Hobart and William Smith Colleges

The faculty of Hobart and William Smith Colleges has oversight of the curriculum and the classroom experience, and insists that students undertake all academic exercises with the utmost honesty and integrity. This principle of academic integrity lies at the heart of our learning community and forms the foundation for everyone's academic efforts.

Starting with adherence to the principle of academic integrity, the individual student bears responsibility for his or her own education and must undertake all academic work with complete honesty and integrity. As well, each student must do his or her best to assure that this principle extends to all others in the community. Categories of academic work covered by the principle of academic integrity include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Examinations: Giving or receiving assistance during an in-class or take-home examination, quiz, or any other academic exercise, except as specifically authorized by an individual course instructor, violates this principle.
• Papers:The presentation or reproduction of ideas, words, or statements of another person as one's own, without due acknowledgment, is considered plagiarism and violates this principle.
• Library Use: Failure to sign for materials taken from the library, destruction or theft of any library materials, and similar abuses of library privileges infringe upon the rights of other students to fair and equal access and violate this principle.
• Reports and Laboratory Exercises: Giving or receiving unauthorized assistance and the fabrication of data or research results violate this principle.
• Computer Use: Any deliberate attempt to prevent other users' access to computer services, deprive them of resources, or degrade system performance violates this principle. The use of programs or files of another computer user or the use of another person's account number or password without permission also violates this principle. Failure to attribute the source for any information or writing derived from any computer source (database, website, internet, etc.) and incorporated in any academic work submitted is also a violation.
• Advising and Registration Forms: Forging an adviser's signature or altering any signed document will result in the student's de-registration. The student will not be allowed to re-register until the adviser has approved any changes. Any student suspected of forgery of any faculty or administrator signature may face disciplinary action by the student's dean or the Committee on Standards, a faculty, student, and administrative committee charged with enforcing the academic and behavioral expectations of the Colleges' community (for more information about the Committee on Standards, please review the Disciplinary Process section, Hearing Bodies of the Community Standards).

Academic dishonesty is determined in every case by the evidence presented and not by intent. Questions of intent and circumstances under which an infraction occurred may be considered in determining a sanction. For more information on plagiarism, please see "Plagiarism Defined" at the end of this chapter.

COURSE LOAD POLICY

The normal course load for Hobart and William Smith students is eight full-credit courses in an academic year, evenly distributed across the two semesters. Students in good academic standing may take three, four or five courses in any particular semester. Enrollment for a fifth course must occur during the drop-add period (first week of classes) and be processed on PeopleSoft Student Self-Service. Students should be aware that 32 total credits are required for graduation, and therefore an average course load of less than four courses in any semester may lengthen the time required to complete the degree requirements and to graduate. Students who have fallen behind in credits must submit to their dean an academic recovery plan that they have created in consultation with, and approval by, their academic adviser.

Good academic standing will be defined as maintenance of a minimum GPA of 2.0 (C), while accruing seven courses passed in the First Year, 15 by the end of the Sophomore Year, 23 by the end of the Junior Year, and 32 by the end of the Senior Year.

Course withdrawals carry no penalty but do not diminish the minimum requirements for the degree. Tuition remains the same if a student takes three, four, or five full credit courses in a semester. Additional tuition will be charged for more than five full credit courses.