IDENTIFY THE APPROPRIATE PROCESS (AUTONOMOUS OR HONOR COUNCIL)

Repeat violations must be referred to Honor Council

If a student has a previous violation on file with the Aggie Honor System Office, subsequent violations cannot be handled autonomously by the faculty member and must be referred through the Honor Council process. This notification will occur after the violation has been filed.

Autonomous

When a faculty member chooses to address a violation autonomously, they identify a potential violation, perform their own investigation (frequently a review of the artifacts of the case), and communicate the outcome and sanctions to the AHSO through the online report. More than 90% of cases filed with the AHSO are addressed in this manner.

AHSO Staff members will meet with students and walk them through the process, their rights, and the information submitted by the faculty member. This will occur specifically if the faculty member cannot schedule a meeting with the student or simply wants the AHSO to facilitate the entire process from start to finish. The AHSO will facilitate as much or as little as faculty members desire.

In order for a faculty member to file a violation report and address it autonomously, they must be more certain than not that a violation occurred, or at least 51% certain. The AHSO utilizes a preponderance of the information standard.

Honor Council

When a case is referred to the Honor Council, the Aggie Honor System Office will assign two Honor Council investigators (one faculty, one student) to meet with the faculty member, the student, and any witnesses to collect the facts of the case. The Honor Council investigators will determine if the case should be referred to the Honor Council for a hearing. If a hearing is recommended Aggie Honor System staff will work with the faculty member and student to identify a convenient time for a hearing. Hearing panels are made up of two faculty honor council members and two student honor council members, with one member serving as a non-voting Chair of the hearing. The panel will determine whether the student is responsible for academic misconduct and, if necessary, assign appropriate sanctions.