Section 8: Code Of Conduct
8.1 The Tepper School Honor Code
All members of the Tepper School community are expected to abide by a code of ethics befitting a quality academic institution. Respect, honesty and trust are the cornerstones of such conduct. Members of this community manifest their confidence in the honor system by maintaining the highest standards of personal conduct, by voicing their commitment to ethical behavior, and by refraining lying, cheating, stealing, misuse of computing resources, and other distrustful behavior. Furthermore, community members contribute to an atmosphere of trust by preventing temptations for dishonesty and continually upholding the highest level of ethics and honesty in all facets of the learning experience and environment for all members of the community. Should the behavior of either an individual or a group appear questionable, it will be referred to the appropriate disciplinary forum, as described in section 8.4.
8.2 Behavior Subject to Discipline
The Tepper School Honor Code supplements but does not replace the university-wide Disciplinary Code. The Tepper School Honor Code governs incidents of cheating, plagiarism, computing misuse and Career Opportunities Center infractions. In these four areas, the Tepper School honor code supersedes the University-wide disciplinary code.
Other behavior that violates either the Tepper School Honor Code or the Carnegie Mellon University Code, including sexual harassment and alcohol abuse, will be handled under the disciplinary procedures for the university. Please refer to the following Carnegie Mellon Web site for more information about the university-wide disciplinary procedures: http://www.studentaffairs.cmu.edu/
Cheating
All students at Carnegie Mellon must abide by the University’s Policy on Cheating and Plagiarism (http://www.cmu.edu/policies/documents/Cheating.html). At the Tepper School cheating also includes but is not necessarily limited to:
- Plagiarism (explained below)
- Submission of work which is not the student’s own for papers, assignments, or exams
- Submission or use of falsified data
- Theft of or prohibited access to exams, class-related notes or materials, homework assignments, and computer materials
- Use of an alternate, stand-in, or proxy during an examination
- Use of prohibited material, such as textbooks, notes, or computer programs, during an examination or in preparation of an assignment
- Supplying or communicating, in any way, either unauthorized information to another student during an examination or providing information while preparing an assignment
- Collaboration in the preparation of an assignment, if such collaboration is explicitly prohibited by faculty
- Submission of the same work for credit in two courses without obtaining the permission of the professor(s) beforehand
Plagiarism
Plagiarism refers to the act of appropriating another person’s composition writings, ideas, or language and representing them as the product of one’s own work. It includes but is not necessarily limited to failure to indicate a source (published or unpublished) with quotation marks or footnotes, where appropriate, if any of the following are reproduced in a student’s submitted work:
- Phrases, written or musical
- Graphic elements
- Proofs
- Specific language and/or ideas derived from the work of another person
Career Opportunities Center Abuse
The resources of the Career Opportunities Center (COC) can enhance professional options available to Masters students; misuse of such resources constitutes a violation of the Honor Code. Abuse includes, but is not limited to:
- Reneging on accepted offers
- Continuing to interview after accepting an offer
- Tampering with accounts in the on-campus recruiting system
- Removing library resources without permission
- Falsely representing previous experience and/or education
- Interviewing with a company although not interested in the particular employment opportunity
- Not preparing appropriately for interviews
- Failing to respond to periodic requests for updates on one’s job search
- Any other behavior that is outlined as unacceptable in the COC student Code of Conduct
Students utilizing the Career Opportunities Center services are required to sign a Student Code of Conduct that details COC violations.
Computing Misuse and Inappropriate Behavior
The following activities are expressly prohibited at Carnegie Mellon:
- Using a computer system without proper authorization granted through the university, college, or department management structure
- Concealing your identity, or assuming the identity of another (e.g., by sending forged electronic mail)
- Sharing your password or account with the specific exception of staff or faculty members allowing their support personnel to access their accounts in order to provide services appropriate to their job functions
- Using another person’s computer account, user ID, files, or data without appropriate permission, as described in the previous bullet (e.g. using an account found “logged in” on a cluster machine)
- Deleting or tampering with another user’s files or with information stored by another user on any information-bearing medium (disk, tape, memory, etc.)
- Attempting to “crack” or guess other users’ passwords
- Attempting to circumvent system security (e.g. breaking into a system or using programs to obtain “root” access), without the explicit permission of the owner of that system
- Denying appropriate access to resources to other users (e.g. “ping flooding” another system, sending “mail bombs,” or modifying a login file in order to cause a user to not be able to log in)
- Releasing programs such as viruses, Trojan horses, worms, etc., that disrupt other users, damage software or hardware, disrupt network performance, or replicate themselves for malicious purpose
- Sending commercial solicitations via electronic mail (i.e. spamming) to individuals or to newsgroups or mailing lists where such advertising is not part of the purpose of the group or list
- Any “mass mailing” which is solicitous in nature, unless the mailing is in the conduct of university business
- Reselling of services based on the university network, such as web hosting, mailing services or the selling of shell accounts
- Running a proxy server which results in inappropriate or unauthorized access to university materials to non-university members
- Advertising commercial businesses or ventures on Web pages hosted by Carnegie Mellon, unless prior authorization has been granted
- Using mail messages to harass or intimidate another person (such as by repeatedly sending unwanted mail or broadcasting unsolicited mail)
- Violations of any local, state or federal laws, such as the distribution of copyright-protected materials (e.g. the distribution of commercial software, music or films in electronic format without appropriate permissions by the owner, even if the user distributing the materials notifies others of their copyright status)
- Tampering with, willful destruction of or theft of any computer equipment, whether it belongs to the university or to an individual
- The unauthorized removal of university or another’s computing equipment, which constitutes theft
8.3 Reporting a Complaint
Complaints may be brought to the attention of the executive director of student services from several sources:
- Faculty
- Administration
- Staff
- Students, including Non-Tepper School students
8.4 Referral of a Complaint
When a complaint is reported, the executive director of student services and the executive director, masters programs will decide the appropriate forum: informal or formal mediation, University Disciplinary Committee (UDC) or University Academic Review Board (ARB). The decision will be based on the nature of the complaint, the seriousness of the complaint and the potential sanction.
8.5 Confidentiality of Hearing Procedures
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, (FERPA), established requirements for educational institutions with regard to the privacy of students’ educational records, which include academic grades and discipline records. Student rights under FERPA are set forth in the Policy on Student Privacy Rights (http://www.cmu.edu/policies/documents/StPrivacy.html). Members of any review board may be granted access to some information in students’ educational records because they need such information to fulfill their professional responsibilities on the review board. For example, review board members may read incident reports prior to the hearing in which they are involved, hear testimony during hearings and are aware of the possible hearing outcomes. Consequently board members have a responsibility to protect student’s privacy at all times by ensuring that any information obtained in the hearing process remains confidential, unless the disclosure of such information is permitted by FERPA.
