Constitution of the Virginia Tech Honor System

The Virginia Tech Honor Code embodies a spirit of mutual trust and intellectual honesty that is central to the very nature of the university, and represents the highest possible expression of shared values among the members of the university community. The fundamental beliefs underlying and reflected in the Honor Code are: (1) that trust in a person is a positive force in making that person worthy of trust, (2) that every student has the right to live in an academic environment that is free from the injustices caused by any form of intellectual dishonesty, and (3) that the honesty and integrity of all members of the university community contribute to its quest for Truth. The functions of the Honor System are to communicate the meaning and importance of intellectual honesty to all students of the University; to articulate and support the interest of the community in maintaining the highest standards of conduct in academic affairs; and to identify, sanction, and educate those who fail to live up to the stated expectations of the university community with regard to these standards. The Honor Code is the University policy which defines the expected standards of conduct in academic affairs. The Honor System is the University body charged with disseminating information about the Honor Code to the university community and with enforcement of the Honor Code.

Article I: Honor Code

The Honor Code is the University policy which expressly forbids the following academic violations:
  1. Cheating -- Cheating includes the actual giving or receiving of any unauthorized aid or assistance or the actual giving or receiving of any unfair advantage on any form of academic work, or attempts thereof.
  2. Plagiarism -- Plagiarism includes the copying of the language, structure, ideas and/or thoughts of another and passing off same as one's own, original work, or attempts thereof.
  3. Falsification -- Falsification includes the statement of any untruth, either verbally or in writing, with respect to any circumstances relevant to one's academic work, or attempts thereof. Such acts include, but are not limited to, the forgery of official signatures, tampering with official records, fraudulently adding or deleting information on academic documents such as add/drop requests, or fraudulently changing an examination or other academic work after the testing period or due date of the assignment.
Therefore, the student body at Virginia Tech will not tolerate any violation of the Honor Code. All students, upon admission to this University, have pledged to abide by the Honor Code. Any student found by the appropriate forum within the Honor System to have violated the Honor Code shall be deemed guilty as charged.

Article II: The Honor Pledge


Section 1. The Virginia Tech Honor Pledge is: "I have neither given nor received unauthorized assistance on this assignment."
Section 2. The Honor Pledge is to be written out on all graded assignments in each class at the University, and is to be signed by the student. The Honor Pledge represents both an expression of the student's support of the Honor Code and an unambiguous acknowledgment that the student has, on the assignment in question, abided by the obligations that the Honor Code entails. A student who has doubts about whether or how these obligations apply to a particular assignment is responsible for obtaining specific guidance from the instructor before submitting the assignment for an evaluation.
Section 3. In the absence of a written Honor Pledge, the Honor Code still applies to all graded assignments.
Return to the BIOL/CEE/CSES/ENSC 4164 home page.
Go to the Virginia Tech Constitution Homepage for a more detailed description of the Honor Code.