Dear Campus Community,

Academic honesty and integrity is indispensable to the academic mission of the University. To attain this goal, we as a campus community have a responsibility to maintain an environment that promotes honesty and the free exchange of ideas. As a community of learners it is our collective responsibility to uphold the highest standards of academic excellence by upholding and promoting academic integrity. 

Last semester, there were 48 cases of academic honesty violations across our campus. This is an increase of 480% from the previous year. As a student, it is your responsibility to protect your own work and to respect and protect the work of others by providing proper credit for their ideas. Academic misconduct diminishes the work of other individuals, hurts the reputation of the University, and devalues a Humboldt State University degree.

With the change to the virtual environment, certain technologies have been used more than before. It is imperative that students understand that using third-party website (e.g. Chegg, CourseHero) to get an unfair academic advantage in their respective courses is against the academic honesty policy. We have had multiple investigations into these issues and are working with these companies directly to identify students using these services. As a reminder, posting assignment/quiz/exam questions and looking up assignment/quiz/exam answers on these websites is a violation of our academic honesty policy. Additionally, purchasing papers from other students or third-party websites is also a violation of our academic honesty policy. To see the full academic honesty policy, please use this link. We encourage you to visit your faculty during virtual office hours or utilize the Learning Center to get appropriate learning resources support. Additionally, we recommend that if you are struggling with your courses, to contact your instructor for assistance.

Students are expected to be aware of specific course policies and the campus’s academic honesty policy and that violating such policies may also be considered a violation of Section 41301 of Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations. Possible outcomes of responsible findings of violations of the academic honesty policy may include educational sanctions, disciplinary probation, suspension and even expulsion.

As a reminder to faculty, it is your responsibility to report issues of academic misconduct to the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities. You can find the academic misconduct reporting form here.

If you have questions or concerns about academic honesty, please contact your faculty member or the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities at OSRR@humboldt.edu. 

Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr. Jenn Capps
Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate & Graduate Studies, Dr. Mary Oling-Sisay
Dean of Students, Dr. Eboni N. Turnbow
Associate Dean of Students, Roger Wang