Academic Integrity

Cupola atop a building on the Molloy University campus

Molloy University is Committed to Academic Integrity

STATEMENT OF ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
From the 2023-2024 Molloy Student Handbook page 86

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY exists in an environment where students are committed to honesty and truth in scholarship and research. Based on the Dominican tradition of VERITAS (truth) and one of its pillars STUDY, academic integrity is striving to do one’s best work in a way that does not cheat, demean, or manipulate others. This may be defined as changing facts, presenting others’ ideas as your own, misleading a faculty member, poor work, and other means. At Molloy, SUCCESS is expressed by your commitment to academic excellence with respect for each person.

Students may contact the Dean of Students located in Public Square, Room 330 with any questions about Molloy’s Academic Integrity policies.

For more information, please email deanofstudents@molloy.edu

The rights of all members within the University community are recognized and upheld with the highest standards of mutual respect and honesty. Continuous effort must be made by the community to share accountability on the various levels of academic concerns. To this end, members of the Molloy community must be committed to maintaining the highest standards of professional and academic honesty, fairness, and professionalism in their academic work and interactions with others.

ACADEMIC INFRACTIONS SUBJECT TO DISCIPLINARY ACTION
From the 2023-2024 Molloy Student Handbook page 92-93

Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, any action or behavior that can be broadly described as lying, stealing, or cheating within the academic context. Engaging in any form of academic dishonesty is an academic integrity infraction subject to disciplinary action.

Academic infractions include, but are not limited to:
a)  Cheating – utilizing an unauthorized source other than self during an exam, in completing an assignment, or during a take home academic exercise. Examples of cheating include, but are not limited to: 

A. Copying from a peer or an unauthorized source during an academic exercise or willingly allowing another to copy your work;
B. Unauthorized collaboration on homework, assignments, or examinations;
C. Obtaining and/or using an unauthorized test, examination, quiz, etc. prior to its administration.

b)  Fabrication – intentional and unauthorized falsification or invention of any information.

c)  Facilitating academic dishonesty – includes, among other things, intentionally or knowingly helping or attempting to help someone commit an act of academic dishonesty. For example, allowing another to copy from you during an examination, doing work for another and allowing her/him to represent it as her/his own, and supplying information regarding examinations to others.

d)  Plagiarism – includes, among other things, failure to document the direct words of another or the rephrasing of another’s words so as to represent them as one’s own; handing in another’s paper or project as one’s own; or reusing substantial portions of a previously done assignment in response to a current assignment, without first obtaining approval for same from the instructor. It is irrelevant whether the theft was intentional and deliberate or accidental.

e)  Falsifying Documents – includes, among other things, forging signatures of authorization, falsifying information on any official academic records, etc.

There has been a significant increase in the popularity and availability of a variety of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools, including ChatGPT, Sudowrite, Bard, and others. These tools will help shape the future of work, research, and technology, but when used in the wrong way, they can stand in conflict with academic integrity guidelines at Molloy University.

All students have important obligations and expectations on behavior as noted in this Handbook and the Molloy Course Catalog to complete all academic and scholarly activities with fairness and honesty. Our professional students also have the responsibility to uphold the professional and ethical standards found in their respective academic honor codes. Specifically, students are not to use “unauthorized assistance in the laboratory, on fieldwork, in scholarship, or on a course assignment” unless such assistance has been authorized specifically by the course faculty member. In addition, students are not to submit their work without acknowledging any word-for-word use and/or paraphrasing” of writing, ideas, or other work that is not your own. These requirements apply to all students undergraduate and graduate. 

To maintain a culture of integrity and respect, these generative AI tools should not be used in the completion of course assignments unless a faculty member for a given course specifically authorizes their use. Some faculty may approve of using generative AI tools in the academic setting for specific goals. However, these tools should be used only with the explicit and clear permission of each individual faculty, and then only in the ways allowed by the faculty. Use of AI tools without such permission shall be a violation of the University’s academic integrity policies.

Students are responsible for knowing the policies regarding cheating, plagiarism, facilitating academic dishonesty, and fabrication, as well as the penalties for such behavior. Academic integrity is expected in all learning modalities, whether online, hybrid, or in-person. Further information regarding academic integrity policies can be found here.