Academic Integrity/Academic Standards

Committees that Enforce Academic Standards

Undergraduate Committees on Course and Standing

The College of Liberal Arts and Science and each Professional School at City College has its own Committee on Course and Standing (CCS). Committees hear appeals on a range of issues including requests for grade changes, reinstatement, course substitution, and retroactive withdrawal. Students must present appeals in writing (see section on preparing appeals). Appeals are brought to the Chair of the CCS who is authorized to grant or deny appeals. When the chair considers that an appeal warrants further review, it is presented to the faculty committee. The CCS's decisions are final. Click here for information on Academic Standards.

The College-wide Academic Integrity Committee (AIC)

Within the school community one of the most serious offenses you can commit is to pass off someone else's intellectual work as your own. Therefore instances of Academic Dishonesty are taken very seriously. The AIC addresses faculty reports of student cheating, plagiarism, and any other form of Academic Dishonesty (for a full description see the CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity). Students who dispute an allegation of academic dishonesty in a course will be assigned the temporary grade of "PEN." This grade will be changed after the student has an opportunity to be heard, and a final decision on the situation is made by the AIC or the Director of Academic Standards. Each incident is judged based on the seriousness of the offense. If it is deemed appropriate for the student to be suspended or expelled, the case is referred to the Student Affairs Disciplinary Committee.

CCNY Academic Integrity Officer:

Christine Li 
Professor of Biology

CCNY Academic Integrity Committee Members:

Chair: Prof. Nadjwa Norton
Architecture: Prof. Fran Leadon
CUNY School of Medicine: Prof. Madiha Akhtar
CWE: Prof. Andrew Aprile
Colin Powell:  Prof. Peter Chow
Education: Prof. Terri N. Watson
Engineering: Prof. Panagiotis Moutis
Humanities and Arts: Prof. Isabel Estrada
Science: Prof. Shubha Govind

Reporting Violations of the Academic Integrity Policy:

When a faculty member suspects that a student has committed a violation of the CUNY Academic Integrity Policy (see https://policy.cuny.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/page-assets/general-…), the faculty member shall review with the student the circumstances of the alleged infraction and document the response. If the faculty member concludes that there has been an incident of academic dishonesty sufficient to affect a student’s grade, and in particular, the student’s final course grade, the faculty member shall submit a Faculty Report Form to the CCNY Office of Academic Standards ( academicstandards@ccny.cuny.edu ) and send a copy to the departmental chair. This report needs to be submitted regardless of whether the student admits to the academic violation. The Faculty Report should be accompanied with Supporting Documentation as outlined below.

Flowchart for Academic Integrity Cases

For Faculty

Step 1. Speak with student about the possible violation.

• If student admits to the academic violation, do Steps 2-4. The Academic Integrity Officer will speak with the student before the faculty member applies an academic sanction. The case is filed with Office of Standards ( academicstandards@ccny.cuny.edu ).
• If student does not admit to the academic violation, the case goes to the Academic Integrity Committee. Faculty member needs to do steps 2, 3, and 5. If the student is found to violate the Academic Integrity Policy by the Academic Integrity Committee, an Academic sanction is applied and case is filed with Office of Standards ( academicstandards@ccny.cuny.edu ).

Step 2. Faculty Report Form. The form is available at https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/sites/default/files/2020-06/FacultyReportForm%20July%202020_0.docx. Also available at link below.

Step 3. Supporting Documentation of Violation

In addition to the Faculty Report Form, the faculty member should submit a detailed report of the violation and provide supporting documentation, including, if possible, a statement from the student that he/she/they were guilty of an academic infraction. The section of the syllabus that indicates that students should adhere to the college Academic Integrity Policy and the penalties to the student should he/she/they be found to be in violation should be highlighted and included in the report. Examples of additional documentation are indicated below:

• Plagiarism: If a student has plagiarized a passage, supporting documentation needs to be included. Copies of pertinent sections or answers and copies of any other pertinent material (original sources from which section or sections were allegedly plagiarized, including internet, ChatGPT, and AI sources, and so on) should be submitted as supported documentation.
• Use of artificial intelligence (AI) or ChatGPT: Unless there is written authorization from the instructor, the use of artificial intelligence tools to generate content for assignments and/or exams, including but not limited to language models or code generators, and passed off as original work by the student is considered cheating. Documentation should include how previous work of the student does not correlate in grammar, syntax, etc. with the current assignment.
• Conduct during an exam: If an irregularity occurs during an examination, the person who originally notes the irregularity should attempt to have their observations corroborated by others who are also in the room (e.g., proctors). The person(s) making the report shall provide specific information such as the time of the observation, type or irregularity observed, number of times it took place, exactly which sections of the examination were affected by the infraction, the name of each individual participating in the irregularity, and the extent of participation by each individual.
• • If a student has copied another student’s exam, please indicate how the faculty member knows that the answer was copied. For instance, if the two students have the same misspellings or incorrect calculations, please submit documentation as such. If a teaching assistant or proctor has witnessed the infraction, the teaching assistant/proctor should include a statement to that effect.
  • If there are different versions of an exam, provide documentation that shows the different versions and how numbers for one version were used for another by the accused student.
  • If a student has used material not allowed on an exam (i.e., a cheat sheet, writing on a hand, etc.), a picture of these materials should be taken and included in the supporting documentation.
• Conduct after an exam: If a student has submitted a doctored exam answer for a re-grade, please indicate how the exam answer was doctored. For instance, if an instructor routinely draws lines through blank areas, indicate how a student has written in over the lines. If possible, documentation should show before and after pictures of the doctored exam.

Step 4: Apply academic sanction and submit report to the Office of Academic Standards.

If the student admits to the academic violation, the Academic Integrity Officer will speak to the student and inform the faculty member afterwards. The faculty member applies the academic sanction and the report is filed with the Office of Academic Standards.

Step 5: Student denies the academic violation

If the student denies the academic violation, the Academic Integrity Officer will speak with the student and refer the case to the Academic Integrity Committee for review. The faculty member bringing the charge should give a PEN grade to the student until the case is resolved. The Academic Integrity Committee will reach out to the student and faculty member to hear the case. If the Academic Integrity Committee upholds the violation, the academic sanction will be applied and the report filed. If the Academic Integrity Committee finds that there is no violation, no sanction will be applied and the report will be destroyed.

In cases of a student with multiple academic violations.

If a student has been previously found to have violated the Academic Integrity Policy and is brought up on a new charge, the Academic Integrity Officer will determine whether the student admits to the academic violation. If the student admits to this new violation, the student will be referred to the Faculty-Student Disciplinary Committee for a disciplinary sanction.

If the student does not admit to the new academic violation, the case will be referred by the Academic Integrity Officer to the Academic Integrity Committee. If the student is found to have violated the Academic Integrity Policy a second time, the case will be referred to the Faculty-Student Disciplinary Committee to determine a disciplinary sanction. If the Academic Integrity Committee does not find a second violation, no sanction will be applied and the report will be destroyed.

Examples of documentation for violations of the Academic Integrity Policy

Examples of documentation for exams with similar answers

This exam was given during the pandemic. The parts of the answer that are nearly identical among the students are highlighted in yellow. Please note that this course was in neurobiology, not microbiology, so there was never any mention of bacteria.

Student being accused of academic violation

Chemoattractive factors: are substances that stimulate cellular migration. eg, They indicate the presence of food to bacteria. trophic factor: Regulate growth of neurons such as protein synthesis, also the ability to make neurotransmitters to carry signals which allow them to communicate with other neurons or targets. 

Student 1

Chemoattractive factors: are substances that stimulate cellular migration. eg, They indicate the presence of food to bacteria. Trophic factor: Regulates growth of neurons such as protein synthesis, also the ability to make neurotransmitters to carry signals which allows them to communicate with other neurons or targets.

Student 2

A chemoattractive factor are substances that stimulate cellular migration. A trophic factor regulates the growth of neurons such as protein synthesis, also they are able to make neurotransmitters carry signals which allows them to communicate with other neurons or targets.

Example of documentation of copying from another exam

There were multiple versions of the exam given. The student had an answer to question 2 that corresponded to an answer on her version of the exam (F-A-B-E-D-C) and an answer from a different version of the exam (B-D-C-A-F-E). There is no possible way that the latter answer would make sense on the student's version of the exam.

Example of documentation for use of unauthorized materials

A student was caught with materials written on the student’s arm; a photograph was included in the documentation. If a student brought in unauthorized materials into an exam, a picture of these materials should be photographed and included in the documentation.

For Students

If you have been accused of academic misconduct and you disagree with this violation, your case will be referred to the Academic Integrity Committee by the Academic Integrity Officer.  The Academic Integrity Committee will arrange a time for a hearing on your case.  To prepare yourself for this hearing, please refer to the table below.

Student Checklist for Preparing for Academic Integrity Committee Procedures

September 2024

Prepared by the Academic Integrity Committee

Academic Integrity Policy
Faculty Report Form 
Faculty Senate Resolution on Academic Integrity Committee - March 19, 2015