Honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility and courage: these core values and qualities are central to building, and sustaining an academic community where all members can thrive. Queen’s Law is doing just that with an updated academic integrity policy that is fair, comprehensive and transparent.  

“The new policy provides more guidance about the range of actions that can be departures from the fundamental values of academic integrity,” explains Associate Dean (Academic) Cherie Metcalf. “The old policy was extremely complex procedurally and also quite narrow because it only extended to plagiarism,” she says. “It simply didn’t address other kinds of issues that can arise – such as use of unauthorized materials, collaboration beyond what is allowed, or facilitation of breaches by others, for example by writing or editing work for someone else.” 

“The new policy lays out the process for investigating departures, making a finding, deciding on sanctions, informing students at key points and facilitating their participation in the process, and keeping records,” Metcalf continues. “It was also necessary to update the Faculty’s policy to set out how it would apply to courses that we are offering to undergraduate students through our Certificate in Law program.”

Heather Cole, Assistant Dean of Students, also commends the new policy for reducing complexity. “It focuses on teaching and understanding rather than a very formal, quasi-criminal investigation,” she says. “Our website and the work we are doing within the Faculty to assist with implementation will help our students better understand their responsibilities and communicate to everyone involved how important academic integrity is to the university community.”

Metcalf adds that both students and faculty members will benefit from the highly structured guidance in the new policy. A student route to appeal will ensure the policy is fairly applied.

“Departures from academic integrity are serious, because they undermine these fundamental values of our program,” Metcalf concludes. “Maintaining academic integrity is critical, so that each student’s efforts and academic success can reflect their capabilities fairly.”

For full details about the “Queen’s Faculty of Law Academic Integrity Policy” for JD and Certificate programs, see our Academic Integrity web page. 

By Anthony Pugh