Skidmore Honor Code

This section of the Student Handbook is important reading. It describes the College's expectations and your obligations as members of the community. Please review the Honor Code, and make a commitment to integrity and personal responsibility. The health and vitality of our learning community rests on the honor system.

Honor Code | Honor Code Commission |Honor Code Violations

Student Code of Conduct |Social Policies |Academic Policies

Academic Honor Code-Sanctions and Further Impact

Honor Code

Established at the request of the student body in 1921, the Skidmore Honor Code defines the guiding principles of honesty, respect, and integrity that should inform all choices and behavior patterns in the Skidmore academic and social communities. Each student, in matriculating at Skidmore College (or engaging in any Skidmore-sponsored activity or program as a non-matriculated student), agrees to the following code:

It is the responsibility of every student and every member of the faculty and staff, both by example and by instruction, to encourage students to embrace the standards of the Honor Code. If a student is aware of a violation, he or she is honor-bound to speak to the student, and if necessary, to report the student to the Dean of Student Affairs (DoSA) or other appropriate member of the staff or faculty. (Note: All references to the DoSA include the Dean or his/her designee.) If a member of the faculty is aware that someone has committed an academic violation, faculty legislation requires that the faculty member report the violation to the Associate Dean of Faculty for Academic Advising. It is only through a combination of ethical commitment, guidance, and sanctions that the Honor code can become a living set of principles for our community.

The Honor Code Commission

The commission is established to help educate Skidmore students concerning the values, responsibilities, and consequences of the Honor Code. The commission also works with other areas of the student governance system and the deans of the College to recommend changes in the Honor Code system.

As one regular manifestation of the Honor Code at Skidmore, at the end of each examination students must write and sign the following statement:

This statement, provided by the instructor and transcribed by each student, should be included in every exam. Failure on the part of a student to write and sign this statement makes it incumbent upon the faculty member responsible to speak to the student about a possible Honor Code violation.

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Honor Code Violations

The goal of the Honor Code is to help all members of the Skidmore community develop as individuals as well as to ensure the growth, safety, and ethical conduct of the community as a whole. While this handbook focuses, as is appropriate, on student responsibilities and rights, the faculty and administration of the College also pledge to live by the principles of the Honor Code and to honor a host of professional standards as well. The faculty and staff are, however, generally answerable to codes and processes defined by the faculty and administration of the College, not to the hearing processes defined in this Handbook.

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Student Code of Conduct

Basic College regulations are vital to community welfare, student safety, and high standards of ethical integrity. Skidmore expects all members of the community to conduct themselves in a manner supportive of the educational mission of the College. The College considers abuses and violations of these regulations major breaches of the College Honor Code that may lead to various sanctions, including the withdrawal of membership from the Skidmore community. In addition to following basic College regulations, community members are also obligated to observe the laws and ordinances of local, state, and federal governments. The College may press charges against community members engaged in criminal activities on or off the campus. All currently enrolled Skidmore students are required to report any circumstance that results in their arrest to the Dean of Student Affairs.   

Respect for the person, property, ideas, and perspectives of others and a commitment to intellectual and personal growth are values essential to membership in the College community. The policies listed below are illustrative only, not exhaustive; the College has the right and obligation to act upon conduct not in accord with the informing principles of the Honor Code or Code of Conduct.

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Social Policies

Good social conduct in the large majority of cases is a matter of common sense and the ordinary principles of fairness, respect, and honesty. Considering how we ourselves would like to be treated will usually provide guidance on how to interact with other members of the community. The social policies listed below cannot capture the essential value of a respectful and cooperative community. The items listed do, however, suggest some of the more serious issues that sometimes confront our community. Violations of the Skidmore Honor Code and Code of Conduct include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Obstruction or disruption of teaching or other educational activities on the College campus or other property used for educational purposes.

2. Obstruction that unreasonably interferes with the freedom of movement, both pedestrian and vehicular, on the College campus or other property used for educational purposes.

3. Any action or situation that recklessly or intentionally endangers mental or physical health.

4. Possession or use of firearms, explosives, dangerous chemicals, fireworks, or other dangerous weapons or instrumentalities on the College campus or other property used for educational purposes without the permission of the Dean of Student Affairs.

5. Damage to, misuse, or theft of College property or the property of any person.

6. Physical harm or threat of physical harm to any person or persons, including but not limited to assault, sexual abuse, or other forms of physical abuse.

7. Harassment, whether physical or verbal, oral or written, which is beyond the bounds of protected free speech, directed at a specific individual or groups of individuals, or easily construed as "fighting words" and likely to cause an immediate breach of the peace.

8. Abusive or disruptive behavior, verbal or physical, directed toward any member of the College community.

9. Failure to comply with the lawful directives of College officials who are performing the duties of their offices, especially as they are related to the maintenance of safety and security.

10. Forgery, alteration, fabrication, or misuse of identification cards, records, etc., or misrepresentation of any kind to a College office or official.

11. Unauthorized entry, use, or occupation of College facilities that are locked, closed, or otherwise restricted for use.

12. Disorderly conduct, including but not limited to public intoxication and lewd, indecent, or obscene behavior.

13. Illegal purchase, use, possession, or distribution of drugs, or drug paraphernalia, or alcohol, or paraphernalia associated with the dangerous consumption of alcohol including but not limited to a funnel, beer pong table, pipe, bong, hookah, etc.

14. Unauthorized entry into another person's computing directory, data theft, or unauthorized alteration of data, inappropriate use of the College's computing system (e.g., harassment using the College's electronic system), and other malicious or dishonest computer activities. The College treats violations of the computer codes of conduct as social or academic infractions or both.

15. Any action or situation that involves the forced consumption of alcohol or drugs by students, visitors, or other licensees and invitees for the purpose of initiation into or affiliation with any organization. The College will consider such behavior as hazing.

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Academic Policies

The Skidmore pamphlet on "The Ethics of Scholarship" defines some of the positive reasons why an academic community needs to observe the highest principles of intellectual honesty. These expectations include the bond of trust among faculty and students, without which there can be no truly educational enterprise; the need for students to embrace the rewarding struggles inherent in challenging intellectual endeavors; the excitement of mastering research and discovery processes in various disciplines; and the rewards of becoming a genuine participant in the larger community of scholars past and present. (Please refer to the Office of Academic Advising for additional information.)The academic Honor Code requires students to attend closely to such issues as the following:

1. Plagiarism is representing the work of another person as one's own: for example, the words, ideas, information, data, evidence, organizing principles, or style of presentation of someone else. Plagiarism includes paraphrasing or summarizing without acknowledgment, submission of another student's work as one's own, the purchase of prepared research or completed papers or projects, and the unacknowledged use of research sources gathered by someone else. Failure to indicate accurately the extent and precise nature of one's reliance on other sources is also a form of plagiarism. The student is responsible for understanding the legitimate use of sources; the appropriate ways of acknowledging his or her academic, scholarly, or creative indebtedness; and the consequences for violating the Skidmore Honor Code. The Integrity Board and the Board of Appeals will not regard claims of ignorance, unintentional error, or academic or personal pressures as adequate defenses for violations of the Honor Code.

   a.  Minor plagiarism offenses: for example, failure to acknowledge the source(s) of a few phrases, sentences, or an idea (though not an idea of importance to the thesis or central purpose of the paper or project).

   b.  More serious plagiarism offenses: for example, failure to acknowledge the quotation or paraphrase of a few longer, paragraph-length sections of a paper; failure to acknowledge the source(s) of a major idea or the source(s) of important pieces of evidence or information; or the source(s) for an ordering principle central to the paper's or project's structure.

   c.  Major plagiarism offenses: for example, failure to acknowledge the source (quoted, paraphrased, or summarized) of major sections or passages in the paper or project; the unacknowledged use of several major ideas or extensive reliance on another person's data, evidence, or critical method submitted as one's own; and work borrowed, stolen, or purchased from someone else.

2. Cheating on examinations by giving or receiving unauthorized help before, during, or after an examination. Examples of unauthorized help include collaboration of any sort during an examination (unless specifically approved by the instructor); collaboration before an examination (when such collaboration is specifically forbidden by the instructor); the use of notes, books, or other aids during an exam (unless explicitly permitted by the instructor); looking upon someone else's exam during the examination period; intentionally allowing another student to look upon one's own exam; discussing test items during the exam period; and the passing of any exam information to students who have not yet taken the examination. There can be no conversation while an examination is in progress. Any prohibited or unauthorized interaction (e.g., talking or other communication) between students while an examination is in progress may constitute "cheating," regardless of the content or intent of the interaction.
   

3. Multiple submission of substantial portions of the same work for credit, without the prior explicit consent of the instructor(s) to whom the material is being (or has been) submitted.
   

4. Forging another person's signature or name on academic or other official documents (e.g., the signing of a faculty advisor approval, the misuse of attendance sign-up sheets, the mishandling or misappropriation of registration materials or other official documents).
   

5. The deliberate destruction, damaging, or theft of another's work or working materials (including lab experiments, computer programs, term papers, works of art, or other projects undertaken for academic purposes).
   

6. The effort to remove uncharged library materials from the library, defacing or damaging library materials, intentional displacement and hoarding of materials within the library for unauthorized private use, and the abuse of reserve-book privileges. These and related offenses constitute an abuse of the College community's central resource for the advancement of learning. The College may treat the failure to return materials to the library in a timely fashion, when other members of the Skidmore community need these materials, as an academic integrity infraction.
   

7. Computer abuse and fraud includes the abuses defined in these guidelines under "plagiarism," "multiple submission," and "alteration." The College expects members of the Skidmore community to observe the highest standards of academic and social integrity as they use computers for class, office, and individual projects. Such offenses as computer plagiarism, unauthorized collaboration, entry into another person's computing directory, data theft or unauthorized alteration, inappropriate use of the electronic mail, and other malicious or dishonest computer activities will be treated as serious infringements of integrity. Consult the "Code of Ethics for Academic Computing at Skidmore College."
   
   The College recognizes the following EDUCOM policy statement:
   

   Respect for intellectual labor and creativity is vital to academic discourse and enterprise. This principle applies to works of all authors and publishers in all media. It encompasses respect for the right to acknowledgment; the right to privacy; and the right to determine the form, manner, and terms of publication and distribution. Because electronic information is volatile and easily reproduced, respect for the work is especially critical in computer environments. Violations of authorial integrity, including plagiarism, invasion of privacy, unauthorized access, and trade secret and copyright violations, may be grounds for sanctions against members of the academic community.

8. Software piracy: The College forbids the unauthorized duplication or use of copyrighted software. Even if a program does not contain copy protection to prevent unauthorized duplication, it is illegal to copy commercial software for your own use or use by others. Likewise, knowingly accepting or using copies of "pirated" software violates the Skidmore College Honor Code.
   

9. Unauthorized collaboration (closely related to plagiarism or cheating): Student collaboration on projects, papers, or other academic exercises regarded as inappropriate by the instructor(s). Although the most common faculty assumption is that work submitted for credit is entirely one's own, standards on appropriate and inappropriate collaboration vary widely among individual faculty members and each discipline. Students who want to confer or collaborate with one another on work receiving academic credit (for example, homework assignments, lab reports, exam preparations, take-home exams, research projects, essays) should be certain of the instructor's expectations and standards.
   

10. The misrepresentation or purposeful mishandling of material or fabrication of information in an academic exercise, academic process, or assignment (for example, the falsification of experimental or computer data, the construction of false documents or the misleading alteration of documents, the false or misleading citation of sources, the purposeful mishandling or misappropriation of registration materials).
    

11. Altering material without the instructor's knowledge and consent in negotiation for a higher grade.

The Academic Honor Code - Sanctions and Further Impact

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