Academic Integrity Procedure

Northeastern students are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic honesty and integrity. Unless specified otherwise, all work submitted by a student is to be the original creation of that student. Penalties for plagiarism*, including self-plagiarism**, cheating, falsifying work, or other acts of academic dishonesty may include, but are not limited to, a verbal or written warning to the student, no credit, or reduced credit for an assignment, administrative withdrawal from the course, "F" grade for the course, disciplinary probation, or expulsion from the college.

When a student commits an act of academic dishonesty, the faculty member must meet with the student to discuss the alleged violation of academic integrity and the evidence available.

Following the meeting, the faculty member decides on the sanction to be given to the student (e.g., no credit or reduced credit for an assignment, "F" grade for the course, etc.). The faculty member will report the incident to their Department Chair.

After consulting with the student and instructor, the Department Chair will place the student on disciplinary probation.

The student shall be notified in writing of this action, which will be communicated to the Vice President of Academic Affairs, Vice President of Student Services, Registrar, and the Office of Financial Aid. If the student commits a second act of academic dishonesty, the student will be placed on one-semester academic suspension or expulsion from the college.

Any act of academic dishonesty may also result in the student being required to complete a program designed to educate that student about academic integrity and associated issues.

Students who violate this policy have rights accorded to them by the Northeastern Judicial System. Please refer to the Northeastern Student Handbook, Section 5.11, for details. 

A student who fails a course because of a violation of this policy may retake the course. However, the original "F" grade and the new grade will be included in the student's overall GPA calculation. This is an exception to the Repeated Course Policy.

*Plagiarism is using the words, images, thoughts, and structural patterns of someone else's work without giving credit to the source through in-text citation and reference or work's cited page. Plagiarism also includes the excessive use of quotations, summarization, or paraphrasing.

**Self-plagiarism is a student's re-submission of all or part of a written, oral, or artistic work they have previously submitted to another class. Self-referenced work must be pre-approved by the instructor.

Note: The Vice President of Academic Affairs will maintain a list of all students on disciplinary probation. Each time the VP is notified of a student being placed on probation by a Department Chair they will review the list to determine if it is the student's second violation.