Student/Faculty Meeting

This document outlines the procedures and considerations for setting up and preparing for meetings related to academic integrity incidents.

Faculty Center for Professional Excellence

Adelphi

Set Up the Meeting

After the student's response to the academic integrity notification has been submitted, the student and faculty member should meet and discuss the incident if they have not done so already. The purpose of the meeting is to allow the student to present information relevant to their version of the incident and to allow the faculty member to consider the student’s information BEFORE making a decision about whether a violation of academic integrity occurred. It makes no difference who reaches out to whom to set up the meeting. (Faculty can reach out to the student, or the student can reach out to the faculty.) The meeting should be set up within the time frame provided on the Notice of Possible Violation letter or the letter sent to the faculty member with the student response. Remember that if the student is choosing to utilize the support of an academic integrity advocate, the advocate should be included on all communications between the student and the faculty member.

Preparing for the Meeting

It may help to keep in mind that there are several reasons for this meeting. First, students’ due process rights include a right to be heard and to present evidence to support their version of events. As the University official charged with responsibility for investigating the report and reaching a determination, the reporting faculty member has an obligation to provide the student with that opportunity prior to making a decision. Often students are angry, afraid, or embarrassed, and this can make the discussion stressful.

Second, our process is intended to be educational, and the meeting is a vital step: you should explain to the student not only what he or she did to elicit a report but why you believe it may constitute a violation of academic integrity. Often students—no matter how many times they are told—do not understand why their behavior is being treated as a violation.

Third, there are some ways to help lower the temperature of the reporting process and this meeting in particular. Remember that the student is a normal young person who may have made a mistake, as we all have. Your meeting is not intended to confront the student with evidence of guilt and expect a contrite apology. Instead, the meeting is a step in an investigation you are conducting to explain a single episode of suspected misconduct. At the meeting, keep the focus on that episode. Remind the student that you have not reached a conclusion about whether the conduct described in your report constitutes a violation, much less made an accusation about the student’s character. Direct the conversation away from imputations of motivation or intent (such as “you’re calling me a liar?!?”) and encourage the student to address the specifics of the original report and provide whatever evidence they can to support their position. Think of your role as an investigator gathering information focused on a narrow question: how does the student explain the behavior described in your initial report?

Above all, students should not be expected to offer a confession in return for a lesser penalty, in other words, to surrender their due process rights in return for leniency.

Students, take advantage of the service of an academic integrity advisor. The assigned advocate is able to help you in several ways: 1. The advocate can help you to navigate the academic integrity process and answer your questions about the process. 2. The advocate can provide you with information and guidance to help you to make informed decisions about the choices that you will be asked to make during the process. 3. The advocate can assist you in participating in the process. The advocate can offer you suggestions on what information would be useful to share during the process, and how to phrase or format the information.

Here is some helpful information for both the faculty and the students: - Be open and honest in your discussion of the incident - Actively listen to the other person so you can truly hear what the other person is saying - Be willing to stand up for your position, but do not be so staunch in your position that you refuse to hear another person’s point of view.