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Academic Conduct

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Class Attendance

In order to attend a given class, a student must be registered for that class for credit or audit. Exceptions to this policy are at the discretion of the instructor of the course. See Validating Enrollment for regulations concerning attendance to validate students' enrollment in a class.

Students are expected to attend class meetings as scheduled. Each instructor sets their policy with respect to class attendance, and excuses for absence from class are handled between the student and instructor. The instructor is expected to announce their policy at the beginning of the course.

Additional information regarding discretionary accommodation for disability and religion are available at http://www.hrs.iastate.edu/AAO/eod/reasonaccom.shtml

Veteran Attendance

In accordance with the requirements of the Servicemembers Improved Transition through Reforms for Ensuring Progress Act (SIT-REP Act, December 31, 2018), the University will not deny access to classes or facilities to a Veteran or eligible dependent due to a late payment from the Veterans Administration. This is only applicable to Veterans or eligible dependents who are receiving educational assistance under Chapter 31 (VR&E) or 33 (Post 9/11 and Fry Scholarship) of title 38, United States Code (U.S.C.). For the purposes of this policy, "Denial of Access" shall be defined as "to prohibit the entry, participation, or attendance to an event or facility otherwise afforded to all registered students." More information about this policy is available at https://catalog.iastate.edu/tuitionfees/#feepaymenttext.

Students who receive benefits from the Veterans Administration are required by the V.A. to attend class regularly to maintain their V.A. eligibility. If the instructor knows that a student receiving V.A. benefits is not attending class, the instructor is obligated to notify the Office of the Registrar and a notification will be forwarded to the Veterans Administration. More information about veteran benefits is available at http://www.veterans.iastate.edu/.

Field Trips/Curricular-Related Activities

Trips away from campus as part of a course are often appropriate educational experiences. They may not, however, take place during the first or last week of the semester, nor may they extend over more than two consecutive class days (Monday -Friday); these regulations may be waived only by special permission of the dean of the college in which the course is offered. Students should consult with instructors whose classes will be missed. If a mutually satisfactory agreement between the instructors and the student cannot be reached, the student cannot be required to attend the curricular-related activity or be penalized by the instructor for missing the curricular-related activity.

Special fees are often charged to cover the costs of field trips. Field trip fees are noted in the course section information in Workday and in the Schedule of Classes.

Excusable Absences for Non-Curricular Reasons

Students who miss class for non-curricular reasons are responsible for completing all assigned course requirements in a timely manner. Instructors should provide timely opportunities for students to make-up or replace missed scheduled examinations and/or assignments resulting from an excusable absence. While instructors are free to change the format of make-up examinations or assignments, students will be evaluated by the same standards as other members of the course.

In all cases, the person responsible for the event or activity should provide participants with a letter explaining the proposed absence and its duration including travel times for off-campus events and activities. Students must provide this documentation to instructors at least 10 days in advance of the activity or event, except when such notice is not possible.

Course instructors retain final authority regarding student absences and how they impact course grades and the acceptability of a student’s work toward passing their course. If a student must miss, for any reason, a portion of a course that, in the considered opinion of the course instructor, is critical to the student's ability to meet the course objectives, the instructor must recommend alternative actions to the student, which may include dropping the class.

Extra-Curricular Activities as a Representative of the University

Students may seek to or be asked to participate as an Iowa State University representative in non-credit events (competitions, conferences, presentations, programs, and performances) scheduled by academic or athletic units of the university at times that conflict with scheduled classes.

Instructors shall excuse students who miss class while representing Iowa State University in official department-or university-sponsored activities, including:

  • Academic or professional conferences and workshops

  • Intercollegiate athletic, academic, and judging competitions

  • Musical, theatrical, dance and other artistic performances

  • Presentations or programs given to external audiences.

Other Extra-Curricular Activities

Instructors will determine whether other absences not officially sponsored by a unit of the University (e.g., conference attendance, job interviews), will be treated as excused.

Military Service

Instructors shall excuse absences due to Veteran or military service obligations (including service-related medical appointments, military orders dictating appointments, and National Guard Service obligations). When a student's military or veteran obligations are for more than two weeks, the student should meet with their advisor to discuss the situation and academic options and work with their instructors to discuss potential accommodations. University procedures are in place for such situations and should be followed. In all instances, students have a responsibility to communicate with their instructors to ensure they are continuing to meet course expectations and requirements. Faculty, staff, and students are encouraged to utilize the Military-Affiliated Student Center and review information at veterans.iastate.edu.

Court Appearances

Instructors shall excuse absences due to officially mandated court appearances including jury duty.

Academic Misconduct

Academic misconduct is any action or attempted action that may result in creating an unfair academic advantage for oneself or an unfair academic advantage or disadvantage for any other member or members of the academic community. Such behavior is disparaging to the university and students found responsible for academic misconduct can face a number of disciplinary sanctions such as a disciplinary reprimand, conduct probation, deferred suspension, suspension, or expulsion. Instances of academic misconduct ultimately affect all students and the entire university community by degrading the value of degrees when some are obtained dishonestly, and by impacting the grades of students working honestly.

Examples of academic misconduct include, but are not limited to the following:

  1. Obtaining or use of unauthorized information: It is a violation to obtain or use unauthorized assistance or prohibited materials and texts, tools, or study aids, unapproved use of cell phones, internet, or other electronic devices, unauthorized collaboration or copying on a test or assignment. Other examples may include working with another student on a take-home test or homework when not specifically permitted to do so by the instructor, looking at your notes or other work during an examination when not specifically permitted to do so, unauthorized sharing of questions or answers with another student or students whether in the classroom, via group chat or messages or another internet platform, or where posted by another student at an online academic warehouse (Course Hero, Chegg, Study Blue, etc.).

  2. Misrepresentation, falsification or fabrication of information. It is a violation for students to misrepresent or falsify coursework. Examples of this may include purchasing or downloading for use a paper from a term paper service or online academic warehouse, working jointly on a project and then submitting it as one's own, requesting, hiring, or otherwise encouraging someone to take a course, exam, test, or complete assignments on your behalf or for another student.

    Students may not engage in or submit falsified or fabricated course work such as falsifying research, inventing or falsely altering data, citing fictitious references, falsely recording or reporting attendance, hours, or engagement in activities such as internships, externships, field experiences, clinical activities.

    It is additionally a violation for students to tamper with or attempt to alter grades, academic records, or an instructor’s evaluation of work by altering materials or documents, tampering with evaluation tools, or other means of interfering.

  3. Plagiarism: Plagiarism is a form of misrepresentation. Students may not present the work, words, theories, data, expressed ideas, or artistry of another person or persons as their own, neither word-for-word nor paraphrasing of another person’s work. It is a violation for students to reproduce another person's paper, work or artistry, even with modifications, and submit it as their own. Students may not use another person's work or words (including unpublished material) without appropriate source documentation or citation.

    It is a violation for students to submit substantially the same work to satisfy requirements for one course or academic requirement that has been submitted in satisfaction of requirements for another course or academic requirement without permission of the instructor of the course for which the work is being submitted.

  4. Other academic misconduct: Students are prohibited from any action that helps another student engage in academic misconduct. Examples may include providing or selling coursework or materials to another person where this is not permitted or where they plan to use it in an unauthorized manner or otherwise submit it as their own work; unauthorized provision or discussion of exam questions or answers with students that will be taking the same or similar exam; posting coursework created by an instructor without their permission at an online academic warehouse (Course Hero, Chegg, Quizlet, etc.); taking an exam/completing an assignment for someone else; or otherwise seeking to acquire, selling, bribing, paying or accepting payment for unauthorized academic work or assistance that contributes to academic misconduct. 

    Students are prohibited from the recording and/or sale or dissemination (including posting) of instructional content without the express permission of the instructor(s) or through an approved accommodation coordinated via Student Accessibility Services.

    Students, faculty, and staff who would like more information are encouraged to visit the Student Conduct website for resources pertaining to academic integrity.

Reporting Academic Misconduct and Academic Outcomes

Academic misconduct is a violation of the behavior expected of a student in an academic setting as well as a student conduct violation. A student found responsible for academic misconduct is subject to appropriate academic penalty, to be determined by the instructor of the course, as well as sanctions under the university Student Code of Conduct. If an instructor believes that a student has behaved dishonestly in a course, the following steps are recommended:

  1. Contact the student to indicate there are concerns with the coursework; this can be done via email or another appropriate student learning platform.
  2. Provide the student an opportunity to respond and indicate whether they admit or deny responsibility.
    1. Where students request to meet, instructors can facilitate this as plausible (in-person or virtual), involving the relevant and appropriate instructors for the referral (e.g., teaching assistant for the course and/or supervising faculty.)
    2. In cases involving multiple students, it recommended that meetings are with individuals.
  3. If the student denies responsibility, the instructor will not assign a grade for the assignment or course (leave grade as N for grade processing), until the Office of Student Conduct has shared the student disciplinary conclusions. If the student admits the misconduct, the instructor may assign a grade as outlined in the syllabus.
  4. Refer the case and information to the Office of Student Conduct via their website reporting form, including related materials such as exams, coursework, reports, websites, external resources, syllabi, summary of the interaction with student(s), and other relevant information, as requested.

In cases involving denial of responsibility, when an outcome is determined by the Office of Student Conduct, both the student and the instructor will be notified of the disciplinary process conclusions.

A student accused of academic misconduct has the option to stay in the course or to drop the course if the drop is made within the approved time periods and according to the regulations established by the university. If the student chooses to drop the course and if the student is later found responsible for academic misconduct, then, at the discretion of the instructor, academic repercussions may follow, per the course syllabus, up to and including receiving an ‘F’ for the course on the transcript.

Student records concerning academic dishonesty are maintained in the Dean of Students Office for a period of seven years, after which the file records are purged. These student records are subject to state and federal laws and regulations guiding confidentiality of student records. However, when the student is expelled, suspended, or their admission is revoked, a notation will appear on the academic transcript that the student has been dropped due to disciplinary action and is not eligible to enroll. In the event that an instructor is uncertain how to handle an incident of suspected academic dishonesty, the Office of Student Conduct is available to consult with the instructor in deciding a proper course of action to be taken.

For questions regarding the process, contact the Office of Student Conduct.

The complete Student Code of Conduct policy and process pertaining to academic misconduct can be found at https://www.policy.iastate.edu/policy/SDR.

Response to Classroom Disruption

Should any student officially enrolled for credit or audit in a class disrupt the instructor's ability to ensure a safe learning environment, control the class agenda, and/or deliver the approved curriculum, the instructor has the right to ask that the disruptive action cease immediately. The instructor may find it useful to include general guidelines about disruptive behavior on the course syllabus; and in the event of a classroom or learning environment disruption, the instructor may, if they find it necessary, explain to the student and the class why the particular action is deemed disruptive. The responsible student should cease the disruption and utilize non-disruptive means for expressing disagreement or concern. If the disruption continues, the instructor can pursue various forms of intervention as discussed in more detail in the Faculty Handbook.

Additional guidance and resources for managing classroom disruption are available from CELT. 

Course Ownership

Ownership of Course-related Presentations

The presenter owns course-related presentations, including lectures. Individuals may take written notes or make other recordings of the presentations for educational purposes, but specific written permission to sell or post the notes or recordings for sale or subscription must be obtained from the presenter. Selling notes by students without the required permission is a violation of the Student Conduct Code.

Recording and Transmission of Classes

Recordings and transmission of classes may take place for a variety of legitimate reasons, including providing educational opportunities for those who cannot attend classes on campus, assisting students with disabilities that impair classroom note taking, and giving the instructor feedback on their classroom performance.

Because the lectures of faculty represent their intellectual labors, individuals are expected to obtain permission to make recordings of lectures and other classroom interactions. Recordings may be used for the purposes of the particular class, although in some cases, and with permission of faculty, the recordings may be preserved and used for other classes as well.