instructional technology and distance education services

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that was put in place to protect the educational records of students, including those enrolled in distance or correspondence education courses or programs. In most cases, information from a student’s record cannot be released without prior written consent of the student.

FERPA affords students certain rights with respect to their education records. They are:

1. The right to inspect and review the student's education records within 45 days of the day the university receives a written request for access.
2. The right to request the amendment of the student's education records that the student believes is inaccurate or misleading.
3. The right to consent to disclosures of personally identifiable information contained in the student's education records, except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent.
4. The right to file a complaint with the U. S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by Texas A&M International University to comply with the requirements of FERPA.

Respondus FERPA Statement

Visit Office of the University Registrar for more information

Disability Services for Students (DSS)

Disability Services for Students promotes a supportive learning community to empower students with disabilities to accomplish their academic goals by ensuring accessibility to University programs. We aim to foster greater awareness both of, and for, persons with disabilities in our multilingual, multicultural international environment.

Visit DSS

Plagiarism and Cheating

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:

1. Failing to credit sources used in a work product in an attempt to present the work as one’s own.
2. Intentionally, knowingly, or carelessly presenting the work of another as one’s own (i.e., without crediting the author or creator).
3. Copying test answers or the words or phrases of another without crediting the author or claim credit for the ideas of another.
4. Borrowing or lending a term paper, handing in as your own work a paper purchased from an individual or off the Internet, or submitting, as one's own, any papers or work product from the files of any group, club, or organization.
5. Submitting the same paper in more than one class without the permission of the instructor.

Students must provide citations for facts, ideas, and opinions that are not their own. If students are unsure about providing proper documentation, they are encouraged to seek advice from professors or the Academic Center of Excellence (ACE). It is the professor’s prerogative to ask students to submit work to one of TAMIU’s Plagiarism detection tools: Turnitin or Blackboard’s SafeAssign.

Professors must report incidents of plagiarism to the Honor Council. It is the professor’s prerogative and/or discretion to issue an “F” in the course should he/she discover that a student has committed plagiarism. The professor, however, may elect to give students, particularly freshmen and sophomore students, a “zero” for the assignment if he/she believes that the student plagiarized out of carelessness and not out of an attempt to deceive the professor into earning an unmerited grade. Serious cases of plagiarism, especially those that involve flagrant incidents of plagiarism by graduate or doctoral students, may lead to suspension or expulsion from the university.

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:

1. Copying from another student’s test, lab report, computer file, data listing, logs, or any other type of report or academic exercise.
2. Using unauthorized materials during a test. Consulting a cell phone, text messages, PDAs, and programmable calculators with materials that give an advantage over other students during an exam.
3. Using crib sheets or other hidden notes in an examination or looking at another student's test paper to copy strategies or answers.
4. Having another person supply questions or answers from an examination to be given or in progress.
5. 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 3 parties to the attempt to gain unfair advantage may be charged with an Honor Pledge violation.
6. Deliberately falsifying laboratory results, or submission of samples or findings not legitimately derived in the situation and by the procedures prescribed or allowable.
7. Revising and resubmitting a quiz or exam for regrading, without the instructor's knowledge and consent. h.
8. Giving or receiving unauthorized aid on a take-home examination.
9. Facilitating academic violation: intentionally or knowingly helping or attempting to help another to violate the Honor Pledge. j.
10. Signing in another student's name on attendance sheets, rosters, Scantrons.
11. 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.
12. Procuring and/or altering without permission from appropriate authority of examinations, papers, lab reports, or other academic exercises, whether discarded or used, and either before or after such materials have been handed in to the appropriate recipient.
13. Using, buying, selling, stealing, transporting, soliciting, copying or possessing, the contents of an un-administered test, a required assignment or a past test which has, by the professor, not been allowed to be kept by their students.
14. Using generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT. Unless allowed by each professor, students are expected to complete each assignment without assistance from others, including automated writing tools.

It is important to note that professors may ask students to work in groups. However, if someone in a group commits academic misconduct, the entire group could be held responsible for it as well. Members of groups must clearly document who contributes what parts of the joint project and to know what group members are doing and how they are getting the material they provide. Ignorance is no excuse.

It is also important to be aware of group texts or chats. If another student is attempting to violate the Honor Code, it is your ethical responsibility to report him/her to the Honor Council. Again, membership in a group that attempts or engages in cheating may lead to all members of the group being subject to disciplinary action including suspension or expulsion.

Should professors discover that a student has cheated on an exam or quiz or other class project, the student should receive a “zero” for the assignment and not be allowed to make the assignment up. The incident should be reported to the Honor Council. If the cheating is extensive, however, or if the assignment constitutes a major grade for the course (e.g., a final exam), or if the student has cheated in the past, the student should receive an “F” in the course, and the matter should be referred to the Honor Council. Additional penalties, including suspension or expulsion from the university may be imposed. Under no circumstances should a student who deserves an “F” in the course be allowed to withdraw from the course with a “W.”

Report Plagiarism and/or Cheating

Grievances Against Students or Faculty

Right to File Incident Report for Student Code of Conduct Violations (Section 8.01 of the Student Handbook):

Any member of the University community has the right to file a report against a student that is in violation of the Student Code of Conduct. Incident report should be filed in writing within 15 University business days of the discovery of the alleged infraction of the Student Code of Conduct to the Office of Student Conduct and Community Engagement via the reporting system (http://www.tamiu.edu/reportit). The timelines for the conduct process may be extended for good cause shown or at the discretion of the Office of Student Conduct and Community Engagement.

File a Grievance Against Faculty (Section 4.03 of the Student Handbook):

Conflicts or concerns with faculty that are unrelated to academic issues and unrelated to discrimination, harassment, or related retaliation based on a protected class are considered grievances. (For grievances alleging discrimination, harassment, or related retaliation based on a protected class, refer to Section 3.24 in this handbook. For disputes over academic matters, refer to Section 4.02 in this handbook.)

Before a grievance is filed, the student must make a good-faith effort to meet with the faculty to seek an informal resolution. The student may also consult with the faculty member’s department chair or dean. If unable to meet with the faculty member or if the meeting does not produce a resolution, the student may initiate a grievance by following the steps outlined below.

1. The student will file a written complaint via the TAMIU Report It form available at https://www.tamiu.edu/reportit/. The form will be shared with the faculty member’s department chair and dean, the Provost, Vice President for Student Engagement, and the Office of Human Resources (resolution form only). Other University personnel with a legitimate right to know will also receive a copy of the incident report, if required.
2. The faculty member’s department chair will send, within five University business days after receiving the grievance, a written notice to the student that the complaint has been received. Page 26 of 93
3. The student and faculty member will meet with the faculty member’s department chair within five University business days of the notice of receipt.
4. If the grievance remains unresolved after meeting with the department chair, then within five University business days of the meeting with the chair, both the student and the faculty member will meet with either the dean of the respective college (or academic administrator to whom the chair reports).
5. If the complaint remains unresolved after that meeting, it will then be heard within five University business days by an ad hoc committee consisting of the faculty member’s department chair, the Director of SCCE (or their designee), and a faculty member or administrator selected by the student. The chair of the committee will be the Director of SCCE (or their designee). After hearing from the student and the faculty member, and considering any documentation has been provided, the ad hoc committee will make its recommendation in writing to the Provost. This will occur within five University business days after the committee concludes its deliberations.
6. Within five University business days after receiving the ad hoc committee’s deliberation, the Provost will notify in writing both parties of the final decision.
7. Deadlines for each aforementioned step in the process may be revised should extenuating circumstances justify doing so.

Report Grievances

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