Student Life

Published by the College of Nursing and Health Sciences

A. Student Rights

A. STUDENT RIGHTS

The CSON acknowledged the Bill of Rights and Responsibilities for Students of Nursing adopted by the National Student Nurses Association found on this website Code of Ethics.pdf.

1. Under no circumstances should a student be barred from admission to a particular institution on the basis of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, citizenship, religion, national origin, disability, illness, legal status, or personal attributes, or economic status.

2. The freedom to teach and the freedom to learn are inseparable facets of academic freedom and quality education; students should exercise their freedom in a responsible manner.

3. Each institution has a duty to develop policies and procedures which provide for and safeguard the students’ freedom to learn.

4. Students should be encouraged to develop the capacity for critical judgment and engage in an autonomous, sustained, and independent search for truth

5. Students should be free to take reasoned exceptions in an informed, professional manner to the data or views offered in any course of study. However, students are accountable for learning the content of any course of study for which they are enrolled.

6. Students should have protection through orderly approved standard procedures, against prejudicial or capricious academic evaluation. However, students are responsible for maintaining standards of academic performance established for each course in which they are enrolled.

7. Information about student views, beliefs, political ideation, legal status, United States citizenship status, sexual orientation or other personal information which instructors acquire in the course of their work or otherwise, should be considered confidential and not released without the knowledge or consent of the student, and should not be used as an element of evaluation.

8. The student should have the right to advocate for themselves and other students in the construction, delivery and evaluation of the curriculum.

9. Institutions should have a clearly written published policy as to the disclosure of private and confidential information which should be a part of a student's permanent academic record in compliance with state and federal laws.

10. Students and student organizations should be free to examine and discuss all questions of interest to them, and to express opinions in an informed, professional manner, both publicly and privately.

11. Students should be allowed to invite and to hear any person of their own choosing within the institution's guidelines, thereby advocating for and encouraging the advancement of their education.

12. The student body should have clearly defined means to participate in the formulation and application of institutional policy affecting academic and student affairs, thereby encouraging leadership, e.g., through a faculty-student council, student membership, or representation on relevant faculty committees.

13. The institution has an obligation to clarify those standards of conduct which it considers essential to its educational mission, community life, and its objectives and philosophy. These may include, but are not limited to, policies on academic dishonesty, plagiarism, punctuality, attendance, and absenteeism.

14. Disciplinary proceedings should be instituted only for violations of standards of conduct. Standards of conduct should be formulated with student participation, clearly written and published in advance through an available set of institutional regulations. It is the responsibility of the student to know these regulations.

15. The nursing program should have readily available a set of clear, defined grievance procedures.

16. As citizens and members of an academic community, students are exposed to many opportunities, and they should be mindful of their corresponding obligations.

17. Students have the right to belong or refuse to belong to any organization.

18. Students have the right to personal privacy in their individual/personal space to the extent that their wellbeing and property are respected.

19. Adequate safety precautions should be provided by nursing programs, for example, adequate street and building lighting, locks, patrols, emergency notifications, and other security measures deemed necessary to ensure a safe and protected environment.

20. Dress code, if present in school, should be established with student input in conjunction with the school administration and faculty. This policy ensures that the highest

professional standards are maintained but also takes into consideration points of comfort and practicality for the student.

21. Grading systems should be carefully reviewed initially and periodically with students and faculty for clarification and better student-faculty understanding.

22. Students should have a clear mechanism for input into the evaluation of nursing education and nursing faculty.

23. The nursing program should track their graduates’ success in finding entry-level employment as registered nurses and make this information available to all who apply and enroll.

24. The nursing program should provide comprehensive, clear and concise information related to student loans, scholarships and any other student financial aid.

25. The nursing program should facilitate various methods to ensure that clinical sites provide an environment that supports the development of diverse, inclusive, and equitable Professional Identity in Nursing. This may be accomplished through assessment of clinical sites including, but not limited to, ongoing feedback from students, faculty, and facility staff; implementation of methods and plans for improvements based on clinical site evaluations. Clinical sites should be suitable for students to demonstrate attainment of required clinical competencies.

The NSNA Student Bill of Rights and Responsibilities was initially adopted in 1975. The document was updated by the NSNA House of Delegates in San Antonio, Texas (1991); and item #4 was revised by the NSNA House of Delegates in Baltimore, Maryland (2006). Further amendments were adopted by the House of Delegates at the NSNA Annual Convention on April 7, 2017 in Dallas, TX. Adopted in April 2020 by the 2019-20 NSNA Board of Directors. Further amendments were adopted by the House of Delegates at the NSNA Annual Convention on April 8, 2022, in Salt Lake, Utah.

B. Academic Honesty

B. ACADEMIC HONESTY

POLICY:

TAMIU is committed to upholding the core values of Respect, Integrity, Service and Excellence in everything we do. Students are at the forefront of our university and are expected to follow the Student Code of Conduct by committing to the University’s Honor Pledge.

PROCEDURE:

1. As a member in an academic community, students at TAMIU Canseco School of Nursing are expected to exhibit a high level of honesty and integrity in their pursuit of higher education, be mature, be self-directed and be able to manage their own affairs.

2. Students who are unwilling to abide by these basic expectations will find themselves facing academic and/or disciplinary sanctions.

3. Students are expected to share responsibility and authority with faculty and staff to challenge and make known acts that violate the TAMIU Code of Conduct.

4. Students may obtain more information on the Honor Code by visiting the Office of Student Affairs website.

5. TAMIU Article 7 Violations of Academic Conduct. Academic dishonesty is any act, or attempt, which gives an unfair advantage to the student. Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to:

I. Plagiarism – The act of passing off some other person’s ideas, words, or works as one’s own. It includes, but is not limited to, the appropriating, buying, receiving as a “gift”, or obtaining, by any other means, another’s work for submission as one’s own academic work. Examples include, but are not limited to:

i. If in a paper or assignment, you include material that you researched in a book, magazine, newspaper, and/or on the Internet, you MUST cite the source. If you do not, you are committing plagiarism;

ii. If you copy somebody's test answers, take any portion from an article and pass it off as your own, lift a well-phrased sentence or two and copy and paste them without crediting the author or using quotation marks, or even pass off somebody's good ideas as examples of your own genius, you are committing plagiarism;

iii. If you borrow/lend a term paper, hand it in, as your own work, a paper purchased from an individual or off the Internet, or submit, as one's own, any papers from living group's, club’s, or organization's files;

iv. If you hand in the same paper in more than one class without the permission of the instructor.

II. Cheating – An act of deception in which a student misrepresents that he/she has mastered information related to an academic exercise. Examples include, but are not limited to:

i. Copying from another student’s test, lab report, computer file, data listing, logs, or any other type of report or academic exercise;

ii. Using unauthorized materials during a test;

iii. Consulting a cell phone, text messages, PDAs, programmable calculators with materials that give an advantage over other students during an exam;

iv. Using crib sheets or other hidden notes in an examination, or looking at another student's test paper to copy strategies or answers;

v. Having another person supply questions or answers from an examination to be given or in progress;

vi. Having a person other than oneself (registered for the class) attempt to take or take an examination or any other graded activity. In these cases, all consenting parties to the attempt to gain unfair advantage may be charged with an Honor Pledge violation;

vii. Deliberately falsifying laboratory results, or submission of samples or findings not legitimately derived in the situation and by the procedures prescribed or allowable;

viii. Revising and resubmitting a quiz or exam for regrading, without the instructor's knowledge and consent;

ix. Giving or receiving unauthorized aid on a take-home examination;

x. Facilitating academic dishonesty: intentionally or knowingly helping or attempting to help another to violate the Honor Pledge;

xi. Signing in another student's name on attendance sheets, rosters, Scantrons;

xii. Submitting in a paper, thesis, lab report, or other academic exercise falsified, invented, or fictitious data or evidence, or deliberate or knowingly concealing or distorting the true nature, origin, or function of such data or evidence;

xiii. Procuring and/or altering without permission from appropriate authority of examinations, papers, lab reports, or other academic exercises, whether discarded or actually used, and either before or after such materials have been handed in to the appropriate recipient; and

xiv. Using, buying, selling, stealing, transporting, soliciting, copying, or possessing the contents of an unadministered test, a required assignment or a past test which has, by the professor, not been allowed to be kept by their students.

III. Lying – Deliberate falsification with the intent to deceive in written or verbal form as it applies to an academic submission.

IV. Bribery – Providing, offering or taking rewards in exchange for a grade, an assignment or the aid of academic dishonesty.

V. Collusion – The unauthorized collaboration with another person in preparing academic assignments offered for credit and/or grade, collaborating with others on projects where such collaboration is expressly forbidden, or where the syllabus states the default as being one's own work.

VI. Flagrant academic misconduct – Repeated or severe violation(s) of the academic rule.

VII. A student must not obtain examinations or other course materials by illegitimate means, such as stealing, purchasing a test bank, or obtaining a test bank. Likewise, a student must not sell or share test questions, discussion board questions, or other assessment course materials to a third-party vendor. Such actions are considered violations to the Honor Code.

C. Student Health and Safety

C. STUDENT HEALTH & SAFETY

Texas A&M International University provides a safe, healthy, and secure working environment for all its students. Student Health Services is available to all students registered for the current term.

Women's Health, Immunizations, and Referral Services, please visit the following link: TAMIU Student Health Services.

The TAMIU policy on Campus alcohol and other drug policy is very clear. The Texas A&M University System (system) strictly prohibits the unlawful manufacture, distribution, dispensation, possession or use of illicit drugs or alcohol on system property while on official duty and/or as part of any system activities 34.02 - Drug and Alcohol Abuse.

TAMIU has a vital interest in maintaining a healthy and safe environment on campus. To that end, it is the position of TAMIU to restrict smoking and tobacco use and prohibit all forms of vaping (e.g., e-cigarettes, e-cigars, etc.) within and surrounding its facilities in a manner that protects the health of employees, students and visitors and minimizes air quality concerns related to its facilities.

D. Student Organizations

D. STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS

Students at the CSON founded a chapter of the Texas Nursing Student Association in Spring 1999. In the organization’s first few months, members of the organization participated in several community health fairs and health awareness activities. All undergraduate nursing students (BSN and RN/BSN) and pre-nursing students are urged to be active members of the Student Nurses Association (SNA) of the CSON. In this way students can participate in the discussion of professional issues in the meetings and the students' new knowledge can impact health care delivery in the Laredo area. To join, visit this website Organization Details | Involve.

E. Student-Faculty Communication

E. STUDENT-FACULTY COMMUNICATION

Advisement

The CSON has Academic Advisors (AA) to assist students in: (1) planning their course of study, (2) selecting courses congruent with the nursing degree plan and career goals, and (3) utilizing existing University facilities, such as financial aid services. It is the students’ responsibility to meet with the AA prior to or during each registration period to become knowledgeable of current offerings in the nursing program and review progress in the student’s degree requirements. Each student is responsible for successful completion of all the degree requirements and for contacting the AA for degree planning and preregistration appointments for each term.

The semester before graduation there will be a degree audit. Students are responsible for degree plan adherence. Changes to the degree plan will be approved by the Admissions and Progressions Committee.

Student Records

Students’ records are maintained in the CSON office for five (5) years following graduation in an electronic format. These records will include immunizations, background checks, drug screens, clinical evaluation by faculty and preceptor, counseling forms and all major correspondence, including degree plan and admission and acceptance letters.

The Open Record Policy is followed whereby students can review their own records within the respective office but cannot take the record outside the office. All nursing students are responsible for keeping the Registrar’s Office and the CSON office informed of any change in name, address, or phone number. In addition, students must provide evidence to the CSON of current nursing licensure (if appropriate), successful completion of the American Heart Association Basic Life Support (BLS) Provider certification, and current immunization status. A record of this information is kept in the student’s administrative file. Such verification must be made prior to clinical experiences each year.

Student Participation in Faculty Committees

Student representatives attend and participate in selected CSON committees according to the CSON By-Laws.

Bulletin Boards

Bulletin boards are maintained on the first floor of the Canseco Hall for communications related to university and nursing events, projects, deadlines, etc. Please stop by and check the boards for relevant information.

F. Financial Aid Opportunities

F. FINANCIAL AID OPPORTUNITIES

Refer to the Texas A&M International University’s Student Handbook. In addition, students should ask advisors about any special financial aid opportunities, which may be available to nursing students. Students may also find many additional opportunities through the Internet. Students are encouraged to exercise caution if solicited for financial aid opportunities outside of our University Financial Aid office. Many of these “opportunities” are phishing attempts to gain your personal information. School of Nursing scholarships applications can be picked up from the Nursing Administrative offices located in Canseco Hall.

G. Core Performance Standards

G. CORE PERFORMANCE STANDARDS

The Texas A&M International Dr. F.M. Canseco School of Nursing has adopted the following Core Performance standards for Admission and Progression in compliance with the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The following is categorized by: Issue, Standard, and Some Examples of Necessary Activities (not all inclusive)

Critical Thinking

Critical thinking ability for effective clinical reasoning and clinical judgment consistent with level of educational preparation.