Academic Integrity
Excelsior University is committed to fostering and maintaining a culture of academic integrity, student success, and teaching and learning excellence, including authenticity, fairness, equitability, and accountability in all aspects of a student’s educational experience. As members of the Excelsior University community, learners, faculty, and staff are dedicated to behaving in a manner consistent with the highest ethical and intellectual standards.
Excelsior University prohibits academic dishonesty. No student shall engage in activities related to academic dishonesty, including, but not limited to, cheating, plagiarism, submitting work that is not one’s original content, submitting assignments generated by artificial intelligence platforms unless explicitly allowed in the assignment’s directions, not identifying the work of others within one’s work, distributing course content without permission of the University, not completing assigned work on one’s own unless otherwise directed, submitting work—in part or in whole—more than once, and/or misrepresentation of data, sources, and author. Unfamiliarity with this policy does not mean students are not accountable for adhering to the policy and will not be considered a valid explanation or excuse for violating the policy. Failure to adhere to the academic dishonesty policy may result in remediation and/or disciplinary action.
DEFINITIONS
Plagiarism is the act of passing off another person’s ideas, writing, or other work as one’s own. Plagiarism can occur in writing or audio-visual format. It can occur in small portions of a student’s work or in the entire submission. Using artificial intelligence in lieu of one’s own writing falls under this umbrella as well, unless explicitly allowed in the assignment’s directions. Plagiarism can be either intentional or accidental but is a breach of academic integrity regardless. For more information on avoiding plagiarism, visit the Excelsior OWL Avoiding Plagiarism Tutorial.
Self-Plagiarism is the act of re-using a student’s own work in a new context without prior approval of the instructor and proper citation of the previous work.
Cheating is engaging or attempting to engage in any activity prohibited by the University that gives a student an unfair advantage over other students in a course or exam. This includes allowing others to complete an academic assessment or a portion of an academic assessment or assignment.
Contract Cheating is when a student engages with, or attempts to engage with, a third party to complete their assignment, assessment, or activity. This includes, but is not limited to, hiring a third party to complete work, downloading a paper from a “free” essay site or a paid essay mill, or asking a friend or family member to complete student work. This includes the trading of an already submitted and graded assignment in return for help on a new assignment. For more information on contract cheating, see Turnitin: What is Contract Cheating and Why Does it Matter?
Collusion is any kind of cooperation between students that gives an unfair advantage to one student, or a group of students, over others in the course or exam, including using a friend or family member’s assignment and submitting it as one’s own.
Fabrication/Falsification is the action or process of falsifying any information, data, academic documents, records, or citations. Falsification of records and/or official documents submitted to the University may occur prior to or otherwise independent of a student’s enrollment. This policy applies with equal force to such conduct.
Misrepresentation is any act or omission that is intended to deceive for academic advantage. This also includes misrepresenting oneself or one’s status in the University.
Investigation is the act of gathering and assessing any necessary data, facts, and evidence related to a suspected academic integrity violation.
RESOURCES
Excelsior believes that student awareness and understanding of academic integrity is key to maintaining a culture of academic integrity. Therefore, the University provides the following resources to build awareness and understanding:
- The Excelsior University Honor Code
- The Excelsior OWL includes tutorials and information on avoiding plagiarism, copyright violations, and proper citation and attribution.
- CCS101: Academic Integrity Tutorial: a non-credit bearing self-paced course in Canvas that explains academic integrity violations and how to avoid them and offers students chances to apply their knowledge to specific examples.
- The Excelsior University Cornerstone Course: a required first course at the University that includes information on Excelsior’s policies and procedures regarding academic integrity and instruction on avoiding plagiarism through proper paraphrasing, quoting, and citation methods.
- The Excelsior University Library Tutorial on Citing and Writing
- Instructors, Advisors, and Student Success Coaches: Students should also view their instructor and academic advisor as valuable resources if they have any questions or concerns about what constitutes an academic integrity violation in their course.
- Excelsior University Anti-Plagiarism Tool
Use of Third-Party Plagiarism and Cheating Detection Services
Excelsior has the right to determine the originality and authenticity of a student’s academic work (e.g., papers, projects, discussion posts). Reports by a designated service such as Turnitin and Authorship may be used as part of regular course instruction and as evidence in an Excelsior investigation of academic integrity policy violations and in support of Excelsior disciplinary action(s).
Academic Integrity Incident Types
When a student is suspected of violating the Academic Integrity Policy, the incident is evaluated individually to determine both the severity and persistence of the behavior. Student incidents will be categorized according to the types indicated below, which provides guidance on the necessary course of action.
The types of violations indicated below are cumulative, and they are based on the severity of the incident.
Penalties for violations of the academic integrity policy depend upon the severity of the incident and can range from being asked to review academic integrity resources up through withdrawal from the University.
Teachable Moments and Incidents
If a student has previous documented academic integrity incidents or previous teachable moments recorded with the University, this may impact how a new incident is categorized and handled.
A. TEACHABLE MOMENTS
In some cases, a student may unintentionally or unknowingly commit a minor academic integrity violation, for example, minor issues of improper paraphrasing, citation, missing quotation marks, and/or minor self-plagiarism incidents. This also includes a first-time use of artificial intelligence to generate work unless explicitly allowed in the assignment’s directions. The decision of whether an incident should be considered a “teachable moment” is at the discretion of the instructor and/or department chair.
The instructor will provide the student with individualized feedback and information about academic integrity and resources to improve the student’s awareness and understanding. The resources may include any or all of those listed above, including CCS101 and Excelsior OWL tutorials on plagiarism, writing, and citations.
B. TYPE 1 INCIDENTS
Repeat instances of poor writing or citation “teachable moments”, including repeated use of artificial intelligence to complete assignments, that require more intense guidance, instruction, and intervention.
Remediation and disciplinary actions are contextualized based on the individual student and course circumstances, the severity of the incident, and any record of previous incidents. For Type 1 and Type 2 academic integrity incidents, this may include some or all of the following:
- Feedback and resources from the instructor
- Required completion of CCS101
- A low grade or a grade of 0 on the assignment or exam with the opportunity to revise and resubmit the work with corrections for a new grade
- A low grade or a grade of 0 on the assignment or exam without the opportunity to resubmit
C. TYPE 2 INCIDENTS
Intentional plagiarism in student work. For example, this can include a copied passage or passages from another source in a paper, presentation, or other media submission without proper paraphrasing, citations, and/or use of quotations.
Remediation and disciplinary actions are contextualized based on the individual student and course circumstances, the severity of the incident, and any record of previous incidents. For Type 1 and Type 2 academic integrity incidents, this may include some or all of the following:
- Feedback and resources from the instructor
- Required completion of CCS101
- A low grade or a grade of 0 on the assignment or exam with the opportunity to revise and resubmit the work with corrections for a new grade
- A low grade or a grade of 0 on the assignment or exam without the opportunity to resubmit
D. TYPE 3 INCIDENTS
Serious infractions of the academic integrity policy including:
- Type 3A: Multiple documented plagiarism and/or artificial intelligence violations. The student has been officially warned and documented in a previous incident and is aware that plagiarism violates the University policy. Repeated instances of Type 3A may constitute grounds for withdrawal from the University.
- Type 3B: Cheating, contract cheating, fabrication, falsification, and/or collusion (see definitions above). A single instance of a Type 3B incident may constitute grounds for withdrawal from the University.
Type 3 incidents are serious academic integrity violations with corresponding serious disciplinary action, which may include some or all of the following:
- A low grade or a grade of 0 on the assignment or exam without the opportunity to resubmit
- Failure of the course or exam
- Withdrawal from the University
- Revocation of an Excelsior University degree
The University administration (School Deans, Registrar, and the Office of the Provost) reserves the right to take any or all of the following actions:
- Assign a failing grade for an examination, assignment, or course
- Look back at courses or exams from previous terms or the same term for other violations
- Gather and review a student’s course or exam activity, IP address, and other data necessary for the academic integrity investigation
- Bar the student from enrolling in the University or registering for a course or examination
- Administratively withdraw the student. If the student is administratively withdrawn, the University reserves the right to revoke all credits
- Revoke any credits and/or degree and certificate previously awarded
- Require the student to return any earned certificate or diploma
- Suspend or terminate selected University services previously available to the student
- Retain all tuition and fees paid by the student
- Permanently annotate a student’s record to reflect academic withdrawal by the University in response to the student’s violation of this policy
- Notify educational institutions, licensing or certification boards, employers, or others, who have previously received a transcript or similar certification, (e.g., Letter of Completion (LOC), Letter of Qualification (LOQ)) of any action taken by the University
- Take other action, as appropriate
PROCEDURE
Student appeals related to Teachable Moments, Type 1, and Type 2 incidents must be submitted in writing via email to the dean of the school in which the incident occurred within 30 days of the initial decision:
- College of Liberal Arts and Sciences: clas@excelsior.edu
- College of Nursing and Health Sciences: cnhs@excelsior.edu
The dean will render a final decision on the appeal within 21 business days of receipt.
NOTE: Teachable moments, Type 1, and Type 2 incidents are school-level violations and at the sole discretion of the school in which the incident occurred. The dean’s decision on teachable moment, Type 1, and Type 2 incident appeals is final.
Student appeals related to Type 3 incidents should be submitted in writing to the Office of the Provost within 30 days of the initial decision.
Or by mail:
Office of the Provost and Chief Academic Officer
Excelsior University
7 Columbia Circle
Albany, NY 12203-5159
Appeals of Type 3 incidents in which the disciplinary action includes administrative withdrawal from the University or revocation of an Excelsior University degree are escalated to Excelsior’s Academic Integrity and Appeals Council.
