The Nature of Academic Disciplinary Hearings

The hearing process used by each school’s Committee on Academic Integrity is intended to provide participants with a timely, fair, and orderly system for investigating and resolving allegations of academic dishonesty.

Committee hearings shall be fact-finding in nature, and the focus shall be to investigate the culpability of the accused student. The committee will consider information and arguments presented, make findings of fact, determine whether the student did engage in academic dishonesty, and, if so, recommend sanctions.

Committee hearings are not adversarial contests to be "won" or "lost" through clever tactics or technical formalities. A school’s hearing process is not intended to mirror external court/judicial proceedings.