Student Judicial Affairs

The University has delineated standards and expectations which address student rights and the procedures students may use to exercise those rights. Policy highlights are discussed below. Complete versions may be reviewed in the Office of Student Judicial Affairs. Confidentiality on all matters is assured.

Student Grievance

If you believe that you have been treated unfairly or unjustly in any way by faculty, staff, administration, or a policy or procedure at the university, or just plain feel “snagged” by the system, you are entitled to file a grievance through the Office of Student Judicial Affairs.  Usually problems can be resolved by a discussion with the Director of Student Judicial Affairs who acts as a mediator with the faculty, staff, or administrator involved. If no satisfactory solution is reached, students may request  a formal grievance hearing. Students should initiate a grievance within thirty instructional days after the grievable action has occured.

Student Rights and Responsibilities (Student Discipline)

Student rights and responsibilities, including respect for the rights of others, are discussed in the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities and the Speech and Advocacy Guidelines available in the Office of Student Judicial Affairs, KNDL 110. Both delineate standards and policies of behavior. In addition, the Code describes informal and formal opportunities for due process in case of student discipline.

Sexual Harassment

California State University, Chico will not tolerate any kind of exploitation of students, including sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when:

1. submission to such conduct is explicitly or implicitly a term of condition of employment, academic grade, or enrollment;
2. submission to such conduct is used as the basis for employment or education decisions;
3. such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work/academic performance or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working or educational environment.

Students who believe they have been harrassed  should seek information and/or assistance from the Office of Student Judicial Affairs in Kendall 110, 898-6897, or the Employee Relations Manager in Kendall 118, 898-4666.

Academic Honesty

Faculty expect students to maintain a high standard of academic integrity. If you are unclear about a specific situation, ask your instructors. They will explain what is and is not acceptable in their classes.

If a student is thought to be cheating and charges are brought, a process is set in motion which can result in severe consequences, ranging from failure in an individual course to long-term suspension from the university and denial of a degree.

The examples below do not include all possible violations of the university’s expectations, but they do give a good idea of behavior which will result in grade reduction, disciplinary probation, suspension, or expulsion from the university.

Taking Information:
Copying graded homework assignments from another student; working together on a take-home test or homework when not specifically permitted to do so by the instructor; looking at another student’s paper during an examination; looking at your text or notes during an examination when not specifically permitted to do so by the instructor.

Providing Information:
Giving your work to another to be copied; giving answers to another student during an examination; after taking an exam, informing another student in a later section of questions which appear on that exam; providing a term paper to another student.

Plagiarism:
Copying homework answers from your text to hand in for a grade; failing to give credit for ideas, statement of facts, or conclusions derived from another source; submitting a paper downloaded from the Internet or submitting a friend’s paper as your own; claiming credit for artistic work (such as a music composition, photo, painting, drawing, sculpture, or design) done  by someone else.

Misrepresentation:
Having another student take your exam, or do your computer program or lab experiment; lying to an instructor to increase your grade; submitting a paper that is substantially the same for credit in two different courses without prior approval of both instructors involved; altering a graded work after it has been returned and then submitting the work for regrading.

See also the chapter on “University Policies and Important Notices” at the conclusion of The University Catalog and published annually in The Class Schedule.