appeals include, but are not limited to, the following schools:
- Bennington College
- Castleton State College
- Champlain College
- College of St Joseph
- Community College of Vermont
- Goddard College
- Green Mountain College
- Johnson State College
- Landmark College
- Lyndon State College
- Marlboro College
- Middlebury College
- Norwich University
- Saint Michael's College
- Southern Vermont College
- Sterling College
- University of Vermont
- Vermont Technical College
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 Vermont 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 Vermont 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.
