Chapter 3

Enacting the Core Values of Academic Ethos

Toward Enacting Academic Ethos Values

By discovering and defining academic ethos, a school of higher learning makes general statements about its central characteristics (core values). These characteristics constitute the set of meaning that management wants the academic community to use in viewing, describing, and relating to a university. The key differences among higher schools lie not in the general core values statement (many universities have very similar or nearly the same core values), but in the effectiveness of transmitting the chosen academic ethos to the academic community and other stakeholders. The instrument of core values of academic ethos transmission to participants of an academic community is the next phase of the academic ethos management process. This phase is called enacting academic ethos.

Core values declared by universities, which may be beautifully defined, are just words until the school starts to comply with them. Core values resist their continuity mostly through their implementation into the organizational framework, through including them into particular goals and objectives, policies, procedures, and practices, and through each organizational act adapted to them—namely through their institutionalization.¹ Based on the words of Whitley and Keith-Spiegel from their book Academic Dishonesty. An Educator’s Guide, we may state that unless the leadership and representatives of the university enforce core values in all areas of the institution’s functioning, public statements, business affairs, athletics, research, and so forth, neither the faculty and students nor the general public will believe that the university has a valid commitment to core values of academic ethos.²

So, the next phase of academic ethos management process is enacting academic ethos core values through

1. reflecting and supporting core values of academic ethos in university’s goals, objectives, and measures;

2. formalizing a university’s policies, procedures, and codes, which

• form a dialogue at the institutional, classroom and individual level around fundamental values of academic ethos;

• guide and enhance the conduct of academic community in performing their duties in pursuit of academic ethos;

3. communicating core values of academic ethos.

Reflecting and Supporting Core Values in a University’s Goals, Objectives, and Measures

As a guidepost in a university’s life, core values should not merely be defined in behavioral terms (in a positive or a negative way). The most important points are to define and communicate to members of the academic community: What should be done for their implementation (goals)? How should this be implemented (what particular actions should be taken for activating, that is, objectives)? How should the effects of core values implementation be measured? What should be the deadline for objectives achievement (measures)? If values of academic ethos of a particular university are reflected in its goals along with associated objectives, strategies, and plans, then they send a clear message to students, staff members, faculty members, and university officials that the values of academic ethos are substantial. Research has shown that the most successful organizations are those that have core values and goals that are clearly defined, consistent, and shared among their members.³ To ensure that a particular value has been understood in an appropriate way by all the members of academic community and with the aim of providing clear guidelines that are the criteria of work executing, values should be defined in a form of simple, measurable, and attainable objectives and tasks. Each core value of academic ethos may be expressed by a university though a particular objective, tasks for its realization, and measures to enable assessment of the effectiveness of its activity.

Table 3.1 presents examples of core values, their description as well as objectives, tasks, and measures for their enlivening.

Formalizing a University’s Policies, Procedures, and Codes

Schools of higher education can set forth various policies supported by executive instruments in the form of procedures and codes in order to create a base of examples for patterns of conduct, to outline basic principles of academic ethics, and to give opportunities for fulfilling the objectives connected with the values of academic ethos. The bases for those documents are obviously the values of academic ethos. Formalizing of policies with the use of their instruments such as procedures and codes is a crucial step on the way to enacting an academic ethos.

University policies regarding academic ethos are needed to make sure that expectations are clear in every situation⁴ and to help reduce uncertainty about acceptable and unacceptable behavior.⁵ University policies based on academic core values have symbolic overtones in representing and communicating their core values. However, much of their impact on core values enacting stems from their application and use of concrete procedures and codes.

There are great numbers of policies and codes that are created to guarantee the integrity of a university. It is hard to find a university that does not boast on its websites of its integrity policy, honesty policy, or more detailed policies against unethical behavior among members of academic community, such as university policy on cheating, plagiarism, or research misconduct, not to mention other codes of conduct that are present at nearly every good university. This is all because critics of higher education, and business education especially, as well as numerous cases of unethical behavior ascribed to members of academic community (misconduct in research, cheating, corruption inside university, etc.) became a cause for universities to develop their internal infrastructure of ethics in a form of integrity policies supported by executive instruments such as procedures and codes. They are designed to guarantee ethical behavior of academic community participants and to reinforce academic ethos. However, we should remember that the name of a particular policy or code is not so important. The important issue is that the instruments for enacting academic ethos should be a result of previous phases of academic ethos management. It should be a subsequent step of the consistent and deliberate process of academic ethos management.

Cases from business reveal that despite the best elaborated codes of ethics and ethical policies (such as those of Enron), the process of academic ethos management may be ineffective as the base for their elaboration if they were not actually shared organizational values or if those documents were not an element of the whole managerial process. Elaborated policies should be a reflection of academic ethos values, leading ideology, and an organization’s history. The implementation varies considerably from institution to institution, but most policies related to academic ethos include policy or goal statements, core values statements, definitions of communal responsibility and rights, definitions and consequences of prohibited behaviors, and tips for preventing academic misconduct. Those policies should also describe reporting and adjudication process as well as procedures for sanctions and appeals.

Communicating Core Values of Academic Ethos

The spectrum of tools viable in core values of academic ethos communication process is broad; Chapter 4 discusses this process in detail.

How to Make Academic Ethos Values Alive—Few Guidelines

Considering that elaborating the policy and its executive instruments in a form of procedures and codes should be a reflection of academic ethos values of a particular university, it is not necessary at this point to define model policies, procedures, or codes. However, if there is such a need, it is recommended visiting the website of Center for Academic Integrity or The School of Ethical Education—Integrity Work.⁶

However, the following is a description of some fundamental elements and assumptions that may help to transform instruments such as policies and procedures for academic ethos values enacting into effective tools that create academic integrity.

Coparticipation of Academic Community Representatives in the Developmental Process of Policies, Procedures, and Codes for Enacting Academic Ethos Values

One of the fundamental principles of creating policies, procedures, and academic codes is connected with the broadest possible participation of academic community representatives in this process. Formulated and defined principles of conduct included in those documents regard students, staff members, faculty members, and university officials as well. Providing coparticipation in the work on those documents may become a precondition for the success of creating an academic community that is based on values.

Process of Policy Statement and Core Values Statement Formulation

Using a policy or a goal statement and core values statement as a preface of documents such as a university’s policy on academic ethos is significant from a psychological point of view. They may be published as separate documents such as policy statements:

“Academic honesty is essential to the development of personal integrity and the fulfillment of the second goal of striving to have students grow in the knowledge and the practice of Gospel values. In the Rule of St. Benedict, the dignity of work is an important tenet and offers a strong connection to the SEHS goal to respect and honor a person’s work, including intellectual property. In the fulfillment of this goal, the Academic Council has established the following Honor Policy.”⁷

and core value statements:

“Saint Leo University offers a practical, effective model for life and leadership in a challenging world. As such our community has adopted six steadfast moral Guidelines to help us recognize the dignity, value, and gifts of all people. We encourage all members of our community to use and embrace the following values in their day-to-day lives in order to strengthen our commitment to each other, our University, and to God.”⁸

They also may include both of these elements in a one statement, as for example in the Policy on Academic Honor from Hillsdale College:

Virtue, courage, and wisdom, goods of the highest order being the aim of a liberal education, it is necessarily the policy of Hillsdale College to act firmly and decisively to promote the academic integrity and honor of this institution. Honesty in academics, as in all walks of life, is a matter of personal honor for which each individual must ultimately take responsibility. It is the primary purpose of this policy, by its very existence and application, to increase and ensure academic honesty within the Hillsdale College community.⁹

Despite the fact that the mentioned element seems to be hardly significant, people are more likely to comply with the regulations when they identify the reasons for them.¹⁰ Moreover, it is good to communicate and recall core values at every opportunity. Furthermore, the preface in the form of a core values statement helps to illustrate to its receivers what is the core and basis of their creation.

Formulating of Academic Community Responsibility

Policies and codes of a university, which support values of academic ethos, are an essential force in the academic life of a university. So it is, without reservation, a responsibility of all members of the academic community to actively promote the contents. To make effective tools of those documents, all the members need to clearly indicate a responsibility of the academic community as a whole and of its participants—students, academic staff, school’s administrators, and even the students’ parents or guardians.

Responsibility of academic community as a whole is to¹¹

• share the responsibility to ensure that the Academic Ethos Policy is upheld;

• advance and disseminate knowledge and understanding, and thus they strive for excellence in research, scholarship, practice, and teaching as well as should be consistent with the responsible use of academic freedom;

• perform their duties in a fair and ethical manner in accordance with established policies, procedures, and regulations based on core values of academic ethos;

• carry out their duties with professionalism;

• treat other persons equitably, irrespective of gender, sexual orientation, race, disability or medical condition, cultural background, religion, marital status, age, or political conviction;

• treat each other with consideration and respect. Managers and supervisors have an elevated responsibility to demonstrate these behaviors and support their expressions in the workplace;

• be responsible for complying with all workplace safety and health regulations and report unsafe conditions, equipment, or practices to appropriate University officials, as required by law;

• report any behaviors that threaten values of academic ethos, behaviors that are against preferred policies, procedures and codes, to one’s supervisor, head of department, or dean who should consult immediately with designated offer regarding the nature of the concern.

To formulate a more detailed responsibility of particular members of the academic community, it is recommended to consider it for students as well as for academic staff, with specification for its particular academic roles, for example, teacher and supervisor, consultant and practitioner, manager, employee, or colleague in relations with other staff as well as at the administration level.

A student’s responsibility is to¹²

• Share to ensure that others, as well as themselves, uphold the spirit and letter of the Policy of Academic Ethos. Various methods of encouraging behavior related to university core values exist, such as setting an example for new students, education through student organizations, and student-to-student moral suasion.

• Avoid acts of dishonesty; students, for example, should not give or receive aid for an examination; that they will not give or receive unpermitted aid in class work, in the preparation of reports, or in any other work that is to be used by the instructor as the basis of grading; that they will not copy or paraphrase without proper acknowledgment; that they will not forge an instructor’s or an administrator’s signature (cf. Jordan High School Academic Honor Policy).

• Clarifying with the instructor anything that may be unclear about an assignment, with respect to how the Honor Policy/Code may apply to it.

• Participating in the further development in the Honor Policy/Code during the student’s high school career.

A teacher’s responsibility

As in the case of the student’s responsibility, members of academic staff, such as teachers and supervisors of students, should take proactive steps (actions) to promote academic core values, policies, and codes. Teachers should therefore “treat students with respect at all times and encourage students to think independently and to exchange ideas freely.”¹³ All syllabi should contain a statement concerning academic ethos core values and refer students to the university policies, procedures, and rules, which, for example, may be found on the web. Teachers should have an open discussion about academic ethos with students at the beginning of their courses. They are also responsible for “developing assessment procedures that are fair and effective and that contribute to student learning, and administering them in a fair and efficient manner, and providing timely and constructive feedback to students; continual seeking to improve their teaching effectiveness on the basis of all available information about their performance and its impact on students; where appropriate, providing suitable advice and assistance to former students in their academic and professional development”¹⁴ as well as “they share in the responsibility and authority to challenge and make known acts that violate it.”¹⁵

Academic staff’s responsibility

The academic staff is additionally responsible for matters connected with the role it plays at a university. For example, in a document entitled “Code of Ethics for Academic Staff,” from the University of Waikato,¹⁶ this responsibility is listed as follows

Academic staff as researchers and scholars should, for instance, scrupulously acknowledge the contributions that others have made toward their research and scholarship, especially colleagues and students, and comply with the standards and ethics of their own professional societies, and with nationally and internationally accepted standards.

Academic staff as consultants and practitioners should refrain from engaging in any work that would compromise their integrity and independence as academic staff and avoid representing themselves as acting for, or on behalf of, the university when undertaking private consulting work.

Academic staff as managers should manage their unit in a way that will help staff to teach and research effectively, encourage appropriate discussion among colleagues on major policy matters including new staff appointments and should not allow personal relationships with staff to affect or appear to affect the managerial relationship between them.

Academic staff as employees should acknowledge and contribute to the achievement of the university’s objectives, participate appropriately in the institutional life of the university, as well as accept a responsibility as stewards of university property.

Academic administrators’ responsibility

Beyond the responsibility of the whole academic community, academic administrators are also obliged to manage the university in a manner that reflects a conduct in accordance with the values of academic ethos and act categorically in situations of value violation by students, faculty, or academic administrators. “Nothing better demonstrates commitment than taking action at some cost to oneself.”¹⁷ Based on “Example of an Honor Policy. The School for Ethical Education–Integrity Works!”¹⁸ administrators should also support publication of all policies supporting academic ethos in the student and faculty handbooks and in the Academic Ethos Policy on the school’s website and maintain confidential records of academic ethos violations.¹⁹

Students’ parents and guardians are also responsible for enlivening the values of academic ethos, which is connected with their role in understanding and actively supporting the enacting of academic policies for core values.

Academic Pledge

Students, staff, faculty, and administrators should be required to read and understand the university’s policy regarding academic ethos and sign a statement saying they understand and agree to abide by the policy. A popular practice of higher schools is the formulation of declarations from members of the academic community that confirm not only their awareness of academic ethos values but also their obligation to obey policies and codes. There are various forms of declaration, starting from the general pledge with responsibility for others:

As a member of the Mainland community, I maintain a high level of respect and integrity. I uphold the Honor Code in letter and spirit. I do not lie, cheat, steal, vandalize, or commit forgery. I encourage fellow students who commit honors offenses to acknowledge such offenses. I inform the Honor Council of my own and others infractions. I make this pledge in the spirit of honor and trust²⁰

through student pledge:

Students in the Carroll Graduate School of Management are expected to adhere to the highest standards of professional conduct as outlined in the Core Values. A student who accepts and adheres to the standards will remain in good standing within the Carroll Graduate School of Management.

For additional information on the Core Values and the disciplinary process please refer to the Graduate Management Student Handbook.

I acknowledge that I have received, read, and understand the Graduate School Core Values and disciplinary process.²¹

ending with faculty member pledge:

I promise to actively promote student honesty by explaining the importance of academic honesty, maintaining vigilance, keeping test materials secure and varied, and assessing penalties as prescribed in the Honor Policy.²²

or parent pledge:

I will support St. Elizabeth High School in its goal of helping students to grow in moral values by encouraging academic honesty in my child.  I have read the Honor Policy and understand the penalties for violations.  I understand and accept the consequences for failure to abide by the provisions of the policy.²³

Reporting and Adjudication

A very important element of each policy for values of academic ethos enactment is a specification of procedures that enables reporting cases of misconduct in the academic community working against core values and that offers precise reporting procedures, hearing procedures, and particular sanctions for unacceptable actions. It is necessary for procedures to offer precise ways of appeal against a disciplinary decision as well as to define rights of such a person in the whole process of reporting behavior inconsistent with applicable standards. Grabeski’s analogy illuminates methods for enhancing a social system in order to detect a wrong-doing in the academic community:²⁴

When there were not so many cars, there was enough to announce that a driver has to behave cautiously and properly, in accordance with principles of ethics or Ten Commandments. However, when traffic increased, these general rules are no longer enough. There occurred a need to implement a traffic code including precisely defined do’s and don’ts, procedures for its efficiency and sanctions as the plausibility of accidents (including those with the participation of cautious people) could be threatening for traffic at all.

Specified procedures of reporting cases of behavior against values of academic ethos for university’s employees

Procedures of reporting and judging behaviors against values of academic ethos that are based on a university’s policy (honor policy, integrity policy, etc.) should specify the steps (options of conduct) that should be taken by students and teachers as well. For instance:

In Carroll Graduate School of Management, faculty members and directors have the responsibility to report all incidents to the Associate Dean for graduate Programs in writing (see attached form). If the incident is deemed to be of a minor nature, the faculty member or director may handle the matter themselves and communicate the repercussions appropriate o the violation. If the incident is deemed to be serious, the Committee on Professional Standards will be convened. The Committee on Professional Standards will conduct a hearing on the matter and, if the student is found responsible, shall recommend a sanction to the Associate Dean for Graduate Programs, who may accept or reduce the recommended sanction, but not increase it. The report of the Committee on Professional Standards shall remain in the offending student’s file for up to five years beyond the date of his/her graduation.²⁵

A procedure of Texas A&M University or Florida State University is quite similar:

Instructors have two options for adjudication of cases: they can refer the case to the Honor Council for further investigation and decision-making, or they can adjudicate the case themselves, if it is a first offense, following the instructor procedures for adjudication specified by the AHSO.²⁶

When instructor believes that a student has violated the Academic Honor Policy in one of the instructor’s classes, the instructor must first contact the Office of the Dean of the Faculties to discover whether the student has a prior record of academic dishonesty.²⁷

Instructors can adjudicate the case themselves, if it is a first offense, following the special instructor procedure for adjudication, which should be specified by the correct department. If the student is found to have a prior record of academic dishonesty or the serious nature of the allegations merits a formal hearing, the instructor must refer the case to a specially organizational unit as, for example, an Honor Council (Texas A&M University)²⁸ or Academic Honor Policy Hearing Referral (Florida State University).²⁹ With either option, the instructor shall complete a Violation Report Form and submit it to the appropriate organizational unit, provide a copy to the student and the instructor’s department head as soon as practicable, preferably within five university business days of discovery of the alleged incident. 

At Texas A&M University,³⁰ there are following three additional methods of reporting honor code violations.

• General reporting constitutes submission of a report in which the reporting party is willing to fully identify himself or herself to all involved in the case. This is the preferred reporting format and will ensure that all facts are obtainable.

• Confidential reporting constitutes submission of a report in which the reporting party is willing to provide his or her name to the instructor and the AHSO, but wishes to have his or her name remain confidential through the proceedings of the case. Confidential reporting allows the instructor and the AHSO to contact the reporting party to gather further information when necessary.

• Anonymous reporting constitutes a submission of a report in which the reporting party desires to remain anonymous. This report will be considered a tip and handled as such. The reporting party will not be identifiable and cannot becontacted for further information on the case. An anonymous tip is not a sufficient ground to initiate a charge; however, the tip can initiate an investigation.

Specified procedures for reporting cases of behaviors against values of academic ethos for a university’s students

As in the case of teachers, a similar procedure should specify options of conduct in reporting provided by students. In the example of Texas A&M University,³¹ this procedure is as follows:

Students have two options when reporting an alleged violation. They may report alleged violations to either the AHSO or the instructor of the course in which the alleged violation occurred. Initiating formal procedures is a necessary and obligatory remedy when other methods are inappropriate or have failed (i.e., drawing attention to a suspected violation, moral suasion, etc.).

If a student is alleged to have violated the Honor Code but the class, department, and instructor cannot be identified, charges may be brought by any instructor or student who has knowledge of the violation.

Each member of the academic community should also have the option of anonymous violation reporting with the use of an appropriate hotline (this line should have no caller identification or number recognition) or a website (see, e.g., “Procedures for Reporting Violations or Concerns” from Washington University in St. Louis).

Whistleblowers’ Protection

When describing procedures connected with reporting inappropriate behavior, it is necessary to consider the problem of whistleblowers’ protection. Of course, at universities in the United States, United Kingdom, or Germany, certain rules are in place to offer such protection and are handled through internal committees such as, for example, the Honor Council or Academic Standards Committee. There is still a question: To what extent are those committees functioning in universities or institutions actually prepared for doing their duties? Nonetheless, this approach seems to be better than the attitude of certain places in the world where the outstanding honesty of scientists and the existence of a “self-cleaning mechanism” of science are taken for granted. In those places, the issue of whistleblowers protection is usually underestimated.

Slightly modified principles of those adopted by American universities were implemented in Germany in order to increase the efficiency of whistleblower protection. They created a position of ombudsman, who is a third part in this process. People who have noticed examples of unreliable behavior in the academic community may report to an ombudsman with complete trust and ask for advice and help. If an ombudsman recognizes the case as the serious one, he or she requests the initiation of proceedings personally. This conduct provides a whistleblower with protection. Ombudspersons are a separate organization (Ombudspersons Office) aimed at representing members of the academic community, resolving conflicts, and verifying university’s compliance with its core values or with Academic Ethos Policy. The main feature of their work is confidentiality. An employee or a student who reports may be sure the ombudsman will maintain privacy and confidentiality of the information. That is why ombudsmen should use an independent electronic mail system and an external hotline, and their offices should be equipped with soundproof rooms. They also should be free from managerial pressures and be responsible only to the university president. Moreover, the budget for their activity needs to be separate from the budget of a whole university (in some cases, it may be paid by an independent foundation).

Employees and students should be able to come to an ombudsman with various problems they cannot resolve on their own or if they notice that other employees do act in accordance with established principles. An ombudsman may use a vast array of actions and rights (from giving advice to conducting internal investigation). The Ombudspersons office should be open to all the members of the academic community (including part-time employees). Ombudspersons also have their own code of ethics that emphasizes characteristics such as neutrality, confidentiality, and a duty of protecting possessed information (even from a university’s management).

There also exists a simple instruction for employees and students who need to make an ethically difficult decision. In such cases, members of the academic community should ask key questions:³²

• If, by making a particular decision, do I compromise with my own system of values?

• Would I like my action to become a commonly accepted practice?

• How would I feel like if my action was described on the front page of a local newspaper?

• Would I feel good if I told my partner, parents, or children about my decision?

Specification of Hearing Process Principles and Employees’ and Students’ Rights During Both Formal and Informal Resolutions

The section of the policy statement dealing with procedures for reporting violations should also specify the principles of hearing process as well as the rights of students or the another member of academic community during the whole investigation connected with suspicion of behavior incompliant with academic ethos. At a minimum, these rights include:³³

• to be informed of all alleged violation(s), receive the complaint in writing and be given access to all relevant materials pertaining to the case;

• privacy, confidentiality, and personal security;

• to choose not to answer any question that might be incriminating;

• the assistance of a faculty member, staff member, administrator or other advisor in preparing and presenting their cases.

The student has the right to continue in the course in question during the entire process.³⁴

A feature of hearing process is that it is “an academic process where evidence is put forth before a panel of faculty and student members to allow them to make a decision on whether there was sufficient proof of an academic misconduct violation having occurred and if so, to assign an appropriate sanction.”³⁵

The minimal standards that should be fulfilled during the hearing procedures are (among others):³⁶

• a panel representation should include: a faculty member appointed by the dean from the unit in which the academic work is conducted; one faculty member appointed by the Dean of the Faculties who is not from that unit; and two students appointed through procedures established by the Dean of Students Department;

• an opportunity for the student to examine the evidence to be presented;

• tape recording or transcription of the hearing proceeding;

• the panel is required to provide a clear written justification for imposing a sanction;

• all records from the hearing and follow-up meeting are securely and confidentially stored with other Honor Council files with the school administration.

Detailed descriptions of hearing procedures may be found, for example, at links presented in Table 3.2.

Specification of Consequences of Violating Policies and Procedures: Sanctions and Appeals

An effective policy should not only specify the procedures of reporting and judging of actions incompliant with university’s values, but it also should indicate sanctions such as reduction in a grade for an assignment or course, a letter of reprimand, probation, reduction or revocation of a scholarship award, suspension, or expulsion for a particular violation (e.g., Boston College, Carroll School of Management).

The essence of sanctions for behaviors threatening core values of academic ethos should be an aspiration to a balance between the role of sanctions connected with sending a clear message to academic community about the lack of acceptance of particular behaviors and the role of sanctions connected with moral and mental development of an individual.

Examples of sanctions for behaviors that are not compliant with academic ethos may be found at the websites given in Table 3.3.

Components of the phase named enacting the core values of academic ethos do not include all the actions that should be taken by a higher school on this stage of academic ethos management. There still remains a very substantial element: communicating of academic ethos core values. The spectrum of possible tools for communicating values is broad and will be fully addressed in the following chapter.