Report an incident
Honor Code syllabus statement (required): All students enrolled in a University of Colorado Boulder course are responsible for knowing and adhering to the Honor Code. Violations of the policy may include: plagiarism, cheating, fabrication, lying, bribery, threat, unauthorized access to academic materials, clicker fraud, submitting the same or similar work in more than one course without permission from all course instructors involved, and aiding academic dishonesty. All incidents of academic misconduct will be reported to the Honor Code (
honor@colorado.edu; 303-492-5550). Students who are found responsible for violating the academic integrity policy will be subject to nonacademic sanctions from the Honor Code as well as academic sanctions from the faculty member. Additional information regarding the Honor Code academic integrity policy can be found on the
Honor Code website.
Request a Presentation:
We can present to your class or department on a variety of topics. Past presentation topics include:
- What is the Honor Code at CU? (student audience)
- What is the Honor Code at CU and how do I file a report? (faculty audience)
- Common Cheating and detection (faculty audience)
Email us and we will be glad to work with your to meet the specific needs of your class or team to share relevant information.
The Honor Code is as important as ever. As we continue with remote learning, the following advice and reminders may be helpful for both faculty and students.
Remind students about the standards to which they are held and consider sending the following to your students:
- review CU’s Honor Code and the standards to which you are held at CU.
- recognize that CU faculty have a responsibility to report academic misconduct.
- recognize that engaging in academic misconduct can negatively affect others too.
- recognize that preserving your integrity and character are more important than your semester grades.
Help students understand what Honor Code violations might look like in your class:
Use specific examples that are related to your course when discussing what an Honor Code violation looks like. For example:
- During the projects or exams:
- is it okay to talk to a classmate via Zoom or another platform while screen sharing?
- is it okay to upload course material to Quizlet/Chegg/Coursehero or another study site and access that material during the exam? It may be okay to study from those websites or create notes in an online platform, but are those student “Notes” on an open-note exam?
- is it okay for students to use a shared google note sheet during an exam?
- is it okay to get real-time online or in-person tutoring/assistance during the exam?
- Be clear in your expectations
- Will projects or exams be:
- open-note, open-book, or open-internet?
- individual or collaborative work?
- Tell students the academic consequences for students who cheat or otherwise violate the Honor Code
The purpose of the Honor Code is to secure an environment where academic integrity can flourish. The Honor Code recognizes the importance of honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility and aims to instill these principles as essential features of the University of Colorado Boulder campus. The Honor Code allows all students to have responsibility for, and the ability to attain, appropriate recognition for their academic and personal achievements.
SCCR has the time to investigate alleged academic misconduct, while faculty may not have the time. SCCR also maintains records for all Honor Code cases and can address repeat behaviors when they are reported.
Honor Code reporting
Talking with the student
Faculty should speak with students before reporting an Honor Code case. Here are some tips:
- Present the information you have and explain the allegation:
- I observed you looking at another student's paper during a quiz. When I graded the quizzes, you had nine of 12 of the same answers, and of those similar answers, four were incorrect. It seems like you may have copied from your neighbor.
- Your essay has a Turnitin score of 55% and 33% is a match to a Wikipedia page.
- Allow the student an opportunity to respond:
- Can you tell me what happened?
- Can you help me understand why these exams/essays are so similar?
- Tell them what you are going to do next. Consider the academic sanctions and if you will report this incident to the Honor Code.
- I am going to give you a zero on this quiz and report it to the Honor Code.
- I am going to report this to the Honor Code and adjust your grade based on the outcome of the case.
- I need to consult with my supervisor/dean/chair and I will email you in the next few days with more information about what you can expect.
What to include in your report
- When reporting, include: who, what, when, where (which class?)
- Who do you think violated the Honor Code?
- What behavior or action did you observe or find while grading that causes you to think that?
- When did the violation occur and when did you discover it?
- In what class did the violation occur?
- Any supporting documentation, like the class syllabus, similar exams or assignments, answer keys, access logs (if a student logged into a course Canvas page during an exam), i-clicker reports, Turnitin reports, etc.
Reporting examples
FAQs
Yes. Third parties like Chegg and the Office of Information Security require these types of requests to come through the Honor Code Office. In order to collect all the necessary information at once, please complete this
online form. We will copy you on the email we send to the third-party so that you are aware of where we are in the process.
We have found that third-party information requests only go back about 2-4 weeks. Please consider checking for your course content throughout the semester. You can also email us if you have any questions about this process.
Yes. You can do one form for many students, even if they did not collaborate or work together. We can turn them into individual incidents on our side.
Academic sanctions are solely decided by the faculty of the course. The Honor Code office makes no recommendations regarding academic sanctions, including grading. We refer you to your department chair or dean for advice on grades. It is our hope that academic and non-academic sanctions are in alignment.
Student Conduct & Conflict Resolution has the final say regarding non-academic sanctions. Please do not tell students what the likely outcomes are for their case. If the student is found responsible for the allegation, the Conduct Officer will consider the type of violation as well as past conduct when determining outcomes. We prefer that you tell students to attend their meeting with our office and let them know that our goal is education as opposed to punishment.
If you have thoughts regarding the non-academic sanctions, please include them in your initial report.
Yes, we only assign non-academic sanctions and have no input on how you choose to grade your student.
If a student withdraws from the course, faculty can administratively re-enroll them to ensure the academic sanction stands. See your department policies for more information.
Faculty are expected to submit a referral form to SCCR when they are aware or suspect an Honor Code violation. Faculty are also expected to notify students that they suspect an Honor Code violation. Our office has staff dedicated to investigating allegations of academic misconduct, which allows us to move the process forward efficiently and thoroughly. Our office also ensures that a student's due process rights are met during the investigating and Honor Code process.
You will receive a confirmation email once the report is submitted. If you suspect that your report did not come through for any reason, please email
Honor@colorado.edu and we would be happy to confirm if we have received the report.
The time it takes for our office to render a decision can vary based on many factors. Typically, from when we receive a report to when we send a decision letter to the student is approximately 30 days, but this can change depending on when the student meets with us, when the Honor Code Advisory Board meets, and how many cases are currently being processed.
The Honor Code office is housed inside Student Conduct & Conflict Resolution. For more information about the office and staff, please visit our
About Us page.
The Honor Code Advisory Board (HCAB) is comprised of at least three faculty members and at least three students. If the Advisory Board reviews a graduate student case, at least one of the students on the Board will be a graduate student. Faculty are selected by the Boulder Faculty Assembly. Students on HCAB are selected by the Director of SCCR with the support of CUSG and UGGS. The Advisory Board discusses findings of responsibility on cases of alleged academic misconduct, provides technical expertise on complex cases, and advises the hearing officer on Non-Academic Sanctions for Honor Code violations.
The Advisory Board discusses trends and observation of issues of academic misconduct, recruits faculty to administer educational sanctions, and educates other faculty on the Honor Code and Procedures.
If the Advisory Board determines that the hearing officer has failed to give the consensus expertise of the Advisory Board proper consideration, the Advisory Board may submit a written complaint to the attention of the Boulder Faculty Assembly Chair, Dean of Students, and CUSG. If necessary, the Advisory Board reserves the right to work directly with the Director of Student Conduct to review cases, and/or to submit a report with concerns related to case determinations and improper consideration.
When Student Conduct & Conflict Resolution receives your report, we review all of the information submitted and send a letter to the student indicating that they have been reported to the Honor Code. This letter includes a brief statement explaining the allegation and requests that schedule a time to meet with a Conduct Coordinator in our office. During this time, we may reach out to you with any questions or additional information that we may need. After the Conduct Coordinator meets with the student, the case will be brought to the Honor Code Advisory Board, and a decision about responsibility and any non-academic sanctions, if appropriate, will be determined. We will then send a letter to the student and reporting faculty member outlining the decision and associated sanctions, if applicable.
We are so glad you want to get involved! Email us at
Honor@colorado.edu and we will be in touch.
Please do talk with the student before reporting them. It’s hard for a student when the first time they learn of an allegation is from our notification email.
- Stay calm.
- Clearly explain what you think may have happened and what evidence you have to support your allegation.
- Give clear examples and share with them what the next steps are.
- Tell them the grade impact, if you will report it to the Honor Code, and what they can expect next.
A Decision in Absentia (DIA) occurs when a student chooses not to participate in our process. After our office has made multiple attempts to reach out to the student who has been reported with no response, the Honor Code Advisory Board will review all of the information provided and make a decision about the case without the student’s input. We prefer to have student participation, so DIA cases typically take longer to process, as we make several attempts to have the student come in and meet.
Each case is determined based on its unique factors. However, common sanctions are outlined below.
- Seminar on a topic such as ethics, writing, or time management
- CU Restorative Justice: Restorative Justice helps to address the relationship between victims, offenders, and the community in a way that repairs the impacts of an incident, holds the offender accountable for their actions, and builds community.
- Written Warning: A warning is a written statement from the conduct officer that the behavior was inappropriate and that more serious conduct action will be taken should subsequent violations of policy occur.
- Honor Code probation: Probation is a status on which the university can place students found responsible for violating the Honor Code. It includes a written statement that the student’s behavior was inappropriate and a timeframe within which the student remains on that status. Any violation of the Honor Code or the conditions of probation committed during the probationary period will result in further disciplinary action.
- Honor Code suspension: A student is required to leave the university, and not participate in any university activities, for a specified amount of time. This sanction is noted on a student’s transcript during the period of the suspension, and a student must apply for readmission after the term of the suspension if that student wishes to remain a student at the university. A suspension includes an exclusion from all University of Colorado system property for the duration of the suspension. Any exceptions to that exclusion must be approved by the director of Student Conduct & Conflict Resolution or that person’s designee.
Yes. SCCR will only accept reports of suspected Honor Code violations made within 40 calendar days from the date of discovery of the suspected violation. This is to protect students' due process rights and ensure cases are resolves in a timely manner.
Please send any additional information that needs to be added to a specific case to
honor@colorado.edu and we will be able to add it into the case.
No. We have honored this request in the past because the Code was silent on the matter. During the summer of 2020, in consultation with the Honor Code Advisory Board and members of the Boulder Faculty Assembly, it was decided that cases that are reported to the Honor Code will go through the standard Honor Code Process. Reporting faculty can include additional information in their report, including a request for leniency, but Student Conduct & Conflict Resolution (Honor Code) retains the final authority in determining responsibility and administering non-academic sanctions.
Report an incident
