Community Standards Code

Community Standards & Student Conduct

MISSION STATEMENT

As members of the Lourdes University community we have rights and responsibilities. These rights and responsibilities help us to create an atmosphere of concern and caring, one conducive to the teaching/learning process. We are committed to providing a fair and equitable conduct process that values educational sanctions. We value the integrity of each person as well as the importance of community and as such seek to balance the common good with the needs of the individual.

Student rights include the following:

  • Freedom from threats.
  • Freedom from acts of violence.
  • Freedom from unfair or obscene treatment from others.
  • Freedom from interference from others in an unreasonable and unauthorized manner while in class, activities and University events.
  • Freedom from theft and willful destruction of personal property.
  • Right to study and learn in an atmosphere of academic freedom.
  • Right to fundamental fairness in University disciplinary action.
  • Right to be governed by justifiable academic regulations.
  • Right to be informed of the regulations for academic and social conduct, and graduation requirements of the University.
  • Right to petition for redress of grievances, academic and non‑academic.
  • Right to know the results of any disciplinary hearing in which you are the alleged victim of any crime of violence or sex offense.

Student responsibilities include the following:

  • To respect the rights and property of others.
  • To be fully acquainted and comply with the published rules and regulations of the University.
  • To comply with all local, state, and federal laws.
  • To recognize that student actions reflect upon the individuals involved as well as upon the entire University community.
  • To recognize the University’s obligation to provide an environment conducive for learning and academic inquiry.
  • To adhere to the academic requirements determined by individual instructors.

INCIDENT REPORTS

To file an incident report documenting a violation of your student rights or the Community Standards Code (link to pdf file), please complete the electronic incident report form or print out the PDF version and submit to the Welcome Center (see links on the right of this page). You may contact Alisa Smith to discuss any conduct, Sexual Misconduct (Title IX), or safety related concerns you may have.

ACADEMIC HONESTY

A goal of Lourdes University is to engage students in an honest and dynamic search for truth. Academic honesty is a hallmark of such a quest. Accordingly, students are expected and encouraged to engage in all aspects of their academic studies in an honest and ethical manner. Should instances of academic dishonesty arise, the following policies and procedures will be in force.

I. Definition:
Academic dishonesty is unethical behavior, which in any way violates the standards of scholarly conduct. It includes such behaviors as cheating on assignments or examinations, plagiarizing, submitting the same or essentially the same papers for more than one course without the consent of all instructors concerned, misappropriating library materials, or the destroying of or tampering with computer files. Also included in academic dishonesty is knowingly or intentionally helping another to violate any part of this policy.

Plagiarism is defined as presenting someone else’s work/ideas as one’s own such as submitting a paper written by someone else, failing to give credit to sources (books, articles, websites, and interview sources) in research papers, verbatim use of quoted (must have quotation marks or indentation), paraphrased, or summarized material without appropriate source citation and bibliographic attribution. It is the policy of this academic community to invoke sanctions against students who violate these standards of academic honesty or who engage in academically dishonest behavior.

II. Sanctions:
Faculty members who suspect a student of academic dishonesty may resolve the problem directly with the student. In cases where culpability is substantiated or admitted, the sanction may include failure of the course as well as other sanctions up to and including suspension or expulsion from the University. When a student is sanctioned, the faculty member must report the incident in writing to that faculty members’ Department Chairperson. A copy of the report will be sent to the Dean of the College and the Vice President of Academic Affairs. A student who has been sanctioned for more than one incident of academic dishonesty may receive additional sanctions as deemed appropriate by the Vice President of Academic Affairs, including, but not limited to, suspension or dismissal from Lourdes University.

III. Appeals Procedure:
The student has five (5) business days after notification of the sanction to appeal to the instructor. The instructor has five (5) business days to render a decision on the appeal. If unsatisfied, the student has five (5) business days after notification of the instructor’s decision to appeal the sanction to the instructor’s Department Chair. The Department Chair has five (5) business days to render a decision on the appeal. If still unsatisfied, the student has five (5) business days after the notification of the Chair’s decision to appeal the sanction to the Dean of the faculty member’s college. The Dean has five (5) business days to render a decision. If still unsatisfied, the student has five (5) business days after the notification of the Dean’s decision to appeal the sanction to the Vice President of Academic Affairs. The Vice President of Academic Affairs has five (5) business days to render a decision, which is final. All steps of the appeal and responses must be in writing. If any deadline for a decision on the appeal is unmet, with the exception of that by the Vice President of Academic Affairs, the student may make the appeal to the next person in the process.

Read the complete code of conduct