To find out how procedures recommended by the Joint Faculty-Student Policy Committee in its “Review of the LS&A Academic JudiciaryÆ would work, Eugene W. Nissen, assistant dean for student academic affairs, used a modified version of the procedures toward the end of last winter term to handle charges against LS&A students.
Instructors and students were informed that if either found fault with the process or outcomes, the case would be heard de novo by a hearing board of the Academic Judiciary currently in place, explains Nissen.
Between July 1993 and June 1994, LS&A’s Academic Judiciary received 38 charges against LS&A students. Thirty-three cases were heard, 17 by hearing boards and 16 by Nissen.
Five cases are pending, 27 students were found guilty. Six were not guilty or cases were not proven.
Of the 16 cases Nissen heard, 12 students were found guilty, four were found not guilty or charges were not proved.
All instructors and students were satisfied with the procedures used, according to the annual report of the Office of Student Academic Affairs.
“The hearings were promptly scheduled and quickly resolved, much to the satisfaction of all parties. There was greater flexibility in the assignment of sanctions than current procedures permit,” Nissen reported.
“In a few cases the instructor was not present; the instructor felt that there was nothing to be added to what had already been stated in the cover letter, and the student, when asked about meeting without the instructor present, did not object.
“Finally, I felt that in a number of cases that a three-way conversation (instructor, student, me) the issues were fully considered, the sanctions imposed made the best possible educational sense, given the case, and the student was made acutely aware of the importance of academic integrity in the classroom.”
