At Queen's, the following essential values will govern our actions: 

 

Intellectual Integrity

Rigorous standards of intellectual integrity must be upheld in all teaching, learning, and research activities.

 

Academic integrity is constituted by the five core fundamental values of honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility (as articulated by the Centre for Academic Integrity, Duke University; see www.academicintegrity.org) all of which are central to the building, nurturing and sustaining of an academic community in which all members of the community will thrive. Adherence to the values expressed through academic integrity forms a foundation for the "freedom of inquiry and exchange of ideas" essential to the intellectual life of the University (see www.queensu.ca/secretariat/senate/policies/princpri/). Queen's students, faculty, administrators and staff therefore all have ethical responsibilities for supporting and upholding the fundamental values of academic integrity.

 

Freedom of Inquiry and Exchange of Ideas

The University commits itself to remain open to free inquiry and the free expression of ideas, both of which are basic to the University's central purpose. Any restrictions proposed on free expression must be openly stated and subjected to careful public scrutiny and evaluation. 

 

Equal Dignity of all Persons

Queen's cherishes the diversity of human experience and background and supports the freedom of individuals to study, teach, work and carry out research without fear of harassment, intimidation or discrimination.

 

From the Senate "Report on Principles and Priorities" (1996) and the "Academic Integrity Policy Statement" (2006).

 

To the Student

Whatever your main or ultimate objective in coming to Queen's, your aim in the Faculty of Arts and Science should include the acquisition of the principal components of a liberal education. At one time, the University attempted to secure this for you by stipulating certain compulsory courses and distribution requirements. Nowadays all that the University requires is that you extend your studies to a certain degree of specialization in some chosen field(s). The variations in student interests and in high school preparation, the great variety of courses available, and the contemporary preference for the exercise of responsible choice by the student, all militate against the feasibility of a compulsory core of courses. But each student should seek, in consultation with academic advisers in the departments and in the Arts and Science Faculty Office, to plan a program of study which combines the required concentration with a broad and enriching experience in various fields. What should you bear in mind in making your selection?

 

In place of a list of desirable subjects or disciplines, you may consider a set of essential attributes of the educated human being. Perhaps the crucial mark of the graduate should be good judgement. But good judgement has many modes. There is scientific judgement, which depends on careful observation, rigorous experimentation, and the ability to grasp patterns and discern critical features in diverse phenomena. There is historical judgement, which requires a sensitivity to the significance of past records, to the complexity of human motives and to the diversity of human culture. There is philosophical judgement, which requires the ability to challenge one's prejudices, clarify one's meanings and confront the implications of one's principles. There is aesthetic judgement, which calls for a developed sense of literary and artistic form, a heightening of the imagination and a capacity for profound human feeling. Finally there is value judgement, which depends on a reflective awareness of human needs, capacities and aspirations. And through all these modes of judgement run the general canons of critical thinking - logical rigour, consistency, grasp of what is relevant, and freedom from emotional bias.

 

It should be evident that all these capacities are not mere adornments of the cultured person of leisure, but essential in varying degrees to doctors, engineers, lawyers, accountants, industrialists, artists, public officials and ministers of religion, not to say parents and citizens. But two other attributes are also essential to the human being as such - a wide experience of humanity and the power of effective communication. No one of a given culture can be called educated who knows nothing of other cultures. And the study of one's own language - the habit of reflective and critical reading, and exercise in all types of writing, speaking and listening - is essential to the educated person. The study of a foreign language, either classical or modern, enhances not only one's grasp of one's own language but one's appreciation of other peoples, places and times.

 

No one set of courses uniquely or perfectly embodies all these ideals. But by considering your own interests, abilities and weaknesses, and by seeking good academic advice, you should be able to plan a program of study that will provide a rich and broad basis for whatever you go on to do after leaving Queen's.

 

Student Responsibility

Students are responsible for ensuring that their course registrations are accurate and complete, and that the courses in which they register are appropriate to their degree programs and will meet the requirements for graduation. Students are also responsible for initiating and participating in the registration process. Course prerequisites and limitations of enrolment should be noted carefully prior to registration. Students are responsible for adhering to published dates.