The Fundamental Values of Academic Integrity

Academic integrity encompasses five fundamental values:

1. Honesty - When intellectual and personal honesty exist between faculty and students, it is easier to maintain integrity in learning and teaching. All good universities and colleges have policies against cheating, lying, fraud, theft, and other dishonest behaviors because those actions not only place at risk the rights and welfare of the community, but also reduces the value of academic degrees from the university.
2. Trust - "Trust is promoted by faculty who set clear guidelines for assignments for evaluating student work; by students who prepare work that is honest and truthful; and by schools that set clear and consistent academic standards and that support honest and impartial research."
3. Fairness - "Fair and accurate evaluation is essential in the educational process. For students, important components of fairness are predictability, clear expectations, and a consistent and just response to dishonesty. ... All campus constituencies have a role in ensuring fairness, and a lapse by one member of the community does not excuse misconduct by another."
4. Respect - Showing respect for the intellectual property of another by identifying the source of the material; "All must show respect for the work of others by acknowledging their intellectual debts through proper identification of sources."
5. Responsibility - "Each member of the academic community is responsible for upholding the integrity of scholarship and research. ... Whatever the circumstances, members of an academic community must not tolerate or ignore dishonesty on the part of other."

Honesty among all members of a college or university allows trust to be built over time. 

 

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