I. Code of Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is openness and honesty in all scholarly endeavors. The University of Portland is a scholarly community dedicated to the discovery, investigation, and dissemination of truth, and to the development of the whole person. Membership in this community is a privilege, requiring each person to practice academic integrity at its highest level, while expecting and promoting the same in others. Breaches of academic integrity will not be tolerated and will be addressed by the community with all due gravity.

The University of Portland defines academic integrity as “openness and honesty in all scholarly endeavors.” This standard is to be upheld by faculty, students, administration, and staff to the extent that their roles in the University involve or influence scholarly activities, both on and off campus.

The University expects each faculty member and each student to engage in and promote scholarship in such a way that peers and experts will recognize his or her work as a scholarly undertaking, thorough and consistent with regard to the standards of one’s discipline, appropriately cautious and self-critical, and cognizant and respectful of the contributions of others, including differing or opposing points of view.

The University’s interest in maintaining compliance with this standard is grounded in nothing less than its identity as a scholarly community in the Roman Catholic tradition. As a Roman Catholic institution of higher learning, the University seeks to provide an educational opportunity for its students within a Judeo-Christian context that promotes respect, honesty, and fairness in service to God and neighbor. In the words of its mission, the University is committed to providing “an environment that fosters development of the whole person,” including the moral and ethical self, and to promoting “a concern with issues of justice and ethical behavior” that is “central to the daily life of the University.”

As a scholarly community, the University believes that it is vital to the academic process, as well as desirable in itself, to maintain an environment in which ideas, accomplishments, and information can be exchanged freely and creatively without misgivings as to the honesty and openness of one’s colleagues. Beyond this, the University’s stature and reputation as a scholarly community depend on the quality of its research and pedagogy, as well as its ability to certify its achievements in these areas. In conferring credentials, recognizing competencies, and awarding degrees, honors, promotions, and distinctions to students, faculty, and other associates of the University, it is imperative that the University have full confidence that all concerned parties have conducted themselves in accordance with its standard of academic integrity.

In line with this, the University holds that a consistent, active commitment to its standard of academic integrity not only benefits all members of the University community, but also is the responsibility of each and every member, without exception. Thus, each person who participates in the mission of the University of Portland and shares its privileges is accountable to the University not only for his or her own actions with regard to the standard of academic integrity, but also for the actions of groups of which he or she is a part. Furthermore, each person is responsible for encouraging academic integrity in others by means of direct communication and personal example, for discouraging breaches of academic integrity, for confronting persons who commit breaches, and for reporting breaches to the appropriate authorities.