APPENDIX B: THE HONOR CODE

GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY
HONOR CODE

The Honor Committee is a group of students elected from the student body whose primary and indispensable duty is to instill the concept and spirit of the Honor Code within the student body. The secondary function of this group shall be to sit as a hearing committee on all alleged violations of the code.

Duties of the Honor Committee:
The Honor Code of George Mason University shall deal specifically with

A. Cheating and attempted cheating

B. Plagiarism

C. Lying

D. Stealing

A. Cheating encompasses the following:

1. The willful giving or receiving of an unauthorized, unfair, dishonest, or unscrupulous advantage in academic work over other students.
2. The above may be accomplished by any means whatsoever, including, but not limited to, the following: fraud, duress, deception, theft, trick, talking, signs, gestures, copying from another student, and the unauthorized use of study aids, memoranda, books, data or other information.
3. Attempted Cheating.

B. Plagiarism encompasses the following:

1. Presenting as one's own the words, the work, or the opinions of someone else without proper acknowledgement.
2. Borrowing the sequence of ideas, the arrangement of material, or the pattern of thought of someone else without proper acknowledgement.

C. Lying encompasses the following:

The willful and knowledgeable telling of an untruth, as well as any form of deceit, attempted deceit, or fraud in an oral or written statement relating to academic work. This includes but is not limited to:

1. Lying to administration and faculty members.
2. Falsifying any University documents by mutilation, addition, or deletion.
3. Lying to Honor Committee Members and counsels during investigation and hearing. This may constitute a second charge, with the Committee members who acted as judges during that specific hearing acting as accusers.

D. Stealing encompasses the following:

Taking or appropriating without the permission to do so, and with the intent to keep or to make use of wrongfully, property belonging to any member of the George Mason University community or any property located on the University campus. This section is relevant only to academic work and related materials.

It is the responsibility of all professors, to the best of their ability, to maintain the integrity of the learning and testing process, both in the classroom and outside of it, and to maximize conditions that foster academic integrity. Faculty may actively proctor examinations in situations which they believe warrant it.

In order to alleviate misunderstandings, each professor is required to delineate at the beginning of each semester what constitutes a violation of the Honor Code in their class. This should include an explanation of:

A. The extent to which collaboration or group participation is permissible in preparing term papers, laboratory exhibits or notebooks, reports of any kind, tests, quizzes, examinations, homework or any other work.

B. The extent to which the use of study aids, memoranda, books, data, or other information is permissible to fulfill course requirements.

C. Guidelines on what constitutes plagiarism, including requirements for citing sources.

Faculty members who witness an Honor Code violation should proceed as outlined under Procedure for Reporting A Violation.

Students should request a delineation of policy from each professor if none is given at the beginning of each semester. Students should also request an explanation of any part of the delineation that they do not understand. It is the responsibility of students to understand their professors' policies with regard to the Honor Code. It is also the responsibility of students to understand the provisions of the Honor Code.

All students in the university have the duty as participating members of this community to report to a member of the Honor Committee any violations of the Honor Code, within the prescribed time as outlined under Procedure for Reporting a Violation. This duty is important not only because it enforces the Honor Code, but also because it gives all students the opportunity to express their respect for personal integrity and honest academic community.

All students, faculty or staff witnessing or discovering a violation of the Honor Code shall enlist, wherever and whenever possible, one or more corroborating witnesses to the overt act. The accuser(s) (student or faculty or staff) will, within 15 working days from date of realization, notify the Honor Committee. The Honor Committee will, within five Honor Committee working days, mail a letter of accusation to the suspected party. This letter will be addressed to the accused student's current mailing address listed with the Registrar.

The Honor Committee shall retain a copy of the accusation letter. The letter will inform the suspected party that they have five Honor Committee working days to contact the Honor Committee office and make an appointment to see the Chairperson to be advised of their rights and options. The Honor Committee shall commence an investigation, which will not involve a presumption of guilt on the part of the accused. Any member of the George Mason University academic community who has knowledge of but does not report an Honor Code violation may be accused of lying under the Honor Code.

Counsel for the accused and accuser may be provided by any member of the George Mason University student community, including members of the Honor Committee, but not including students of the School of Law.

The Honor Committee may require any member of the University community to appear as a witness before the committee at the time of the hearing. All requests for such appearances shall be issued by the Chairperson of the Honor Committee, or by the counsel appointed to that case. The appearance of the accuser is required.

To find a student guilty of an honor violation, there must be a four-fifths majority vote (four to one) for a verdict of "guilty." Clear and convincing evidence must be presented to find the student guilty.

A student may not be tried more than once for the same offense except when an appeal is granted.

If the accused is found guilty of an honor violation, the Honor Committee shall determine the nature of the penalty by majority vote.

The Honor Committee is not restricted to any one kind of penalty but will determine a penalty commensurate with the seriousness of the offense. Typical of the range of penalties which may be given are:

A. Oral Reprimand: An oral statement to the student given by the chairperson of the hearing. No entry is made on the student's scholastic record.

B. Written Reprimand: A written censure which is placed in the confidential files of the Honor Committee and in the student's academic file, but is not made part of the student's scholastic transcript records.

C. Non-Academic Probation: Exclusion from holding or running for an elected or appointed office in any organization or activity associated with the University, ineligibility to participate in any athletic or other activity representing the University on either an intercollegiate or club level, and ineligibility to serve as a working staff member of any student organization. This action is noted in the judicial administrator's file but is not made a part of the student's scholastic record.

D. Service Hours: Library or other supervised University service hours to be completed by a specific time. Upon completion the hold on the student's records would be removed.

E. Failing Grade: Recommendation in writing to the instructor for a grade of F for the work involved, or for the entire course. The student's permanent record will reflect the academic evaluation made by the instructor.

F. Recommendation of Suspension from the University for one or more semesters: A student's scholastic record would read: "Non-academic suspension from (Date) to (Date) ." The recommendation is made to the Associate Provost and Dean for Undergraduate Studies, or the Dean of the Graduate School*.

G. Recommendation of Expulsion from the University: A student's scholastic record would read: "Non-academic expulsion as of (Date) ."

This penalty will be recommended to the Associate Provost and Dean for Undergraduate Studies or the Dean of the Graduate School* only under extraordinary circumstances, such as for repeated offenses.

* As of July 1, 1993, the position of the Dean of the Graduate School no longer exists. Recommendations concerning graduate students should be referred to the Office of the Provost.

A written request for an appeal detailing new evidence, procedural irregularities, or other sufficient grounds, which may have sufficient bearing on the outcome of the trial, must be presented to the Chairperson of the Honor Committee within seven working days after the date of which the verdict was rendered.

The written request will be reviewed by at least three voting members who were not involved with the original case. If a new hearing is granted, no voting member from the original hearing may vote in a second or subsequent hearings of the same case.

The records of the hearing shall be kept in the file of the Honor Committee. These records shall include a tape or a full transcript of the hearing and all evidence presented at the hearing. If the evidence belongs to any person other than the accused, the original shall be returned to the owner and a copy shall be kept with the records of the Honor Committee.

The Honor Committee shall be proportionally composed of students from each school and faculty advisor(s), although the latter shall be non-voting members. Undecided majors, B.I.S. students and continuing education students shall be considered together as a school. The total number of members shall be as close to one-half of one percent of the student body as practicable. Freshmen will be appointed in the fall to serve until the following spring election. One or more clerks will be appointed by the committee from the student body who will serve as aides to the Chairperson.

The Chairperson and the Vice-Chairperson of the committee will be elected by majority vote of the committee members. For a particular hearing, five members of the Honor Committee will be designated as voting members.

The faculty hearing advisor, as a non-voting member of the committee, must sit with, and advise the committee at all hearings. The faculty advisor and faculty hearing advisor shall be chosen by the Honor Committee.

Previous Honor Committee members may serve during the summer term.

Any student who maintains a 2.0 grade-point average and is in good standing with the University shall be eligible for the Honor Committee. A committee member must maintain a 2.0 average to continue in office.

The Honor Committee shall be elected in the spring semester. The term of office shall begin upon election and run until the following spring election.

In the fall semester the Chairperson shall appoint new members to fill any vacancies that have occurred and to fill the freshman seats on the committee.

All appointments made by the Chairperson are subject to a majority vote of approval by the remaining members.

An accused who challenges the right of any member of the Honor Committee to sit in judgement on him or her must present cause to the Chairperson of the hearing.

The hearing committee shall then decide the validity of the challenge with the challenged member abstaining from voting. A simple majority shall decide the validity of any challenge. A successfully challenged committee member shall not be present during the hearing.

A member of the Honor Committee who feels prejudiced as to the facts of the case, is a close friend or relative of the accused, or would not be able to render an impartial judgment shall withdraw from a specific hearing.

Upon petition of 20 percent of the student body, amendments to or revisions of the Honor Code may be proposed for ratification, said amendments and/or revisions are to be voted on by the student body as a whole. A two-thirds majority of the votes cast shall be necessary for acceptance of any amendments or revisions.

The Honor Committee may also propose amendments to be voted on by the student body as described in paragraph one of this section.

Approved amendments will take effect immediately except that new provisions will not be applied to cases initiated prior to amendment.

Revised September 1988

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