The private research institution Wake Forest University, located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, enrolls about 7,500 undergraduate and graduate students on its suburban 340-acre campus. Wake Forest offers a broad range of undergraduate and graduate degrees, including medicine, law, and other doctoral programs, consistent with its motto to translate a passion for knowledge into compassionate service.
Wake Forest University ensures the integrity of its academic programs through an Honor System that includes procedures and punishments for academic misconduct. Read more here about college academic misconduct and here about the history of academic misconduct. Academic misconduct comes in many different types.
Read below for an outline of what Wake Forest defines to be academic misconduct, how it determines misconduct, and what you can do about it if you face academic-misconduct charges at Wake Forest University. As a national academic-misconduct attorney and advisor, Joseph D. Lento of the Lento Law Firm wants you to know what you may face and what you can do about it.
Academic Misconduct at Wake Forest University
Wake Forest University's Honor System includes an Honor Code, Student Code of Conduct, and other policies on such things as sexual misconduct. The Honor Code deals with traditional forms of academic misconduct like cheating and plagiarism. The Student Code of Conduct defines standards of behavior, preserving the university's values as a place of peace, order, and growth through learning. Both the Honor Code and Student Code of Conduct implicate procedures that may lead to sanctions up to expulsion from Wake Forest University.
Honor Code. Wake Forest University's Honor Code procedures define punishable academic misconduct to include cheating, plagiarism, stealing, deception, other academic misconduct, and contempt. The procedures define these violations as follows:
- cheating means providing or receiving unauthorized assistance in academic examinations or assignments, use of sources beyond those authorized by the instructor in carrying out assignments, or use without permission of tests or other academic material belonging to university faculty or staff;
- plagiarism means using by paraphrase or direct quotation the published or unpublished work of another person or online material without acknowledging the source, unacknowledged use of materials prepared by another, or non-attributed use of any portion of a computer algorithm or data file;
- stealing means unauthorized taking, misappropriation, or possession of any property belonging to, owned by, or maintained by the university, an organization, or another individual, or possession, retention, or disposal of stolen property;
- deception means attempting to avoid meeting stated course requirements, citing sources in a bibliography not directly used in the academic exercise, or submitting falsified, invented, or fictitious data or evidence, or concealing or distorting the true nature, origin, or function of data or evidence;
- academic misconduct means violating university policies by tampering with grades, taking part in obtaining or distributing any part of an unadministered academic exercise, attempting to gain access or to aid another in gaining access to any computer account other than one's own without proper authorization, or attempting to gain access or to aid another in gaining access, without proper authorization, to department offices, faculty offices, laboratories, or any other place where unadministered assignments are kept; and
- contempt means instances of perjury (giving false testimony) or acts that otherwise obstruct the conduct process.
Student Code of Conduct. Wake Forest University's Student Code of Conduct lists other minimum expectations that, although not core forms of academic misconduct, may relate to and involve academic-misconduct charges. Honor Code violations that involve stealing or deception also violate the Student Code of Conduct's minimum expectations. The minimum expectations also prohibit such academic-misconduct related wrongs as:
- abuse of and contempt for the conduct process;
- bullying and cyberbullying;
- complicity;
- computer misuse;
- copyright violations;
- destruction or defacement of property;
- disruption or obstruction of university activities;
- failure to obey university officials; and
- unauthorized access.
Academic-Misconduct Procedures at Wake Forest University
Wake Forest University's academic-misconduct procedures authorize a Judicial Liaison to accept reports of alleged misconduct and, when the reports appear substantial, to notify the accused student and assign an investigator. The investigator produces a report from which the Judicial Liaison determines whether the matter should proceed to a hearing. If so, then the Judicial Liaison issues formal charges and schedules the hearing before an Honor and Ethics Council.
Wake Forest's procedures grant the accused student a student advisor to assist at the misconduct hearing. The accused student may request an opening hearing, in which six students whom the accused appoints and six students whom the complainant appoints become the fact-finding body. The Honor and Ethics Council decides in the case of a closed hearing. The accused may question testifying witnesses, but the fact-finder may also accept statements from unavailable witnesses. The hearing panel determines whether a violation occurred and, if so, what is the appropriate sanction. Appeals from an adverse decision are possible.
Academic-Misconduct Sanctions at Wake Forest University
Wake Forest University treats academic misconduct seriously. The university's academic-misconduct procedures list these potential sanctions:
- permanent failing grade in the course;
- replaceable failing grade in the course;
- community-service hours;
- disciplinary probation;
- activities suspension;
- enrollment suspension; and
- expulsion.
An Attorney Advisor's Role
A national academic-misconduct attorney and advisor like Joseph D. Lento of the Lento Law Firm can play a critical role defending academic-misconduct charges at Wake Forest University. While Wake Forest's misconduct procedures limit counsel's role, they still provide opportunities for Joseph D. Lento to evaluate allegations, marshall and challenge evidence, and analyze and critique proposed findings, all with the aim of defeating false or exaggerated charges. A skilled and experienced attorney from the Lento Law Firm can expose the weaknesses in an academic-misconduct case, resulting in defeat and dismissal of the charge.
Academic-misconduct allegations can ruin a reputation, education, and career. Don't let it happen to you. Expert counsel is your greatest advantage to defend and defeat academic-misconduct allegations. Thousands of college and university students nationwide have retained Joseph D. Lento at the Lento Law Firm to represent them in misconduct matters. Joseph Lento and the Lento Law Firm have the knowledge, resources, and expertise to help you through a misconduct proceeding at Wake Forest University. Call 888-535-3686 to schedule a consultation, or use the online service.
