You are visiting this page most likely because you suspect a student or students have engaged in academic dishonesty. We will provide some guidance on your next steps. Please also see below for helpful information regarding syllabi, ways to encourage honesty and prevent dishonesty, and other resources.
- Mandatory Reporting
- Reporting suspected academic dishonesty to the Office of Academic Integrity within the Provost’s Office (using either an Option A or Option B Report Form) is obligatory according to our campus’ Faculty Handbook. It is important for the Office of Academic Integrity to keep a record of acts of dishonesty so that it knows whether a student is engaging in repeated misconduct in multiple courses.
- Division of Responsibilities
- Our Faculty Handbook also states, “Instructors are solely responsible for assessing academic performance, and the provost is solely responsible for the application of disciplinary measures.” Academic dishonesty is, of course, relevant to the assessment of academic performance, and, as such, instructors may impose course-related penalties such as reduced grades.
- Timeline Policies
- Once an instructor suspects that a student has violated academic integrity standards, the instructor must notify the student within 10 calendar days that the suspected misconduct will be reported to the Office of Academic Integrity. The instructor then must submit either the Option A or B Report to the Office of Academic Integrity “as soon as possible after notifying the student, but in no case longer than 14 calendar days after notifying the student.” Article VI, Faculty Handbook.
To submit a report, click on the form name below (either Option A or Option B) that is most relevant to your case. Each user is authenticated through the University of Missouri system portal to prohibit false reporting. YOU MUST HAVE THE STUDENT ID NUMBER TO PROCEED. Cases entered using the student email address without the student id number will not connect to a student. This electronic submission process creates efficiencies for each user within the process and must be used moving forward rather than the previous paper form submission process. Users can enter case details and upload and submit all supporting documentation electronically using this new system. For an incident involving multiple students, you may submit a single form; be sure to include the student number for each student. If a case involves a particularly large number of students, or you are unsure of how to describe the incident on the form, please contact our office for advice. We are happy to discuss the most efficient way to organize the report. If you experience difficulties during this data entry process, please contact our office for assistance, and please be patient as we work through any kinks that may be present. Thank you in advance, for your cooperation.
Option A
Option A should be used for less egregious cases of dishonesty. Option A provides an opportunity for the student to accept responsibility, and for the instructor and student to reach an agreement on a course-related sanction. If the instructor and student mutually agree on the accuracy of the violation report and the specific course-level sanction (e.g., reduction or zero grade on the project/paper, reduction in course grade, failing course grade, or assignment of additional work), then the Office of Academic Integrity will generally take no disciplinary action other than a written warning if this is the student’s first offense. If a student’s current violation represents the student’s second or greater instance(s) of academic dishonesty, the Office of the Provost may choose more severe disciplinary sanctions in accordance with Collected Rules, Sections 200.010 and 200.020. Finally, an agreement is not necessary for an instructor to choose Option A. There is an opportunity on the form to indicate that the instructor and student do not agree on either the nature of the conduct or the in-course penalty.
Option B
Option B should be used for more egregious cases of dishonesty. The form states that instructors should use Option B “when in his/her assessment of the incident(s): the student’s act exceeds the lowest standards of academic honesty; is deemed an egregious act of poor judgment; may call into question the student’s commitment to honing his/her intellectual life; and whose behavior negatively reflects on the very core values of the University.” An instructor may impose course-related sanctions, as described above, even when submitting an Option B report.