For information about changes in name and/or address, see the Lamar University Comprehensive Catalog.
Lamar University expects all students to engage in academic pursuits in a manner that is above reproach. Students are expected to maintain complete honesty and integrity in their academic experiences both in and out of the classroom. Any student found guilty of dishonesty in any phase of academic work will be subject to disciplinary action.
The University and its official representatives may initiate disciplinary proceedings against a student accused of any form of academic dishonesty including, but not limited to, cheating on an examination or other academic work which is to be submitted, plagiarism, collusion, and the abuse of resource materials. Cheating includes:
Plagiarism shall mean the appropriation of another’s work or idea and the unacknowledged incorporation of that work or idea into one’s own work offered for credit.
Collusion shall mean the unauthorized collaboration with another per-son in preparing work offered for credit.
Abuse of resource materials shall mean the mutilation, destruction, concealment, theft, or alteration of materials provided to assist students in the mastery of course materials.
Academic work shall mean the preparation of an essay, dissertation, thesis, report, problem, assignment, creative work or other project that the student submits as a course requirement or for a grade.
Instructors shall take reasonable and necessary precautions, including the careful administration and monitoring of examinations and assignments, to prevent acts of academic dishonesty.
Procedures for discipline due to academic dishonesty shall be the same as in other violations of the Student Code of Conduct, except that all academic dishonesty cases shall be considered and reviewed by the faculty member, and if necessary, the Department Chair, Dean, and Provost. The faculty member shall conduct a complete, thorough, and impartial investigation of the charge of academic dishonesty and determine whether or not the student was responsible for the violation. If the faculty member determines that the student was responsible for the violation, the faculty member may assess an appropriate and reasonable sanction. The student shall be entitled to a written notice from the faculty member of the violation, the penalty, and the student’s right to appeal the determination of dishonesty and/or the sanction imposed. A copy of the faculty member’s notice to the student shall be forwarded to the Provost.
If the student does not accept the decision of the faculty member concerning the determination of dishonesty and/or the penalty imposed, the student may appeal to the faculty member’s Department Chair for review of the case. To do so, the student must submit, in writing, a request for an appeal to the Chair within five working days of notification of the right to appeal. The student shall be entitled to a written notice of Chair’s decision and the student’s right to further appeal.
If the student does not accept the decision of the Chair concerning the determination of dishonesty and/or the sanction imposed, the student may appeal to the Dean for review of the case. To do so, the student must submit, in writing, a request for an appeal to the Dean within five working days of notification of the Chair’s decision. Prior to rendering a decision about an appeal, the Dean may request a review of the case and recommendation from the College’s Student-Faculty Relations Committee. The student shall be entitled to a written notice of the Dean’s decision and the right to further appeal.
If the student does not accept the decision of the Dean, the student may then appeal to the Provost for review of the case. To do so, the student must submit, in writing, a request for an appeal to the Provost within five working days of notification of the Dean’s decision. Before rendering a decision, the Provost shall convene an ad hoc Student-Faculty Relations Committee composed of members from the standing Student-Faculty Relations Committees from the other Colleges to review the case and offer a recommendation. The student shall be entitled to a written notice of the Provost’s decision. The decision of the Provost shall be final.
No disciplinary action against the student shall become effective until the student has received substantive and procedural due process as described above. A copy of the record pertaining to each case shall be forwarded to, reside in, and considered by the Office of the Vice President for Student Engagement where it shall be treated as a disciplinary record as described in the Student Handbook. If additional judicial action is necessary, as in the case of flagrant or repeated violations, the Student Engagement Office shall initiate further action in accordance with the procedures for student discipline as described in the Student Handbook.
To provide for the resolution of alleged academic grievances in a prompt, fair, and equitable process throughout the university, departments and academic divisions of the university shall follow the grievance and appeals procedures. There shall be in each College a Student-Faculty Relations Committee. It shall be comprised of four faculty members, two undergraduate students and one graduate student. Department Chairs may not serve as a member of this committee. Members of the committee shall be chosen by procedures established by the College. The chair of the committee shall be selected from among the faculty members. Annually, the Dean of the College shall provide a membership listing to the Provost. In the event that any member of the committee is a party to an alleged grievance or is unavailable for an extended period of time, the Dean shall appoint a substitute member.
The Student-Faculty Relations Committee should be involved in an alleged grievance only after normal procedures for resolving issues have been exhausted. The initial step in the normal procedure should be for the aggrieved party (henceforth referred to as student), to discuss the issue with the offending party (henceforth referred to as instructor). If the issue is not resolved satisfactorily, the student’s second step should be to consult with the instructor’s Department Chair. If the Department Chair cannot resolve the issue satisfactorily, the matter should be referred to the Dean, who may convene the College’s Student-Faculty Relations Committee. The grievance procedure should be initiated within ten working days of the alleged offense.
The aggrieved student should deliver a written statement of the alleged grievance to the Dean within one calendar week of the written response from the Department Chair. The Dean, at his or her discretion, may render a decision about the appeal or may convene the Student-Faculty Relations Committee. If the Dean chooses to convene the committee, the written statement shall be submitted to the committee in a timely fashion with the charge to the committee that it will fully investigate the alleged grievance and present appropriate findings and recommendations to the Dean of the College. To be forwarded, Committee findings and recommendations must receive a majority vote. The Dean shall notify all involved persons and the Provost by separate written communication of the committee's findings and recommendations, and his or her decision regarding the grievance. To assure prompt resolution of alleged grievances, the Student-Faculty Relations Committee shall make every reasonable effort to complete its report within two weeks from the date of receipt of the statement of grievance.
In the event that any party involved in the alleged grievance should seek to appeal the decision and/or recommendation of the Dean, a written appeal should be delivered to the Provost within one calendar week of receiving the Dean’s decision. The Provost must appoint a review committee selected from the several College Student-Faculty Relations Committees to hear the appeal and offer findings and recommendations before rendering a decision.
Each review committee appointed by the Provost shall be composed of four members of the faculty selected from the Student-Faculty Relations Committees in Colleges other than the College from which the appeal originated, and three student members, one of whom shall be a graduate student, and all of whom shall be majors in Departments other than the Department from which the appeal originated. The review committees shall include both men and women, and members shall elect a chair and assign other responsibilities and adopt appropriate rules of procedure before the initial presentation of the appeal.
Each review committee shall, at the conclusion of its considerations, report to the Provost one of the following:
The report of the review committee shall be completed within two weeks following the appointment of the review committee unless an extension is requested and granted by the Provost. In the presentation of recommendations by the review committee, reference to instructional personnel must comply with the established policies and procedures regulating tenure and the academic administrative procedures as published in this Handbook. The President and Board of Regents reserve the right to hear any further appeal.
Additional procedures of grievance /appeal are provided to University students in the following areas of University service:
Grades remain as recorded by the instructor of record and can be changed, normally, only by the instructor. In the absence of the instructor, the Department Chair and Dean are charged with the responsibility for changing grades. Grades may be changed by the Department Chair, Dean of the College or Provost if and when, as a result of the appeals process, it is determined that a faculty member has failed to implement a previously announced grade policy, awarded a grade in what has been determined to be an arbitrary or capricious manner, or violated a University or Texas State University System rule or policy.
All academic grades and grading methods are subject to review by the appropriate Chair and Dean when a review is requested by a student regarding a specific grade. The Chair and Dean must approve any change in grade requested by an instructor after final grades are recorded.
Grievance Procedures for Filing, Processing, and Resolving Complaints of Alleged Discrimination Based upon Race, Color, Creed, Sex, Age, Handicap or National Origin.
1. Informal Proceedings.
A complainant may bring an allegation of violation of this policy to any Dean, Vice President, Associate Vice President or any of the resource persons whose names, addresses, and telephone numbers are available in Student Engagement or the Human Resources Office. Notice of the allegation should be brought to the attention of the appropriate University Official within ten working days of the alleged violation.
This resource person will counsel the complainant as to the options avail-able under this policy, and will direct the complainant to the appropriate authority to hear the complaint. In determining the appropriate authority to whom the complainant shall be referred, the person to whom the complainant initially brings the allegation shall consult with the Director of Human Resources. In selecting the appropriate authority, consideration shall be given to the level of authority required for such procedures and the channels of communication available to the complainant as well as the authority’s ability to insure that a thorough and timely review of the complaint shall take place.
Once designated, the appropriate authority will direct that the complaint be put in writing and will initiate an informal, preliminary inquiry to deter-mine whether a reasonable basis for the complainant’s allegations exists. At this stage of the proceedings, the identity of the complainant shall not be disclosed without the consent of the complainant.
If the preliminary investigation reveals that there is a reasonable basis for believing that a violation has occurred, the person against whom the complaint was lodged will be notified, and the appropriate authority will conduct an administrative review of the complaint including:
a) review of the allegations by the complainant;
b) review of the response of the accused to the allegations;
c) negotiations to resolve the matter in a manner reasonably acceptable to both interested parties.
All the parties involved at this stage should be cautioned not to publicize or divulge either the nature of the proceedings or the identity of the people involved.
If the administrative official determines that a violation of this policy occurred, the administrative official may issue an oral or written warning, demand a promise not to commit such an abuse again, impose mandatory counseling on the individual who violated the policy, or take any other sanction which appropriately reflects the severity of the violation of the policy.
2. Formal Proceedings.
If, after the informal proceedings, the appropriate official concludes that there is no reasonable basis for the complaint, the complainant may pursue a formal complaint in accordance with the procedure outlined in this section.
In addition, after the informal proceedings, if the appropriate administrative official concludes that there is a reasonable basis to support the allegations of misconduct and that it will take specific and appropriate steps to bring the matter to a satisfactory resolution, or if either the accused or the complainant is not satisfied with the resolution adopted by the administrative official, the administrative official shall initiate the formal proceedings. Formal proceedings hereunder shall take place in accordance with the following guidelines:
3. Student
A formal complaint filed against a student shall be directed to the Vice President for Student Engagement who should investigate the case and determine within five working days whether further investigation or a recommendation for sanctions is warranted. Under appropriate circumstances, the Vice President may convene an ad hoc committee to review the facts surrounding the case and to make recommendations for resolution of the complaint. The Vice President for Student Engagement shall notify the student and the complainant of the decision.
Authority to Suspend Students
In extraordinary circumstances the president may, at any time, during or after an investigation of a complaint, suspend an accused student from a specific class or from the university altogether. The President will take such action if, after review and investigation, he/she finds it reasonably certain that;
a) the alleged offense has occurred and
b) the accused would be in a position either to retaliate against, or in any way do serious harm to, the students or conduct of that particular class or to the university community.
Appeal from Sanctions
Student.
Appeals from recommended sanctions against students shall be directed to the campus discipline committee as described in the Student Handbook.
Undergraduate students may replace an undergraduate course grade by repeating a course. If a student repeats a course, the official grade is the higher one, although all grades remain on the student's transcript. A grade, once earned and entered on a student's transcript, cannot be removed. The repetition of a course taken at another institution will not replace a grade in the grade point average (GPA) calculation of the Lamar University course. Eligibility for all university honors will be determined on the basis of a cumulative GPA that includes all grades earned at Lamar University, including those replaced by Lamar University's Grade Replacement policy. This policy does not apply to classes repeated before the fall of 2000. Once a degree has been conferred, a student may not use the Course Repetition/Grade Replacement Policy for any courses used to award the degree or calculate the cumulative grade point average. For more information, please contact the Registrar, 409-880-8358 or records@hrfjk.com.
For information about classification of students and academic progress, see the Lamar University Comprehensive Catalog.
(those not addressed by the above policies/procedures for academic and student life complaints)
Students are encouraged to resolve complaints (or grievances) at the appropriate level of dispute; however, should this approach fail or be inappropriate, students may submit written complaints through the online Student Complaint form to the Office of the Associate Provost. All pertinent information should be listed including date, time, location, parties involved, witnesses, any attempts to resolve the complaint, and desired resolution.
Forms submitted without contact information will not be processed. All official complaints must be made in writing and submitted through this form within five (5) business days of the alleged event(s) which led to the complaint. Once received, the complaint will be forwarded to the appropriate Vice President for review, and the complainant will receive an e-mailed response as soon as possible.