Academic Integrity Violation Process for Students

This is an overview of the process. Students charged with an academic integrity violation should read the ASU Academic Integrity website for more policy information. You may also see the process in our visual guide.

Academic integrity violation process

  1. Your instructor will notify you face-to-face by Zoom, or by email if they believe you violated the academic integrity policy. They will provide the details of the allegation, and you should respond with either an acknowledgement of the issue or details that you would like them to consider. *
  2. Withdrawing from a course will not absolve you of responsibility for an academic integrity violation.
  3. If your instructor maintains that there is a violation they will report the issue to the Academic Integrity Office.
  4. The Academic Integrity Office will review the information and send you a formal notice of the alleged violation via email.
  5. Once you receive the formal notice, you have five business days** to provide your feedback to the Academic Integrity Office (AIO).
  6. After you provide additional information, or after five business days elapse, the Academic Integrity Office will email you a letter confirming whether you are responsible, or not responsible for the reported violation. If found responsible, the email will also contain the sanction that you will receive.
  7. If appropriate, in the sanction letter, we also notify you of your ability to request your case be heard by an appeal hearing board. Students considering appeal hearing requests should evaluate their evidence to determine whether they have new information that could lead to a different decision made by the instructor and AIO.
  8. Properly completed appeal request forms must be submitted by the deadline indicated on the sanction notification you received. If you do not request an appeal by the deadline, the case will be closed and the sanction applied. Once a case is closed, violations with sanctions less than an XE grade are not placed on the student’s transcript and are not available, publicly, anywhere at the university. Sanctions of XE are noted on the student’s transcript per the University Provost’s policy.

This process applies only to allegations of academic dishonesty. Students wishing to express a difference of opinion over a grade issued by an instructor should review the grade grievance appeal policy/procedures.

*Because of the varied and unique types of situations, instructor reporting procedures may sometimes vary from these recommended procedures.

**University business day, not including Saturday, Sunday, any officially recognized university employee holiday, or any day the University is closed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Your instructor will notify the Academic Integrity Office and we will follow the procedures located in the procedures for student violations tab on this website.

No, during the time in which you are communicating with your instructor and / or the Academic Integrity Office about an alleged violation, you should participate normally in class, and complete all assignments and examinations.

Withdrawing from a course will not alleviate you from responsibility for an academic integrity violation. When/if you are notified of an alleged academic integrity violation, you should not withdraw from the course until you have communicated with the Academic Integrity Officer about the issue.

The sanction for a first offense depends largely on the severity of the violation. First offense sanctions can be anywhere from a zero on the assignment to receiving an E in the course.  Also, all first-time academic integrity offenders are required to complete an Engineering School academic integrity remediation course in Canvas. Important note: depending on the severity of the violation the University does have the ability to sanction first offenses more severely if the situation warrants it.

While each individual situation is unique, receiving a second academic integrity violation is considered a serious breach of student academic conduct.  Possible second offense sanction are: receive an E for the course and an XE notated on the transcript. The X is a notation on your transcript that the course was failed because of an academic integrity violation. Additionally, for very egregious violations, students may be suspended from Arizona State University for a minimum of one year or expelled from the University permanently.

During the fall and spring semesters, appeal hearings are conducted approximately 4 – 6 weeks after the pre-appeal meeting with the AIO. Hearings are not typically conducted over the summer break. This means academic integrity issues that are appealed at the end of the spring term, will have hearings that take place at the beginning of the fall semester.

Appeal hearing boards may recommend that the student be found not responsible for the violation. Alternately, the board may recommend the student be found responsible for the violation. If the hearing board recommends responsibility, they will recommend an appropriate sanction which can be the original applied sanction, a lower sanction, or a higher sanction.

The course should take you approximately 2 hours to complete. The purpose of the course is to reconnect you with the relevant ASU student honor codes, provide additional information on the types of academic integrity violations that often occur, and inform you of the severity of sanctions if you choose to engage in a second academic integrity violation.

Depending on the scenario, you have several options. First and foremost, you should inform your instructor of the alleged violation.  You can also report the violation using the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering reporting portal, or, you may contact the Academic Integrity Officer directly.

You can find the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering academic integrity procedures on this website. The ASU policy on academic integrity can be found on the University Provost website.

To understand your instructor’s specific academic integrity expectations please consult the course syllabus and all course assignment instructions.  When in doubt regarding any course related academic integrity topic always contact your instructor directly.

If you do not submit the completed appeal form by your deadline, you will not be able to have an appeal hearing for that violation, the case will be closed and any sanctions applied.

No, an academic integrity violation will not make you ineligible for student employment. However, every student employment application is different. If an application for employment asks you if you have ever had a violation, you should self-report it and if possible, give a brief description.

We always encourage using ASU resources whenever possible. Additionally, if you are uncertain whether a resource is allowable or not, you should always check with your instructor.

Knowing the above, you may use other resources to learn the theories and concepts of a subject. However, you must always submit assignments that are 100% original to you. You may never copy all, or even parts, of an answer or solution from a website, friend or any where else. If you are on a website that just gives you an answer…this is a dangerous website to be on. Using/modifying those answers and submitting as your own is academically dishonest. 

No, all ASU course materials are copyright protected and should not be posted online. It is important to note that if you post course materials online, you can also potentially be held accountable for aiding in an academic integrity violation, if someone uses your material and submits all or parts of your work as their own.

Yes, you may utilize cloud storage for your ASU course materials, but the storage location must be password protected.

If you request a timely appeal, you will receive a confirmation email and a notice that you must schedule a pre-appeal hearing meeting with the Academic Integrity Officer. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss the logistics of the hearing and explain how the process works. After this meeting, the AIO staff begin the scheduling process to determine the date and time the hearing will be conducted.