Why Do We Have a Student Honor Code?

Mission

The mission of the Honor Code at the University of Colorado Boulder is to secure an environment where academic integrity can flourish.

Values

The Honor Code recognizes the importance of honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility and aims to instill these principles as essential features of the University of Colorado Boulder campus. The Honor Code allows all students to have responsibility for, and the ability to attain, appropriate recognition for their academic and personal achievements.

What is a Violation?

Academic Misconduct includes any act in which a student gains or provides, or attempts to gain or provide, an unfair academic advantage over other students. These acts include, but are not limited to the following and also include any attempts to engage in the following:

  1. Cheating:
    1. Use of prohibited notes, study aids, or other explicitly prohibited course materials;
    2. Allowing another party to do one's work/exam and turning in that work/exam as one's own;
    3. Copying coursework from another student or from an unauthorized source (including but not limited to internet sources);
    4. Collaborating on coursework when prohibited;
    5. Failing to abide by the specific written course instructions, including, but not limited to, exams, homework assignments, and syllabi;
    6. Clicker Fraud. Using, or having someone else use, clicker technology improperly in an effort to receive academic credit.
  2. Plagiarism. This includes, but is not limited to:
    1. Portrayal of another’s work or ideas as one’s own;
    2. Improper citation of another’s work;
    3. Improper citation of one’s own previous work;
    4. Use of paper writing services or technology (such as essay bots) whether paid or unpaid.
  3. Resubmission. Submitting the same or similar work for credit, including, but not limited to, homework, more than once without permission from all course faculty involved.
  4. Fabrication. Falsification or creation of data, research, or resources, or altering graded work without the prior consent of the course faculty.
  5. Lying. Deliberate falsification with the intent to deceive, as it relates to an academic submission.
  6. Bribery. Providing, offering, or taking rewards in exchange for a grade, an assignment, or in the aiding of Academic Misconduct.
    1. Rewards include, but are not limited to: currency, tangible items, services, or recompense.
  7. Threat. Acting to intimidate a student, staff, or faculty member for the purpose of affecting a grade or in an effort to prevent the reporting of an Honor Code allegation, or in connection with any other form of Academic Misconduct.
    1. Retaliation. Retaliating against or discouraging, directly or through third parties, an individual from participating in the Honor Code process. To be considered retaliation, there must be a causal connection between a materially adverse action and the act of reporting a violation or participating in an Honor Code process. A materially adverse action is one that would dissuade a reasonable person from reporting a violation, and includes, but is not limited to, intimidation, 5 threats, or coercion. A determination of whether an action is materially adverse is a fact-dependent inquiry made on a case-by-case basis by Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution (SCCR) staff.
  8. Unauthorized Access. Gaining access to, giving access to, or use of, protected academic information including, but not limited to: CU-SIS; a faculty, student, or staff member’s computer, files, and/or physical space; and/or secure information on an online server.
  9. Aiding Academic Misconduct. Facilitating any act which may help a student to gain an unfair academic advantage including, but not limited to, any of the aforementioned acts.
    1. Sharing course materials, including but not limited to personal notes, in an unauthorized online bank or forum, whether for profit or for free, is strongly discouraged and may result in a referral to the Honor Code.
    2. Sharing personal authentication credentials/login information to third party sites is strongly discouraged and may result in a referral to the Honor Code process.

Resolution Processes

SCCR resolves alleged prohibited conduct through the informal resolution process or the formal resolution process. Resolution specialists have the authority and sole discretion to determine the type of resolution process without Honor Code Advisory Board (HCAB) consultation.

Informal Resolution

This process may generally include, but is not limited to, a meeting with a resolution specialist, completion of the assigned resolution outcomes and/or participation in the CU Restorative Justice process.

During the meeting, if the resolution specialist determines that the informal resolution process may be appropriate, the resolution specialist will offer it as an option to the responding student and address any questions the responding student may have about the process. If the responding student accepts responsibility for the alleged academic misconduct, agrees to, and completes the agreement developed during the meeting, then SCCR will consider the matter to be resolved informally. In some cases, the HCAB will also review the referrals before a final determination is made.

Formal Resolution

This process generally includes: i. written notice of the factual allegations and alleged academic misconduct; ii. the opportunity to meet with the resolution specialist to address the allegations and provide information to the resolution specialist; iii. the resolution specialist reviewing the allegations and making factual and violation determinations based on preponderance of the evidence; and iv. written notice to the responding student of the resolution specialist’s determinations.

The resolution specialist will consider the following in making this determination: i. the allegations in the Resolution Meeting Notice and the student's response to those allegations; ii. all documents and/or information that the resolution specialist finds relevant, including, without limitation, relevant documents presented by the responding student, reporting party, or any other interested party; iii. the oral or written statements of any witnesses with relevant information, as presented by the responding student, any reporting party, or other interested party, as it appears in a referral, and/or as requested by the resolution specialist; and iv. the recommendations of HCAB regarding responsibility and Resolution Outcomes related to the incident or precedent.

Questions regarding academic integrity should be directed to Student Conduct & Conflict Resolution, studentconduct@colorado.edu, 10 UCB Boulder, CO 80309, phone 303-492-5550.

The full Student Honor Code can also be viewed on the Student Conduct & Conflict Resolution website.