On April 29, 2016 the Ashesi Judicial Committee (AJC) adjudicated a case of alleged plagiarism in a Leadership 1 course.
The AJC arrived at the conclusion that the student was guilty of plagiarism in his portion of a group assignment for Leadership 1. The case, which was initially considered for informal resolution, was escalated to the AJC level because the student had a prior informal resolution on file.
As stated in Ashesi’s student handbook,
Academic dishonesty includes plagiarism, unauthorized exchange of information or use of material during an examination, unauthorized transfer of information or completed work among students, use of the same paper in more than one course, unauthorized collaboration on assignments, and other unethical behavior. Disciplinary action will be taken against perpetrators of academic dishonesty – Section 7.4.
After deliberating, the AJC came up with the following sanction:
- The student will receive a failing grade for the Leadership 1 course.
The AJC would like to remind the Ashesi community of the following:
- Students should take a great deal of responsibility in ensuring that work submitted for grading is neither rushed nor sloppy.
- Tutors at the writing center are available for assistance with assignments and/or as a second eye to catch citation errors.
- Students should be mindful of their responsibility in group assignments and take this seriously.
- If students receive an Informal Resolution they should consider it a warning to take exceptional care in maintaining integrity. In a case where a student has a pre-existing Informal Resolution case, a second infraction, whether minor or major, will result in the case being escalated to the AJC level immediately.
- The minimum sanction that the AJC issues when a student is found guilty of academic misconduct is a failing grade for the course.
- Academic honesty is very important at Ashesi, and is central to our mission.
