Academic Standards

Consultative Resolution:

When an instructor suspects that a student has engaged in academic misconduct, the first step in the process of resolving this situation is for the instructor and the student to seek a consultative resolution to the suspected act. When an instructor suspects a student of academic misconduct, the instructor should notify the student of this within 10 academic days of becoming aware of the alleged incident by sending an email to the student’s official Buffalo State email account and attaching a copy of the academic misconduct policy to the email. At this time, the instructor’s department chair should also be informed of the incident. Within 10 academic days of this notice, the instructor and the student should consult with one another so that they may explain their respective perspectives on the alleged act of misconduct. At the request of either the instructor or the student, the department chair may attend this meeting. There are four possible outcomes to this consultative process:

1. The student did not commit an act of academic misconduct.
   • No sanction should be imposed.
   • Within 10 academic days of the consultation, the instructor should send an email to the student’s Buffalo State email address notifying the student of this outcome.
   • The instructor should inform the department chair of this outcome.
2. The student unintentionally committed an act of academic misconduct.
   • No sanction should be imposed.
   • The instructor should help the student understand what was done wrong and how to avoid engaging in academic dishonesty in the future.
   • Within 10 academic days of the consultation, the instructor should send a decision letter (via email to the student’s official Buffalo State email address) that informs the student of the determination that the student unintentionally committed an act of academic misconduct, that no sanctions will be imposed, and that the student has the right to appeal this determination. The instructor should copy the department chair, the school’s dean’s office, and the academic standards office on this email.
3. The student intentionally committed an act of academic misconduct.
   • The instructor has the authority to impose certain types of sanctions on the student and may request that the Academic Misconduct Committee impose a stronger sanction on the student if the act of academic misconduct is egregious. The instructor may provide the student with a warning, ask the student to revise work, lower the student’s grade on an assignment, lower the student’s grade in the course, or impose any other reasonable sanction that is not one of the sanctions that may only be imposed by the Academic Misconduct Committee.
   • Within 10 academic days of the consultation, the instructor should send a decision letter (via email to the student’s official Buffalo State email address) that informs the student of the determination that the student intentionally committed an act of academic misconduct, that the instructor plans to impose certain specific sanctions for this misconduct, and that the student has the right to appeal this determination and/or these sanctions. The instructor should copy the department chair, the School’s Dean’s Office, and the Academic Standards Office on this email.
   • Any instructor sanction should be considered pending until the Academic Standards Office confirms with the instructor that a sanction stronger than the one recommended by the instructor will not be imposed and that the student is not appealing the instructor’s determination and/or recommended sanctions. The instructor should not enter a final grade for a student while an instructor sanction for that student is considered pending.
4. The student does not engage with the consultative process and/or attend the consultative meeting.
   • The instructor should take those actions specified under 3, i.e., behave as if the outcome of the consultation was that the student was found to have intentionally committed an act of academic misconduct.

The following sanctions may only be imposed by the Academic Misconduct Committee:

• _{An E grade with an indication on the student’s transcript that the E grade was due to academic misconduct}
• _{Suspension from the College}
• _{and dismissal from the College- for Academic Misconduct}.