Academic Honor Policy

Download as PDF

The virtues of honesty, accountability, and wisdom—goods of the highest order—being an aim of a liberal education, it is necessarily the policy of Hillsdale College to act firmly and decisively to promote academic integrity and honor. Honesty in academics, as in all walks of life, is a matter of personal honor for which each individual must ultimately take responsibility. It is the primary purpose of this policy to promote and ensure academic honesty within the Hillsdale College community.

  1. This Policy on Academic Honor places upon the students, individually and collectively, the following responsibilities:
    1. That they will do their share to ensure that they, as well as others, will uphold the spirit and letter of the policy;
    2. That they will not, for example, give or receive unpermitted aid in examinations or any other work that is to be used by the instructor as a basis for grading; that they will not copy or paraphrase without proper acknowledgment; and that they will not forge any data, information, or signature; 
    3. That they will familiarize themselves with, and adhere to, the standards for proper acknowledgment of sources set out in recognized academic guidebooks such as the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers; K. Turabian’s A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations; The Chicago Manual of Style; American Psychological Association Publication Manual; or others appropriate for a given field;
    4. That they will not submit the same academic work (e.g. research paper or project) in whole or in part for two separate classes unless the current professor(s) grant prior written permission for doing so.
  2. The Faculty on its part hereby manifests its confidence in the honor of its students, but recognizing that honor, like all other virtues, must be learned and nurtured, commits to assist in educating and strengthening the students in their growth as honorable men and women.
  3. The Faculty alone has the right and obligation to set academic requirements; however, the students and instructors will work together to establish optimal conditions for honorable academic work.

NOTE: Violations of academic honor carry sanctions by the institution as well as by the individual instructor. The details of these sanctions are contained in the complete policy statement available in the Registrar’s Office.