Honor Code

The Honor Code

The Honor System forms a bond of trust among students, faculty, and administrators. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill operates under a system of self-governance, as students are responsible for governing themselves. As such, our University is transformed into a powerful community of inquiry and learning. The Honor Code embodies the ideals of academic honesty, integrity, and responsible citizenship, and governs the performance of all academic work a student conducts at the University. Acceptance of an offer of admission to Carolina presupposes a commitment to the principles embodied in our century-old tradition of honor and integrity.

Mutual Responsibilities of the Faculty and Students

Academic work is a joint enterprise involving faculty and students. Both have a fundamental investment in the enterprise and both must share responsibility for ensuring its integrity. In relation to the Honor Code, therefore, specific responsibilities of the faculty which parallel the responsibilities of the students have been formally adopted by the Faculty Council.

Responsibilities of the Faculty

  1. Awareness: To assure that community-wide expectations regarding academic integrity are understood and communicated, and that students are held accountable for conforming their conduct to such expectations.
  2. Communicating Expectations and Administering Examinations: To assist students in complying with their responsibilities relating to academic integrity, faculty members, teaching assistants, and other instructional personnel should
    • Use good judgment in setting and communicating clear ground rules for academic work conducted under their supervision.
    • Require students to sign the honor pledge as a condition of submitting academic assignments.
    • Take steps to prevent unauthorized access to examinations during development, duplication, and administration.
    • Avoid reusing prior examinations in whole or in part to the extent possible.
    • Take all reasonable steps consistent with physical classroom conditions to reduce the risk of cheating during the administration of examinations.
    • Maintain proper security during the administration of examinations, including as appropriate overseeing distribution and collection of examinations and proctoring the examination session.
  3. Oversight: In the event of student misconduct that appears to violate the requirements of the Honor Code, faculty members, teaching assistants, and other instructional personnel should
    • Report to the appropriate Student Attorney General any instance in which the instructor has reasonable basis to conclude that a student under the faculty member’s supervision has engaged in academic dishonesty or substantially assisted another to do so in connection with academically related work.
    • In the instructor’s discretion, notify the student of the instructor’s intention to report the suspected academic dishonesty and permit the student to provide relevant further information if the student chooses to do so.
    • Refrain from taking unilateral punitive action as to a student rather than reporting conduct in suspected violation of the Honor Code.
    • Cooperate with representatives of the Honor System in conducting necessary investigation, providing testimony or other evidence, recommending appropriate sanctions, or otherwise bringing the matter to prompt conclusion.
  4. Involvement: To bring to bear requisite faculty judgment regarding the nature and importance of academic integrity, and to nourish a strong campus-wide understanding and commitment to associated intellectual and personal values, faculty members, teaching assistants, and other instructional personnel should
    • Explore issues of integrity in connection with instructional activities where relevant and appropriate.
    • Encourage their academic units to take matters of academic integrity seriously, become informed regarding related problems and advisable means of preventing problems from arising, and provide requisite training and support to instructional personnel.
    • Participate upon request as part of educational initiatives, faculty advisory panels, and University Hearing Boards designed to create, nurture, and enforce high standards of academic integrity within the University community.

Responsibilities of Students

To ensure effective functioning of an Honor System worthy of respect in this institution, students are expected to

  1. Conduct all academic work within the letter and spirit of the Honor Code, which prohibits the giving or receiving of unauthorized aid in all academic processes.
  2. Consult with faculty and other sources to clarify the meaning of plagiarism, to learn the recognized techniques of proper attribution of sources used in the preparation of written work, and to identify allowable resource materials or aids to be used during examination or in completion of any graded work.
  3. Sign a pledge on all graded academic work certifying that no unauthorized assistance has been received or given in the completion of the work.
  4. Comply with faculty regulations designed to reduce the possibility of cheating–such as removing unauthorized materials or aids from the room and protecting one’s own examination paper from the view of others.
  5. Maintain the confidentiality of examinations by divulging no information concerning an examination, directly or indirectly, to another student yet to write that same examination.
  6. Treat all members of the University community with respect and fairness.
  7. Report any instance in which reasonable grounds exist to believe that a student has given or received unauthorized aid in graded work or in other respects violated the Honor Code. Such report should be made to the Office of the Student Attorney General, the Office of the Dean of Students, or other appropriate officer or official of their college or school.
  8. Cooperate with the Office of the Student Attorney General and the defense counsel in the investigation and hearing of any incident of alleged violation, including the giving of testimony when called upon.

Procedure for Reporting

Members of the University community who wish to report possible violations of the Honor Code should contact the Office of Student Conduct at (919) 962-0805 or fill out the online form. The Office of Student Conduct will review the report and refer it to the appropriate Student Attorney General for action.