Johns Hopkins University is a college that emphasizes how important academic integrity is to the preservation of the intellectual community. Students who are accused of violating the university's rules that maintain academic integrity will be accused of what's known as “academic misconduct” - a charge that puts your academic and professional career in jeopardy.
As a college student at JHU, it's easy to get overwhelmed. You'll be assigned tons of homework, exams, projects, and presentations, leaving you to either sharpen your time management skills and adapt or struggle with completing it all. Unfortunately, the struggle to keep up with studies is the number one culprit behind academic misconduct charges.
In this article, we'll address how JHU defines and handles academic misconduct, as well as why you need a student defense attorney to represent you throughout the school's processes.
How Does Johns Hopkins University Define “Academic Misconduct?”
According to JHU's academic ethics policy, academic misconduct is any action or attempted action that may result in creating an unfair academic advantage for oneself or an unfair academic advantage or disadvantage for any other member or members of the academic community. This includes a wide variety of behaviors for any other member or members of the academic community. This includes a wide variety of behaviors such as plagiarism, cheating, and other behaviors. Some examples of academic misconduct are listed below.
Cheating
- Fraud, deceit, or dishonesty in an academic assignment, text, or examination
- Use or consultation or unauthorized materials (e.g., notes, books, etc.) on assignments, tests, or examinations
- Unauthorized discussion of a test or exam during its administration
- Copying content on an assignment, test or examination from another individual
- Obtaining a test or examination or the answers to a test or exam before administration of the test or exam
- Studying from an old test or exam whose circulation is prohibited by the faculty member
- Use or consultation of unauthorized electronic devices or software (e.g., calculators, cellular phones, tablets, computers, etc.) in connection with assignments, tests, or exams
- Use of paper writing services or paper databases
- Unauthorized collaboration with another individual on assignments, tests, or exams
- Submission of an assignment, test or exam for a regrade after modifying the original content submitted
- Permitting another individual to contribute to or complete an assignment, or to contribute to or take a test or exam on the student's behalf
- Tampering with, disabling or damaging equipment for testing or evaluation
- Unauthorized submission of the same or substantially similar work, assignment, test, or exam to fulfill the requirements of more than one course or different requirements within the same course
Plagiarism
- Use of material produced by another person without acknowledging its source
- Submission of the same or substantially similar work of another person
- Use of the results of another individual's work while representing it as your own
- Improper documentation or acknowledgment of quotations, words, ideas, or paraphrased passages taken from published or unpublished sources
- Wholesale copying of passages from the works of others into your homework, essay, term paper, or dissertation without acknowledgment
- Paraphrasing of another person's characteristic or original phraseology, metaphor, or other literary devices without acknowledgment
Forgery/Falsification/Lying
- Falsification or invention of data or information for an assignment, test or exam, or in an experiment
- Citation of nonexistent sources or the creation of false information in an assignment
- Attributing to source ideas of information that is not included in the source
- Forgery of university or other official documents impersonating a faculty member
- Request for special consideration from faculty members or university officials based upon false information or deception
- Fabrication of a reason for needing an extension on or for missing an assignment, test, or exam
- Claiming falsely to have completed and/or turned in an assignment, test, or exam
- Falsely reporting an academic ethics violation by another student
- Providing false or misleading information to an instructor or any other University official
- Failing to identify yourself honestly in the context of an academic obligation
Facilitating Academic Dishonesty
- Intentionally or knowingly aiding another student to commit an academic ethics violation
- Allowing another student to copy from one's own assignment, test, or exam
- Making available copies of course materials whose circulation is prohibited
- Completing an assignment or taking a test or exam for another student
- Sharing paper mill/answer bank websites or information with other students
Unfair Competition
- Intentionally damaging the academic efforts of another student
- Stealing another student's academic materials
- Denying another student needed University resources
Johns Hopkins' Procedures for Handling Suspected Violations of Academic Integrity
The process for mitigating instances of academic misconduct is split into sections at Johns Hopkins. Here they are:
Section A
If a student is suspected of a possible violation of academic misconduct, the faculty member in charge of the course will review the evidence and the facts of the case promptly with the student. If, after speaking with the student(s), the faculty member determines that a violation of academic misconduct has occurred, the faculty member may either (1) settle the case directly with the student with appropriate notification to the Office of the Dean of Student Life or (2) promptly notify the Ethics Board in writing, through the Office of the Dean of Student Life, giving them details of the case.
Section B
If the faculty member resolves a case with the students, penalties may be imposed. This resolution process is for a first ethics offense only, where a student accepts responsibility with a faculty member and agrees to the sanctions imposed. If the faculty member, however, notifies the Ethics Board the Director of Student Conduct will do the following:
- File the faculty member's written charge in the Ethics Board's file in the Office of the Dean of Student Life
- Collect all pertinent evidence (including syllabi, original work, and written statements)
- Set a hearing date, time, and location
Section C
When the conditions warrant a hearing, the Director of Student Conduct (or designee) shall appoint a hearing panel of unbiased persons to consider the case. During the hearing, the faculty member and student in question will give presentations and present evidence to the hearing panel. Then, witnesses will be called (if applicable). After all witnesses have presented, the faculty member and accused student will both present a closing statement and any mitigation circumstances which they feel are appropriate. Following the closing statements, the board will deliberate.
Penalties
One or more of the following penalties may be imposed upon students found responsible for violations of academic misconduct; this is a non-exhaustive list.
- A warning letter
- A notation on the student's permanent transcript explaining the violation
- Retake of the examination, paper, or exercise involved
- Lowering of the course grade
- Failure in the course
- Probation
- Expulsion
Appeals
An accused student may appeal a panel's finding of responsibility and/or sanction(s) within 10 business days of the date of the notice of outcome solely on one or more of the following grounds: (1) procedural error that could have materially affected the determination of responsibility or sanction(s); (2) new information that was not available at the time of the hearing and that could reasonably have affected the determination of responsibility or sanction(s); excessiveness of the sanction(s).
Academic Integrity Advisor
An academic misconduct violation 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 at 888-535-3686 for more information.
