The new Academic Integrity Procedures were approved by Senate in October 2021. The Arts and Science academic regulations, policies and procedures dealing with academic integrity issues will be updated shortly to align with the Procedures. Until that time, if there is a discrepancy between Arts and Science academic regulations, policies, or processes that deal with academic integrity and the provisions of the Senate Academic Integrity Procedures, the Senate Procedures take precedence.
The Center for Academic Integrity (CAI) defines academic integrity as a commitment, even in the face of adversity, to five fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility. From these values flow principles of behavior that enable academic communities to translate ideals into action.
Academic integrity provides the foundation for learning, teaching, research and service at Queen's University. Its 5 fundamental values enable instructors, students and staff to contribute to a community of knowledge dedicated to the freedom of inquiry and open exchange of ideas that characterizes the educational environment at Queen's.
Any behaviour that compromises these values is considered a departure from academic integrity and may be subject to the remedies and sanctions as established by the Faculty of Arts and Science.
A departure from academic integrity is any form of academic dishonesty that could result in you, or others, gaining an unearned advantage over other students. It compromises and violates the University's core values of academic integrity. If you aren’t sure whether something is acceptable or not, always ask your instructor. Here are some examples of departures from academic integrity – this is not an exhaustive list:
Departure from Academic Integrity | Examples |
Plagiarism |
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Use of unauthorized materials |
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Facilitation |
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Forgery |
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Falsification |
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When an instructor sees evidence in your work that suggests that a departure from academic integrity may have taken place, it is the instructor’s responsibility to investigate the situation. These are the steps that will be followed:
The first step is to bring the matter to your attention. Using a Notice of Investigation; form letter, the instructor will inform you of the following:
You may not drop the course while an investigation is under way. However, there is no mechanism on SOLUS to prevent you from doing so before the academic drop date. Therefore, the Associate Dean (Academic) has the authority to reinstate you in the course pending a decision on the investigation.
It is important that you respond to the investigation. If you don't respond, your instructor will make a decision on the available evidence, without the benefit of hearing from you.
You may choose to respond either by:
1) submitting a written response to the instructor, or
2) meeting with your instructor to discuss the matter.
If you prefer to respond in writing, please sign your response and send it to your instructor no later than seven days after receiving the Notice of Investigation. If you prefer to meet, you must contact your instructor within 10 days of receiving the Notice of Investigation to arrange a mutually agreeable time.
In advance of the meeting or in preparing your written response, you should:
1) review the evidence provided by the instructor
2) collect all drafts and related materials relevant to the particular piece of work at issue
You may contact the Office of the University Ombudsperson for information about student rights and responsibilities and guidance on policy and procedure (www.queensu.ca/ombuds). Also, consider talking the matter through with someone whose advice you trust and value (e.g. parents, a close relative, friend, counselor, etc.).
Take these steps into consideration when estimating the time it will take you to prepare your response, whether it is in writing, in person, or both.
Whether meeting in person or responding in writing, you need to provide the instructor with a detailed explanation of your side of the story, including how the information in question came about, and your line of thinking in preparing the work the way you did. If relevant, provide copies of earlier drafts of your work and other documentation. If you meet in person, you may also choose to prepare something in writing to leave with the instructor, along with copies of drafts and other relevant documentation.
To accompany you to the meeting, you may invite an advisor such as a friend, advocate, or legal support person of your choice. Please let the instructor know in advance if a support person will be with you at the meeting. The support person’s role is to support you, not to answer questions on your behalf. You can ask for a break in the meeting to talk to your support person
In some cases, the instructor may invite the Chair of Undergraduate Studies, or other departmental delegate, to chair the meeting and provide guidance on the procedures related to departures from academic integrity.
Investigations may be resolved at this early stage.
After considering the available evidence and your explanation, the instructor will make a decision within 21 days of meeting with you.
Where there is a finding of departure from academic integrity, the instructor is expected to assign an appropriate remedy or sanction that reflects the extent and severity of the departure. After the finding is made, the instructor may consult the Undergraduate Chair, Department Head or departmental delegate concerning the matter of an appropriate sanction. Also you can expect the instructor will contact the Office of the Associate Dean (Academic) to determine if there have been any previous departures from academic integrity. In the case of a second finding, or multiple findings, a more severe sanction may be warranted.
The range of remedies or sanctions that the instructor can impose include:
Findings are categorized as Level I or Level II. Factors which would lead to a Level II finding include the following (only one factor needs apply):
If a finding is classified as Level I AND there is no other finding of departure from academic integrity on your record, then the finding will remain in a sealed file and only be consulted if you have a further finding of departure from academic integrity. If there are no further departures from academic integrity, the Level I finding will be destroyed on your graduation.
If a finding is classified as Level II (regardless of whether it is a first finding or a subsequent one), the finding will be held in your main file in the Office of the Associate Dean (Academic). This file will be retained for 10 years after your graduation.
This file is confidential; it is used for internal purposes such as preparing for academic advising appointments. In rare cases, some American Law Schools, Medical Schools and Police Academies will ask the Associate Dean (Academic) if an applicant has any departures from academic integrity on record. In this case, we would seek your permission to share the information before responding to the request. If you did not give permission, the Faculty Office would respond that the applicant had not given permission to share that information.
If, in the instructor's assessment, the finding warrants a sanction within the scope of those available to the instructor (Section 4 above), the instructor will inform you in writing of the following:
A copy of the Finding of Departure from Academic Integrity form and all related documentation will be forwarded to the Associate Dean (Academic). Instructors will retain a copy of all documents related to the case in the event you appeal the finding, but to maintain your confidentiality, no documents (deleted text here) will be retained in Departmental student files.If the departure occurred in a remotely proctored exam, the video recording of the exam will be retained by the Faculty Office for as long as the rest of the documentation is retained. See the FAQs for information on how long documents and recordings will be retained.
If the matter appears to warrant a sanction more serious than the instructor may impose, the instructor may refer the case to the Associate Dean (Academic) who has the authority to impose a heavier sanction than the instructor can impose. The Associate Dean (Academic) may impose sanctions ranging from those noted above to a recommendation to Senate that the student be required to withdraw from the University. If your case is referred to the Associate Dean (Academic), the instructor must advise you, in writing, of:
Instructors will retain a copy of all documents and any video recordings related to the case, to be able to participate in the Associate Dean's investigation and in the event you appeal the finding, but to maintain your confidentiality, no records will be retained in Departmental student files.
Academic integrity is a concept used to support learning, teaching, research and service within Arts and Science, throughout Queen's and at a wide range of institutions across Canada and the United States. The website for the Center for Academic Integrity offers the widest range of online resources for the study and practice of academic integrity, but the following links offer some basic sources of policy and practice in the Faculty of Arts and Science and at Queen's:
The grounds for submitting an appeal to either the Associate Dean (Academic) or the Academic Integrity Conduct Panel (AICP) are limited to cases in which:
The decision-maker whose decision is being appealed failed to act in accordance with the rules of procedural fairness. A breach of procedural fairness includes failing to:
The decision-maker whose decision is being appealed acted without, or exceeded their, jurisdiction.
Appeal submissions that do not demonstrate one of these grounds will not be considered. For more information on the ground to appeal, please see Academic Integrity Procedures 4.1
Appeals must be submitted to the Associate Dean (Academic) or AICP within 10 business days of the date the student was informed of the decision (the date either that the Notice of a Finding of a Departure from Academic Integrity, or the Associate Dean’s decision letter was sent to the student), Academic Integrity Procedures 4.3.1
There are two levels of appeal for matters related to academic integrity in the Faculty of Arts and Science:
The Office of the Associate Dean (Academic)
The Associate Dean (Academic) has several roles in the academic integrity process. They hear appeals of academic integrity decisions made by instructors; initiate investigations and make findings, where the departure occurs outside the context of a course; and, in certain cases, assign sanctions after an instructor has made a finding.
To submit an appeal to the Associate Dean (Academic), a student must demonstrate that there has been either a breach of procedural fairness, or the instructor exceeded their jurisdiction. Appeal submissions that do not demonstrate one of these grounds will not be considered. Please refer to ‘Grounds to Submit an Appeal’ below for more details.
To submit an appeal to the Associate Dean, students must complete Form A and write a letter explaining their appeal, including demonstrating the grounds for the appeal.
The student has 10 business days of the date on that the Finding form was emailed to the student to submit an appeal to the Associate Dean (Academic).
Start Appeal to Associate Dean
The Academic Integrity and Conduct Panel (AICP)
Students may have the option of appealing to the AICP in the following circumstances:
To submit an appeal to the AICP, a student must demonstrate that there has been either been a breach of procedural fairness, or that the Instructor/Associate Dean exceeded their jurisdiction. Appeal submissions that do not demonstrate one of these grounds will not be considered. Please refer to ‘Grounds to submit an appeal’ for more details.
To submit an appeal to the AICP, students must complete Form B and write a letter explaining their appeal, including demonstrating the grounds for the appeal.
The student has 10 business days from the date of the Associate Dean (Academic) decision letter to submit an appeal to the AICP
Have questions about Academic integrity at Queen's University? Find out more about the process, what is expected and see the frequently asked questions relating to Academic integrity at Queen's.
The instructor's first step is to bring the matter to your attention. Using the Notice of Investigation form letter, the instructor will inform you of the following:
If the instructor is satisfied with your explanation and determines that there are no grounds for a finding of departure from academic integrity, all documents related to the case will be destroyed and the instructor will inform you that the matter has been closed.
You may not drop the course while an investigation is under way; however there is no mechanism on SOLUS to prevent you from doing so prior to the academic deadline. Therefore, the instructor will proceed with the investigation whether or not you drop the course. If your instructor, or the Office of the Associate Dean (Academic), becomes aware that you have dropped the course while under investigation, you will be reinstated by the Faculty Office pending a decision on the case. If the investigation results in a finding of a departure from academic integrity, and it is discovered that you dropped the course, you will be reinstated at that time.
It is important that you participate in the investigation process!
You have 10 days after receiving the Notice of Investigation to contact the instructor to schedule a meeting or to indicate that you will respond in writing. Do not delay contacting the instructor, even if it is to tell the instructor that you need more time to prepare your response.
When agreeing on a meeting date, you should give yourself enough time to review the evidence provided by the instructor, assemble all drafts and related materials relevant to the particular piece of work at issue, and seek advice (if desired) from an informed member of the Queen's community, such as the Coordinator of Dispute Resolution Mechanisms, or anyone whose advice you trust and value (e.g. a friend, close relative, counselor, advisor).
The investigation process can proceed without your participation, and a decision will be reached without your input after the stated time for you to respond has elapsed. The instructor will base the decision on the basis of the available evidence.
To assist you with this investigation meeting you may invite any advisor that you wish, e.g. a friend, advocate, or legal support person of your choice. If you decide to bring legal counsel, however, you must advise the instructor in advance.
You do not need legal counsel, but you may have representative counsel with you at the meeting(s) and/or in preparing your response. If you decide to bring legal counsel to the meeting(s), you must advise the instructor in advance.
If you do not agree with the instructor's decision, you may appeal the finding of departure from academic integrity and/or the sanction imposed as a result of an instructor's finding to the Associate Dean (Academic). You have 21 calendar days after receiving the decision to submit a written appeal and copies of the relevant documents. Normally, the Associate Dean (Academic) will meet with the student (and his or her representative), the instructor (and his or her representative), and witnesses where appropriate to conduct a thorough investigation of the evidence. See Appeals Regulation 2 for more information.
Each case is treated individually; therefore, sanctions will vary from case to case. Depending on the nature of the departure, a sanction may consist of a remedy which is meant to an educational process or it may be more severe. Where there is a finding of departure from academic integrity, the instructor is expected to assign an appropriate remedy or sanction that reflects the extent and severity of the departure, and past precedents in the Academic Unit and Faculty. The instructor may consult his or her undergraduate Chair and Department Head concerning the matter. The range of remedies or sanctions that the instructor can impose include:
Any sanction should reflect the extent and severity of the departure from academic integrity and precedents in the Academic Unit and Faculty taking into account any mitigating circumstances. Factors which should be considered in assigning a remedy or sanction include the following:
In addition, there may be occasions where there may be mitigating circumstances, that is, circumstances beyond your control. Although mitigating circumstances do not exonerate or excuse from the finding of a departure from academic integrity, these factors should be taken into account to ensure that the penalty imposed is fair, reasonable, and proportionate to the gravity of the departure found. The decision must outline the evidence supporting reliance on the mitigating circumstances. The onus is on the student to produce evidence of mitigating circumstances. The sorts of mitigating circumstances that may be relevant include:
The instructor may consider a range of remedies or sanctions including:
If there is a finding of a departure from academic integrity, a range of remedies or sanctions including, but not limited to, one or more of the following may be assessed:
Normally, a finding will be considered Level I, unless one of the following factors applies, in which case it will be characterized as Level II:
If a finding is classified as Level I AND there is no other finding of departure from academic integrity on your record, then the finding will remain in a sealed file and only to be consulted upon subsequent findings of departures from academic integrity.
If a finding is classified as Level II (regardless of whether it is a first finding or a subsequent one), the finding will be held in your main file in the Office of the Associate Dean (Academic).
After considering the available evidence and your explanation, the instructor will make a decision in a timely manner. If the instructor makes a finding of departure of academic integrity, this will be sent to you with a copy to the Office of the Associate Dean (Academic).
The finding will include the following:
If you have a previous finding on record, the instructor will refer the new finding to the Associate Dean (Academic) for sanctioning. The instructor will use the Finding form to notify you of the finding and the referral. The Associate Dean (Academic) will review the case and may set a more serious sanction than an instructor can impose.
Whether the finding remains on your record depends on the severity of the behaviour that leads to the finding and your academic experience.