Academic Honesty

Members of the Luther Seminary community are expected to conduct themselves responsibly and honestly in academic matters. Cheating and plagiarism are serious offenses against this expectation and are subject to disciplinary action.

We define plagiarism as follows:

"Plagiarism is the dishonest act of presenting the words or thoughts of another writer as if they were your own.... If you quote from anything at all...you must put quotation marks around it, or set it off from your text. If you summarize or paraphrase an author's words, you must clearly indicate where the summary or paraphrase begins and ends.... In every instance you must formally acknowledge the written source from which you took the material." [Quoted from James A. W. Heffernan and John E. Lincoln, Writing: A College Handbook (New York: W. W. Norton, 1982), p.457.]

If instances of cheating or plagiarism are detected, one of these disciplinary actions shall follow: either (1) the instructor records a failure for the assignment or examination, or (2) the instructor records a failure for the course. In either case, the instructor shall bring the matter to the Academic Dean and the Dean of Students, and the question whether further disciplinary action should be considered will be determined in consultation with the instructor, the Academic Dean, and the Dean of Students.

If further disciplinary action is to be considered, or if the student desires reconsideration of the matter, the Academic Dean will convene a committee of seven persons, including the President, the Academic Dean, the Dean of Students, the student's adviser, the faculty member who brought the charge, a senior appointed by the student body president, and (in the case of students doing contextual education or in the process of assignment to an internship) a staff member from Contextual Ministry Education or (when contextual education is not involved) another faculty member.

The Committee's action may take the form of failure in the course and possibly other measures: an administrative action (particularly where Contextual Ministry Education is involved), or a recommendation to the faculty for the suspension (forced leave of absence) or expulsion of the student.