All are encouraged to report instances of academic misconduct, for which they apply a penalty (e.g., a reduced mark on a piece of work that includes plagiarized content), to the Associate Head in writing. First offense may be dealt with a minor reprimand, and the reported cases are saved in the student’s file. This helps to prevent students from repeat offending.
The following steps are recommended by the Faculty of Science:
- evidence suggesting an infraction is identified by the instructor;
- the instructor meets the student to review the allegation, discuss the evidence, and get the student’s response, including a discussion of any factors in the student’s life that may have led to the inappropriate behaviour (often a student under stress will make a poor decision);
- the instructor may conclude that the evidence does not warrant a conclusion of misconduct;
- if the instructor feels that misconduct occurred and the student admits guilt, the instructor decides on the penalty to apply and then sends a summary report to the Associate Head. The penalty can be no stiffer than a zero for the piece of work under consideration but it could be as mild as a requirement to redo the assignment with full(er) understanding of the expectations.
- If the student does not admit guilt, then a fuller, documented report goes forward;
- the Associate Head meets with the student to provide the student with additional opportunity to make a case for the reported misconduct.
- The Associate Head may conclude that the evidence does not warrant a conclusion of misconduct or that misconduct occurred. In both case, the Associate Head forwards the instructor’s report to the Associate Dean with a cover memo.
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