During the first MyAUF portal login, students are required to sign an agreement regarding the AUF Academic Honesty and Rules of Behavior.
Students are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic conduct. Violations of the Academic Honesty Policy include: cheating, plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, or physical theft. All forms of Academic Dishonesty are at odds with our mission and the educational experience, and are amongst the gravest offenses a student can commit.
Cheating
Intentionally using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information, or study materials in any academic production (homework, paper, quiz, project, presentation or examination).
Plagiarism
Accidentally, knowingly, or intentionally representing the words or ideas of another as one’s own in any academic production (homework, research paper, project, presentation, quiz or examination).
Dishonesty Conduct
Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, the following:
1. Theft of a quiz or examination.
2. Submission of a paper purchased from a paper mill or written by another. This includes swapping papers in on-line forums with other students.
3. Alteration, theft, or forgery of university documentation.
4. Intentionally delaying submitting work or the delaying of an examination to gain an unfair advantage.
Procedures and Penalties for Violation of Academic Honesty
An instructor who has evidence of a violation of the Academic Honesty policy may avail themselves of the following options:
Discuss and assess the situation, in terms of gravity of the offense and motivation, with the student.
Issue an oral/written reprimand to the student.
Request that the student repeat the assignment or retake the quiz or examination. In such cases, the assignment or exam may be significantly different from the original.
Lower the grade of the assignment in question.
Assign the student a grade for the assignment in question.
Assign the student a grade for the entire course in the case of a serious or repeated offense.
AI Policy
AUF recognizes that artificial intelligence tools are increasingly part of academic, creative, and professional life. Students are generally permitted to use AI tools in their coursework, provided that such use is disclosed and aligns with the guidelines below and any course-specific instructions provided by faculty.
General Guidelines
- AI tools (including generative AI, writing assistants, and research tools) may be used to support learning, for example, to brainstorm ideas, clarify concepts, organize research, or review one's own writing, unless an instructor specifies otherwise for a course or assignment.
- Students must disclose any use of AI tools in their academic work (e.g., which tool was used and how), unless an instructor specifies a different format. Submitting AI output without disclosure, or rewording someone else's work through an AI tool to pass it off as one's own, may be treated as plagiarism under the Academic Honesty and Behavior Policy.
- Students remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, and quality of submitted work, regardless of the tools used. AI-generated content can be wrong or invented outright, so it should never stand in for actually mastering the material, students should fact-check anything an AI tool produces before relying on it.
- Confidential or personally identifiable information (e.g., grades, recommendation letters, other private records) should not be entered into AI tools not provided or sanctioned by the institution.
Instructor Discretion
Individual instructors retain the authority to set more specific or restrictive AI guidelines for their courses or assignments, such as:
- Unrestricted use: AI tools may be used freely, with disclosure.
- Limited use: AI tools may be used for specific purposes only (e.g., brainstorming or proofreading, but not drafting).
- No use: AI tools may not be used for a given assignment or assessment.
Course syllabi will indicate the applicable AI policy for that course; where a syllabus is silent on the matter, the general guidelines above apply. Students who are uncertain about permitted use for a specific assignment should first consult the course instructor, and turn to the Academic Affairs Office if further clarification is needed.
Faculty Use
Faculty may incorporate AI tools into their teaching, course design, and instructional materials at their discretion, and are encouraged to model thoughtful, transparent use for students. Faculty are responsible for communicating their course-specific AI policy at the start of each term and, where appropriate, for adapting assignment and assessment design to reflect the availability of AI tools while keeping the focus on the skills a course is intended to develop.
Academic Integrity and AI Usage
This policy operates alongside, and does not supersede, the Academic Honesty and Behavior Policy. Any use of AI to fabricate data, plagiarize, or otherwise misrepresent the authorship of academic work is prohibited. A determination that such use constitutes plagiarism will activate the Academic Honesty and Behavior Policy, along with any applicable sanctions described therein.