Academic Rules, Rights and
Responsibilities
General
Standards of Conduct for Engineering
Students
In establishing a standard of student
conduct, the University of Michigan is
committed to the basic principles of entrusting
each student with a high degree of freedom to
govern his or her life and conduct while
enrolled at the University.
The College of Engineering encourages its
students to protect and use this freedom with
wisdom and good judgment, and to accept and
discharge the responsibility inherent to such
freedom.
Students are expected to respect the rights
and property of others and to comply with
University regulations and public laws.
The College of Engineering welcomes the
participation of students in decision making
relevant to their affairs and provides channels
of communication, both at the College and
department level, for that purpose. To benefit
from such activity, each student should
recognize his or her responsibility to fellow
students and to the faculty and staff, and
should discharge all duties with the standards
that make such student-college relationships
effective and valuable.
The College of Engineering reserves the
right to discipline, exclude from participation
in relevant activities, or dismiss any student
whose conduct or performance it considers in
violation of standards. Such a decision will be
made only after review by the appropriate
student and faculty committees. During this
review, the student will have full opportunity
to present his or her position. A student also
has the right of appeal to the Executive
Committee of the College.
The Honor Code of the College of Engineering
(below) bears witness to the deep trust that
characterizes the student-faculty relationships
in one of the most important aspects of student
conduct.
Honor
Code
The engineering profession has a
long-standing record of fostering high
standards of integrity in the performance of
professional services. Not until the 1930s, however, was the first Canon of Ethics for
Engineers developed and adopted by national
professional engineering societies. The current
version of the Canon of Ethics for Engineers, as approved by the Engineers’ Council for
Professional Development in 1963, includes the
following:
The Engineer
1. Will not compete unfairly with another
Engineer.
2. Will be honest and impartial, and will
serve with devotion his employer, his
clients, and the public.
3. Will strive to increase the competence
and prestige of the engineering
profession.
4. Will use his knowledge and skill for
the advancement of human welfare.
5. Will not injure maliciously the
professional reputation, prospects, or
practice of another Engineer. However, if he
has proof that another Engineer has been
unethical, illegal, or unfair in his
practice, he should so advise the proper
authority.
In 1915, some 15 years before the first
Canon of Ethics was published, the students of
the College of Engineering proposed an Honor
Code. This was approved by the faculty in 1916
and has been in effect since its inception. The
Honor Code truly is a distinguishing feature of
the College of Engineering.
Applications of
the Honor Code
The Honor Code holds that students are
honorable, trustworthy people and encourages
them to behave with integrity in all phases of
university life. By conforming to the Code, students do their work in an environment
conducive to establishing high standards of
personal integrity, professional ethics, and
mutual respect.
As a basic feature of the Code, students are
placed upon their honor during all
examinations, written quizzes, computer
questions, homework, laboratory reports, and
any other work turned in for credit, as
required by the instructor. During
examinations, the instructor is available for
questions, but the examination is not
proctored. As a reminder of the Honor Code, the
student is asked to write and sign the
following pledge on the examination paper:
“I have neither given nor received aid
on this examination, nor have I concealed a
violation of the Honor Code.”
The Honor Code remains in force whether or
not the student signs the Pledge.
With regard to assignments made in class, each class/professor may have a different
policy regarding what constitutes an Honor Code
violation and this policy should be clearly
outlined in the syllabus for the course. If a
student is in doubt, the professor responsible
for the course should be asked for
clarification. In particular, be aware that
some professors allow and/or encourage group
work, while others may not even allow
discussion regarding homework problems.
In general, the principles of the Honor Code
also apply to homework when the instructor
requires that the material be turned in for
grading. While independent study is recognized
as a primary method of effective learning, some
students may find that they benefit from
studying together and discussing home
assignments and laboratory experiments. When
any material is turned in for inspection and
grading, the students should clearly understand
whether, and to what degree, collaboration
among students is permitted by the instructor.
In some courses, full collaboration is allowed, while in other courses each student must work
completely independently. The instructor may
require the signing of the Pledge on homework
assignments and expect the same high standards
of integrity as during examinations.
It is always required that ideas and
materials obtained from another student or from
any other source be acknowledged in one’s
work. The latter is particularly important, since material is so freely available on the
Internet. According to Webster’s II New
Collegiate Dictionary [Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA, 2001], to plagiarize is “To
steal and use (the ideas or writings of
another) as one’s own.” To avoid
plagiarism, it is necessary to cite all sources
of both ideas and direct quotations, including
those found on the Internet.
The Department of English web site
and the University Library hand-out
provide thorough discussions of plagiarism:
http://www.lsa.umich.edu/english/undergraduate/plagNote.asp
http://www.lib.umich.edu/handouts/plagiar.pdf
The
Honor Code Process
Either a student or the instructor may
report a suspected Honor Code violation by
contacting the office of the Associate Dean for
Undergraduate Education, or by calling
734-647-7117. The accusation is then
investigated by the Engineering Honor Council, and if wrongdoing is found, a recommendation is
sent to the Faculty Committee on Discipline
(FCD). The FCD holds a hearing at which the
student is asked to appear and testify on
his/her own behalf. After the hearing (whether
or not the student attends), the FCD reviews
the recommendation made by the Honor Council, decides if an Honor Code violation has
occurred, and determines an appropriate
sanction, if warranted. The student is then
notified of the FCD’s decision by the
representative of the Associate Dean for
Undergraduate Education.
Typical sanctions for a first violation may
include a zero on the assignment, a reduction
in grade for the course, and community service.
For especially serious or repeated violations
of the Honor Code, the sanctions may also
include suspension or expulsion from the
College of Engineering. The student may appeal
the FCD’s decision to the Executive
Committee of the College of Engineering.
The Honor Council has prepared a booklet
that explains the principles and operation of
the Honor Code. The Honor Code booklet is
available in the Office of Student Records, Undergraduate Education, 1401 Lurie Engineering
Center (LEC), and on the College of Engineering
website:
http://www.engin.umich.edu/students/honorcode/.
Statement
of Student Rights and Responsibilities
I. Introduction
The University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (the
University) is dedicated to supporting and
maintaining a scholarly community. As its
central purpose, this community promotes
intellectual inquiry through vigorous
discourse. Values which undergird this purpose
include civility, dignity, diversity, education, equality, freedom, honesty, and
safety.
When students choose to accept admission to
the University, they accept the Rights and
Responsibilities of membership in the
University’s academic and social
community. As members of the University
community, students are expected to uphold its
previously stated values by maintaining a high
standard of conduct. Because the University
establishes high standards for membership, its
standards of conduct, while falling within the
limits of the law, may exceed federal, state, or local requirements.
Within the University, entities (such as
schools and colleges, campus, professional, and
student organizations) have developed policies
that outline standards of conduct governing
their constituents and that sometimes provide
procedures for sanctioning violations of those
standards. This Statement of Student Rights and
Responsibilities (the Statement) does not
replace those standards; nor does it constrain
the procedures or sanctions provided by those
policies. This Statement describes possible
behaviors which are inconsistent with the
values of the University community; it outlines
procedures to respond to such behaviors; and it
suggests possible sanctions which are intended
to educate and to safeguard members of the
University community.
II. Student Rights
Students at the University have the same
rights and protections under the Constitutions
of the United States and the State of Michigan
as other citizens. These rights include freedom
of expression, press, religion, and assembly.
The University has a long tradition of student
activism and values freedom of expression, which includes voicing unpopular views and
dissent. As members of the University
community, students have the right to express
their own views, but must also take
responsibility for according the same right to
others.
Students have the right to be treated fairly
and with dignity regardless of age, color, creed, disability, gender
identity, marital status, national origin
or ancestry, race, religion, sex, sexual
orientation, or veteran status. The University
has a long-standing tradition of commitment to
pluralistic education. Accordingly, the
University, through this Statement, will not
discriminate on the basis of group status.
Students have the right to be protected from
capricious decision making by the University
and to have access to University policies which
affect them. The University has an enduring
commitment to provide students with a balanced
and fair system of dispute resolution.
Accordingly, this Statement will not deprive
students of the appropriate due process
protections to which they are entitled. This
Statement is one of the University’s
administrative procedures and should not be
equated with procedures used in civil or
criminal court.
III. Student Responsibilities
Along with rights come certain
responsibilities. Students at the University
are expected to act consistently with the
values of the University community and to obey
local, state, and federal laws.
For complete information on Students Rights
and Responsibilities see the Office of Student
Conflict Resolution, Division
of Student Affairs at:
http://www.umich.edu/~oscr/index.htm.
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