Article II: Honor Code

Section 1. Statement of Purpose

The members of the Georgia Tech community believe the fundamental objective of the Institute is to provide the students with a high-quality education while developing in them a sense of ethics and social responsibility. We believe that trust is an integral part of the learning process and that self-discipline is necessary in this pursuit. We also believe that any instance of dishonesty hurts the entire community. It is with this in mind that we have set forth a student Honor Code at Georgia Tech.

Section 2. Objectives

An Honor Code at Georgia Tech aims to cultivate a community based on trust, academic integrity, and honor. It specifically aims to accomplish the following:

• Ensure that students, faculty and administrators understand that the responsibility for upholding academic honesty at Georgia Tech lies with them.
• Prevent any students from gaining an unfair advantage over other students through academic misconduct.
• Ensure that students understand that academic dishonesty is a violation of the profound trust of the entire academic community.
• Clarify what constitutes academic misconduct among students at Georgia Tech and what is expected of them by the Institute, the faculty, and their peers.
• Cultivate an environment at Georgia Tech where academic dishonesty is not tolerated among the students.
• Secure a centralized system of education and awareness of the Honor Code.

Section 3. Student Responsibilities

Students are expected to act according to the highest ethical standards. The immediate objective of an Honor Code is to prevent any students from gaining an unfair advantage over other students through academic misconduct. Academic misconduct is any act that does or could improperly distort student grades or other student academic records. Such acts include but need not be limited to the following:

• Possessing, using, or exchanging improperly acquired written or verbal information in the preparation of any essay, laboratory report, examination, or other assignment included in an academic course;
• Substitution for, or unauthorized collaboration with, a student in the commission of academic requirements;
• Submission of material that is wholly or substantially identical to that created or published by another person or persons, without adequate credit notations indicating authorship (plagiarism);
• False claims of performance or work that has been submitted by the claimant;
• Alteration or insertion of any academic grade or rating so as to obtain unearned academic credit;
• Deliberate falsification of a written or verbal statement of fact to a member of the faculty so as to obtain unearned academic credit;
• Forgery, alteration, or misuse of any Institute document relating to the academic status of the student.

While these acts constitute assured instances of academic misconduct, other acts of academic misconduct may be defined by the professor.

Students must sign the Honor Agreement affirming their commitment to uphold the Honor Code before becoming a part of the Georgia Tech community. The Honor Agreement may reappear on exams and other assignments to remind students of their responsibilities under the Georgia Institute of Technology Academic Honor Code.

Section 4. Faculty Responsibilities

Faculty members are expected to create an environment where honesty flourishes. In creating this environment, faculty members are expected to do the following:

• Make known to their class as specifically as possible what constitutes appropriate academic conduct as well as what comprises academic misconduct. This includes but is not limited to the use of previously submitted work, collaborative work on homework, etc.
• Provide copies of old exams or lists of sample questions to the Georgia Tech library for students to review.
• Avoid the re-use of exams.
• Include a paragraph containing information about the Georgia Tech Academic Honor Code on the syllabus for each class they teach.
• Report instances of academic dishonesty to the Office of the Dean of Students.

In addition to the expectations listed previously, faculty have the authority to superimpose their own interpretations on some aspects of academic conduct including, but not limited to, the following:

• Old exams for use during open-book exams;
• Contents of formula sheets allowed on exams;
• Use of calculators on exams;
• Collaboration on out-of-class assignments;
• Use of previously submitted out-of-class assignments.

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