Academic Misconduct Policy

The College of Engineering at UC Berkeley is consistently ranking among the top three Engineering colleges in the United States, with the high academic standard reflected in each degree that is awarded. As a result, every EECS student is expected to maintain the highest standard by ensuring that all academic work reflects unique ideas or properly attributes the ideas to the original sources. Copying all or part of another person’s work without citation or using reference materials not specifically allowed are forms of academic misconduct that will not be tolerated at UC Berkeley and in EECS.

If a course detects an anomaly on a student’s work that indicates possible academic misconduct, it is important to resolve these matters according to established campus policies, and that students are to be treated fairly. Learn more about the Department Policy on Academic Misconduct and the conduct process at the Center for Student Conduct.

Rationale of Academic Misconduct

In Dan Ariely’s book “The Honest Truth About Dishonesty”, he states that these factors increase the likelihood of academic misconduct:

  • Being depleted (fatigued, stressed).
  • A conflict of interest.
  • The ability to rationalize it.
  • The precedent of one act of misconduct of one’s own.
  • Watching others’ misconduct behavior.
  • Culture that provides examples of misconduct.
  • That others benefit from our acts of misconduct.
  • A high personal level of creativity and imagination.

It’s important to understand why people justify their actions towards academic misconduct so that we can design a system that does not make it rational. And in understanding the conditions your students are working under, the easier you can create contingencies that prevent these opportunities from presenting itself. We’ll discuss below some preventative practices to support your students and your course staff, as well as the process in the event that you must handle a case of academic misconduct.

Statements on Course Policies

Different courses often have their own approaches to grading and detection technologies, so it is the responsibility of faculty and course staff to share their expectations and requirements regarding collaboration, homework and exams in the course syllabus, course website, course rubric and any other means of communication to all of their students at the beginning of the semester.

Here are some examples to include into a course syllabus to speak to the issue of academic integrity:

While we encourage students to review materials and study together, projects and assignments turned in as homework should be the result of one’s own independent work.

Anyone who copies all or part of another person’s work on a quiz or exam will receive a failing grade and will also be reported to the University Office of Student Conduct.

As a tool to promote academic integrity in this course, work submitted may be checked for originality using MOSS. MOSS is an open-source software used for plagiarism-detection, which performs a Measure of Software Similarity for all projects and assignments that are turned in for credit. Source code submitted by the student that is interpreted as plagiarism by the course staff, will result in a failing grade for your assignment and further disciplinary action will be taken.

Please visit the Center for Teaching & Learning for more detailed examples on course policy statements regarding academic integrity.

Statements on Exams

Here is an example taken from Professor Babak Ayazifar:

Pledge of Academic Integrity

By my honor, I affirm that

  1. this document—which I have produced for the evaluation of my performance—reflects my original, bona fide work, and that I have neither provided to, nor received from, anyone excessive or unreasonable assistance that produces unfair advantage for me or for any of my peers;
  2. as a member of the UC Berkeley community, I have acted with honesty, integrity, respect for others, and professional responsibility—and in a manner consistent with the letter and intent of the campus Code of Student Conduct;
  3. I have not violated—nor aided or abetted anyone else to violate—the instructions for this exam given by the course staff, including, but not limited to, those on the cover page of this document; and
  4. More generally, I have not committed any act that violates—nor aided or abetted anyone else  to violate—UC Berkeley, state, or Federal regulations, during this exam.

(10 Points) In the space below, hand-copy the text of the pledge above—verbatim—and then write your name in legible letters, sign, include your full SID, and date before uploading your work to Gradescope.

Other approaches to this include video reminders before taking an exam. John DeNero, professor at EECS, posted this “noncollaboration” video prior to testing:

While these approaches may not be as effective as proctoring practices during exams and clear supervision, providing a pledge or signing to confirm academic integrity and other reminders before testing gives your students an opportunity to understand the consequences of academic misconduct.

Instructors use different methods for proctoring and detecting academic misconduct (plagiarism-detection, cheat-traps, etc.), which is also class dependent because it needs to integrate into homework, projects, and exam design. Make sure that you know and understand the methods applied in your course and the conduct process for each scenario.

Conduct Process

When a TA finds that a student was involved in academic misconduct, the TA must let the Instructor of Record know immediately. Student interaction should be handled by the Instructor of Record, not the TA. The instructor must then take the following actions:

  • Requiring repetition of the course work from the student in question
  • Assigning an F grade or a “zero” grade to the subject work, and, for serious offenses (such as academic misconduct during an exam), assigning an F grade to the course.
  • Informing the Center for Student Conduct of the incident using a Faculty Disposition Form (this is department policy and must be initiated in order the infraction to be recorded on transcript).

Here is a quick overview on reporting academic misconduct:

While these approaches may not be as effective as proctoring practices during exams and clear supervision, providing a pledge or signing to confirm academic integrity and other reminders before testing gives your students an opportunity to understand the consequences of academic misconduct.

Instructors use different methods for proctoring and detecting academic misconduct (plagiarism-detection, cheat-traps, etc.), which is also class dependent because it needs to integrate into homework, projects, and exam design. Make sure that you know and understand the methods applied in your course and the conduct process for each scenario.

For additional information on different forms of Academic Misconduct, please reference the Center of Student Conduct Academic Integrity.

While the instructor has the option whether or not to meet with the student regarding the detection of academic misconduct in their course work, it is highly recommended to meet with the student to discuss the matter. Again, this is the responsibility of the Instructor of Record, not the TAs, due to the sensitivity of the issue. The goal here is not to catch as many students in academic misconduct as possible or to dehumanize their behavior, but to get to the truth as to why student misconduct occurs in your course and how to minimize academic misconduct behavior systemically.

During the meeting, the student has the option whether or not to take responsibility for the detected incident and sign the Faculty Disposition Form, which will then be sent to the Center for Student Conduct. The student should be made aware of the right to appeal to the Department Grievance Committee the actions taken by the Instructor of Record to have the matter resolved by the Center for Student Conduct.

Upon receipt of the reported violation, the Center for Student Conduct offers the student both the opportunity to resolve the incident informally or by a formal hearing process in determining whether there has been a violation of the Code of Student Conduct and any sanctions that may follow. Consent to the student’s signature on the Faculty Disposition Form, indicating having taken responsibility for the detected incident of academic misconduct, can greatly minimize the severity of consequences.

First offenses will usually result in a failing grade on an assignment, a failing grade in the class (if that assignment is the final project or the final exam), mandatory community service, among other forms of punishments. However, the Department will recommend that students involved in a second incident of academic misconduct be suspended or dismissed from the University.

While it might be understandable the motivation towards academic misconduct, given the circumstances, their situation does not define the act as acceptable behavior. Academic misconduct does not excuse the violations of the department’s academic integrity policy and thus the student must still take responsibility for their actions and choices.

For more information on the departmental policy on academic misconduct, refer to the Department Policy on Academic Misconduct.

Additional Support

Handling student conduct cases can be an emotionally taxing endeavour. If you need additional support or coaching on how to communicate with your students about these issues, or how to facilitate student conduct cases, please contact eecs-course-management@eecs.berkeley.edu.

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