How Does an Honor Council Investigation Work?

An Honor Council investigation is a series of meetings between two Honor Council members and the individuals involved in a case. It has several purposes:

• Gather information from the alleged violator (student) and the reporter (faculty member) in an impartial manner.
• Bring together all available relevant facts and perspectives.
• Provide neutral validation that there is sufficient evidence that academic misconduct has taken place to warrant a hearing.
• Present a complete picture of the situation for a subsequent hearing panel.

The Investigation Team's role is NOT meant to mimic television or movie detectives of solving a mystery, determining precisely how the academic misconduct was executed or uncovering every detail by doing a forensic analysis of the classroom or other evidence.

An Honor Council Investigation Team consists of 1 student and 1 faculty member from the Honor Council, who will interview individuals involved in the case. Usually this will just be the alleged violator and the instructor. Occasionally there will be others involved with a case, such as a witness, tutor, teaching assistant, or other members of a study group, in which case, they will also meet with the investigation team. Investigation Team members are not allowed to sit on the Hearing Panel for the same case.

AHSO Case Managers coordinate the scheduling of the investigation meetings. To protect confidentiality and provide a private setting, AHSO always holds the meeting with the student at the Aggie Honor System Office. As the Case Managers are trying to schedule several different individuals, please provide the broadest possible availability. Saying you are only available Fridays, 4pm-5pm, will make it very difficult to schedule the investigation.

During the Meeting

While meeting with you, the Investigation Team may ask questions as they take notes. This questioning is not meant to be a criticism or suggest a finding, but are tools to reach a full understanding of the circumstances surrounding the alleged violation. If there is any documentation you can provide in your defense, such as originals of study notes, earlier drafts of papers, or medical documentation, you should bring it with you to the investigation and the AHSO staff will make copies.

The Investigation Team should not express opinions or a hypothesis of what might have happened. Similarly, they cannot offer any predictions of what a Hearing Panel will decide.

Follow Up Notification

The Investigation Team will submit their report and recommendation on the need for an Honor Council hearing within 5 business days. The AHSO Case Manager will notify you by email of the results of the investigation.