A high-quality learning environment is predicated on academic integrity. This is why colleges and universities enforce rules that preserve academic integrity. If students fail to comply with these rules, the consequences can be severe.
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, and avoid getting you a record for employers and outside institutions to see.
What is Academic Misconduct?
Colleges and universities in South Carolina enforce rules for purposes of maintaining academic integrity. These rules are intended to instill accountability and transparency in students when it comes to approaching their own work and respecting the works of others. Simply put, academic misconduct is any action that violates these rules.
Academic Misconduct Violations
There are numerous forms of academic misconduct. Here are some common definitions and examples of academic misconduct that may be punishable at your school:
Cheating: using deceitful, dishonest, or fraudulent tactics to gain academic merit.
- Having a stand-in take a test for you, or standing in for someone else
- Allowing another person to write a paper for you
- Sharing answers from a take-home exam (unless specifically authorized by an instructor)
- Copying from others during an exam
- Using unauthorized materials, written notes, prepared answers, or concealed answers to complete an exam or project
Plagiarism: using the intellectual material of another in your work without crediting the source.
- Passing off the concepts, ideas, or words of another person as your own
- Using the work of another in your academic work without properly giving them credit. This is known as citing the source. Giving them the proper credit means citing for every direct quote, paraphrased idea, summary, or any information that isn't considered common knowledge
Fabrication/Falsification: inventing or altering information to complete an academic exercise.
- Creating or modifying citations for a paper
- Making up interactions, discussions, events, or people to complete an academic assignment
Complicity: helping or attempting to help another student partake in academically dishonest acts.
- Allowing another student to copy your exam, project, or homework
- Letting another student use your identification to access restricted areas of campus
This is a general list that isn't intended to be either restrictive nor exhaustive. For a more detailed list of actions that could constitute academic misconduct, please see your school's code of conduct.
Consequences
The consequences of having an academic misconduct violation on your record can extend far beyond college sanctions. Jobs with access to academic records may question the integrity of those with violations of this nature. Professions in law, government jobs, careers in academia, for example, are likely to deny students employment due to a violation on their records.
South Carolina 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.
South Carolina 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:
- Aiken Technical College
- Allen University
- Anderson University
- Benedict College
- Bob Jones University
- Brown Mackie College Greenville
- Central Carolina Technical College
- Charleston Southern University
- Citadel Military College of South Carolina
- Claflin University
- Clemson University
- Clinton Junior College
- Coastal Carolina University
- Coker College
- College of Charleston
- Columbia College
- Columbia International University
- Converse College
- Denmark Technical College
- Erskine College and Seminary
- Florence Darlington Technical College
- Forrest College
- Francis Marion University
- Furman University
- Golf Academy of America Myrtle Beach
- Greenville Technical College
- Horry Georgetown Technical College
- ITT Technical Institute Columbia
- ITT Technical Institute Greenville
- ITT Technical Institute Myrtle Beach
- ITT Technical Institute North Charleston
- Lander University
- Limestone College
- Medix School Fortis College
- Midlands Technical College
- Miller Motte Technical College
- Miller Motte Technical College North Charleston
- Morris College
- Newberry College
- North Greenville University
- Northeastern Technical College
- Orangeburg Calhoun Technical College
- Piedmont Technical College
- Presbyterian College
- South Carolina State University
- South University Columbia
- Southern Wesleyan University
- Spartanburg Community College
- Spartanburg Methodist College
- Technical College of the Lowcountry
- The Art Institute of Charleston
- Tri County Technical College
- Trident Technical College
- University of Phoenix Columbia Campus
- University of South Carolina Aiken
- University of South Carolina Beaufort
- University of South Carolina Columbia
- University of South Carolina Lancaster
- University of South Carolina Salkehatchie
- University of South Carolina Sumter
- University of South Carolina Union
- University of South Carolina Upstate
- Virginia College
- Virginia College in Charleston
- Virginia College Columbia
- Virginia College Greenville
- Voorhees College
- W L Bonner College
- Williamsburg Technical College
- Winthrop University
- Wofford College
- York 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 South Carolina 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 South Carolina 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.
