Academic Integrity
Integrity, Honor, and Dignity
Integrity, honor, and dignity are fundamental characteristics of the engineering profession. Engineers strive to exhibit these characteristics while using their knowledge, skills and experience to improve the world around them. By being honest, straightforward, and impartial in serving the public, their employers and clients, engineers continuously increase the excellence and prestige of the engineering profession. These principles cannot be described by an equation or an integral, but they are rooted in the curricula of the best engineering schools. Adherence to these fundamental principles, essential not only in engineering but also in our entire society, is the responsibility of the students.
It is each student’s responsibility to be aware of all rules and policies applicable to their program. All students registered for classes at Northwestern must adhere to the University's standards of academic integrity. McCormick’s procedures, described here, operate within the broader Northwestern policy framework detailed on the academic integrity page of the Office of the Provost’s website, which includes Academic Integrity: A Basic Guide, a resource containing essential information and a section on how to avoid plagiarism.
Procedures for Cases of Alleged Violations of Academic Integrity
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- Initiation of a Complaint
- Meeting with the Assistant or Associate Dean
- Sanctions
- School-Level Appeal
- Provost Review
- Cross-School Cases
- School-Specific Considerations
I. INITIATION OF A COMPLAINT
All cases of alleged violations of academic integrity by students in courses in the McCormick School must be referred to the appropriate Assistant or Associate Dean (AD):
- Cases involving undergraduate students are investigated by McCormick’s Associate Dean for Undergraduate Engineering (Wesley Burghardt).
- Cases involving graduate students are investigated by McCormick’s Assistant Dean for TGS Master’s Programs (Casey Ankeny).
A. Suspected cases of academic integrity violations should be reported to the course instructor or the AD. Reports must be brought within 1 month of the date the reporting individual becomes aware of the alleged incident. The AD will review the report and decide whether to bring a charge. The review may include electronic searches of plagiarism resources, websites, and other databases. Students charged with an academic integrity violation may not change their registration or grading basis in a course in which a charge is pending, or in which a finding of an academic integrity violation has been made.
B. If the AD determines that there is cause for further investigation, they shall provide the student with written notice of: the facts and evidence underlying the charge of an academic integrity violation; the principle(s) of academic integrity said to have been violated; and the procedure by which the accuracy of the charge will be determined.
C. The student will have reasonable time, if requested, within which to prepare a response to the charge. Ordinarily, an initial meeting with the AD will take place within 7 business days of receiving written notice of the charge. At the meeting, the student may present any relevant material or statements on his or her behalf. The student will have the right, prior to meeting with the AD, to request to review relevant evidence, and to discuss the matter with a faculty adviser or other individual.
D. If the student does not schedule a meeting to take place within 7 business days, the AD may decide whether there was sufficient evidence of a violation of academic integrity. The AD may, at their discretion, grant reasonable requests for an extension of this deadline.
II. MEETING WITH THE ASSISTANT OR ASSOCIATE DEAN
A. The AD has the authority to determine whether there was sufficient evidence of a violation of academic integrity. In cases involving graduate students, the investigating Assistant Dean may consult with the relevant academic Associate Dean in reaching a decision.
B. In meeting with the student, the AD will describe the allegation and detail the evidence provided by the instructor. At this initial meeting, the student may decline to discuss the matter and/or request that the AD defer making a determination until after a subsequent meeting between the student and the AD, at which time the student may present other relevant information or evidence. This second meeting must be requested at the initial meeting and must be scheduled for a time within 7 business days of the initial meeting.
C. After reviewing evidence and the statements made by the student in the meeting, the AD shall inform the student in a written statement of decision on whether there was sufficient evidence of a violation of academic integrity, and the sanction. Any finding of violation must be supported by a brief description of both the process used to come to that determination and the evidence supporting the finding. Except in cross-school cases, the statement will include the sanction to be imposed.
III. SANCTIONS
A. Sanctions will be imposed by the school in which the student is enrolled. (Note: For dual degree students, sanctions will be jointly decided by the relevant administrators in the applicable schools.) More information about possible sanctions (as well as grade modifications by the instructor) can be found in the relevant section of the academic integrity policy on the Office of the Provost’s website.
IV. SCHOOL-LEVEL APPEAL
A. The AD’s finding of violation and/or school-level sanctions imposed as a result of the violation may be appealed to Academic Hearing Board by the student filing a written notice of appeal within 10 business days of the date of the AD’s written statement of decision. Grades modified by the course instructor following a finding of violation may not be appealed.
B. The student’s written notice of appeal must state what is being appealed, whether it be the violation finding, the sanction, or both, and it must describe in detail the grounds for the appeal. The student’s written appeal should also state whether the student desires to present the appeal in person to the Academic Hearing Board.
C. If the student so requests, he or she will be granted an opportunity to appear in person to present his or her case to the Academic Hearing Board and to hear and respond to any testimony provided by the AD or witnesses appearing before the Academic Hearing Board. Likewise, the AD may be present to hear and respond to testimony of the accused student or any witnesses appearing before the Academic Hearing Board. If the student wishes to present witnesses before the Academic Hearing Board, she or he must inform the AD at least 7 business days before the appeal is to be heard of the names of the proposed witnesses and of the nature of the evidence they are prepared to present. However, the Academic Hearing Board has sole discretion to determine what witnesses other than the accused student and the AD it will hear. The Academic Hearing Board shall review the appeal as soon as practical after it has been filed.
D. Following its review, the Academic Hearing Board may sustain or reverse the violation finding, if that portion of the AD’s decision is being appealed, and may, if the finding stands, sustain or modify (but not increase) the sanction, if that portion of the decision is being appealed. The Academic Hearing Board shall inform the student in writing of its decision. The student should not communicate with Hearing Board members after the conclusion of the appeal hearing.
V. PROVOST REVIEW
A. Final review of an unsuccessful appeal may be requested in writing by the student within 10 business days, by the Provost or an advisory committee designated by the Provost. The Provost will review unsuccessful appeals only after a finding and a sanction have been issued. Bases for review can be found in the relevant section of the academic integrity policy on the Office of the Provost’s website.
VI. CROSS-SCHOOL CASES
A. When a student who is enrolled in another school is suspected of an academic integrity violation in a McCormick course, the authority of McCormick will extend only to determining whether there was sufficient evidence of a violation of academic integrity. Any finding of violation will be referred to the relevant administrator of the school in which the student is enrolled for imposition of a sanction.
B. When a student who is enrolled in McCormick has been found in violation of academic integrity in a course based in another school, the AD will contact the student in writing to request a meeting to take place within 7 business days, at which the student may present any evidence of mitigating circumstances, but not regarding the finding of violation. If the student does not schedule an appointment within the allotted time, the AD may determine a sanction based on the available information.
C. The AD will inform the student in writing of a sanction to be imposed and of the student’s right to appeal that sanction within the school.
D. In a cross-school case, an appeal of a finding of violation will take place in the school in which the course is based (i.e., the school in which the finding of violation was made). An appeal of a sanctionimposed by the school in which the student is enrolled should take place in that school (i.e., the school that has imposed the sanction). A sanction will not be applied until any appeal process of the finding has been completed.
VII. SCHOOL-SPECIFIC CONSIDERATIONS
A. Once a matter has been referred to the AD, it may not be withdrawn without the AD’s approval, nor may the referring instructor resolve the case without the AD’s approval.
B. At any stage of the proceedings described above, the student may be accompanied by a fellow student, a faculty member, or another individual of the student’s choosing, but not by an attorney. This person may not, however, take part in the proceedings; the student must speak on his or her own behalf.
C. If the student is not a native English speaker, they may request the presence of an interpreter during any of the proceedings described above. The AD will assume responsibility for finding an appropriate interpreter.
D. Sanctions specified by the AD, as modified by the Academic Hearing Board or the Provost (if an appeal has been filed), shall take effect at the expiration of the period for appeal of a decision if an appeal has not been filed, and after a decision has been reached by the Academic Hearing Board or the Provost if an appeal has been filed. If the appeal is not granted, the sanction will be applied retroactive to the date specified by the AD, and, if necessary, current registrations may be canceled.
E. All materials relating to an allegation of an academic integrity violation will be kept until the student has graduated or for 10 years after the incident, whichever is earlier.
F. All references to the AD in these procedures include the AD’s designee if circumstances prevent the AD from participating.
G. When a Kellogg School of Management student who is enrolled in the MMM or MBAi program is suspected of an academic integrity violation in a McCormick course, the case follows Kellogg's procedures for making a determination and (if there is a finding of violation) imposing a sanction. McCormick may support the Kellogg investigation as needed, and (if there is a finding of violation) the instructor will decide any grade modification.
Last revised August 2025