Academic Policies

ACADEMIC POLICIES

GRADE POINT AVERAGE

Students must enter the program with a 2.0 cumulative grade point average and maintain a cumulative grade point average of C (2.0).

ACADEMIC PROBATION

Students must maintain a 2.0 GPA in the program. If a student earns a grade lower than C-, they must retake the class. If the student’s GPA drops below 2.0, or if after retaking a class their grade is still below C-, the student will be considered on academic probation.

ACADEMIC REVIEW

The performance of students on academic probation will be reviewed by the director in consultation with faculty. The student may be denied continued enrollment or given conditional enrollment for the second semester.

Within one calendar week following the review of a student’s academic program, the program director will inform the student of any resulting action. Students may appeal all actions of the academic review process.

ATTENDANCE

Students will be permitted to have up to three non-consecutive absences in the program regardless of the reason for these absences. There is no appeal process to have absences excused. Once a fourth absence occurs, the student may be administratively withdrawn from the program at the discretion of the LOM Program Director, in consultation with members of the faculty and the Lancaster Academic Advisor.

RECORDING ATTENDANCE

Attendance is recorded each class session and reported to the director at the end of each course. Attendance records are essential to comply with the regulations established for recipients of federally insured student loans, government grants or VA benefits.
On rare occasions, and for work-related reasons only, a student may be able to join the class using distance technology (such as Zoom), and be counted as present. In this case, the student MUST discuss this plan with the instructor in advance. The student is responsible for arranging a Zoom session with the instructor and the EMU at Lancaster User Services coordinator. If the technology or connection fails, the student will be counted as absent.
The instructor may decide that the class activities for that session are not conducive for distance participation. In this case, the student will be counted as absent.
Zoom accommodations will not be made for illness or vacation-related reasons, except in the case of a significant, long-term health-related recovery.

MAKING UP ABSENCES

Within any given year there may be a few unavoidable absences. These absences must be arranged with the course professor, preferably before class meets. If the absence is unavoidable, and the professor is informed, the following guidelines apply:

The professor teaching the course shall determine the make-up activities designed to compensate for classroom absence.
If two absences occur within one course, the student must physically make up work for at least one of the missed sessions. An I (incomplete) grade will be given until the make-up assignment is complete. If the two absences are not cleared up, an F grade must be given for that course.
The instructor may require additional assignments regarding tardiness and early departures.

THREE ABSENCES DURING ONE COURSE

Except in the case of a death in the family or significant illness, the student will be administratively withdrawn from the program.

INCLEMENT WEATHER POLICY

Classes are never cancelled due to inclement weather. On days when weather threatens travel safety, a synchronous online class will be offered via Zoom in lieu of the face-to-face class. For evening classes the decision will be made by 2:00 p.m. on the day of class. For day classes a decision will be made by 6:00 a.m. An email (using EMU email addresses) will be sent to each student and an announcement will be posted in the Moodle course. The decision will be made by the Executive Director and posted on the website. Student alerts will be sent to all Lancaster students. The teaching faculty will email students regarding class instruction.

Instructions regarding the use of Zoom are included in the Student Orientation Moodle course.

PARTICIPATION IN COMMENCEMENT

The EMU at Lancaster commencement ceremony is held on the Friday evening following the annual main campus Sunday ceremony. LOM and LOMV graduates may participate in the commencement ceremony IF all degree requirements are anticipated to be met no later than the end of summer semester following commencement.

DIPLOMA DATES

LOM students are certified for receipt of a degree when the academic advisor and the registrar confirm that the student has met all degree requirements. When completion of degree requirements has been confirmed, the following information is forwarded to the provost’s office and the registrar’s office: student’s name, cohort number, degree date, degree, major and if applicable, honors. There are four diploma dates: 1) the last day of fall semester in December, 2) the end of spring semester, late April or early May, 3) the last day of the second term of the traditional undergraduate summer school program in mid June and 4) in August, several weeks prior to the beginning of the fall semester. Students will be assigned the most recent graduation date prior to the date when all program requirements are satisfied and all related transcripts are received by the university and posted by Registrar’s Office staff.

TRANSCRIPTS AND ENROLLMENT VERIFICATION

To assure the confidentiality of academic records, the request for a transcript must come from the student through the Registrar's Office on main campus: https://emu.edu/registrar/transcript-ordering.

Enrollment verification requests should be forwarded to the registration coordinator at registration.lancaster@emu.edu.

DEGREE COMPLETION REQUIREMENTS

Prior to admission to the LOM, the academic advisor will meet with each student to review the courses required for degree completion. While enrolled in the LOM, the student will meet at least once with the academic advisor to discuss degree completion.

ACADEMIC HONORS

LOM graduates are eligible for academic honors if they have earned a career grade point average of 3.60 or above, and since matriculation in the LOM, have received no D or F grades at EMU or elsewhere. The career grade point average includes grades from all course work transferred to EMU.

Cum Laude: 60 – 3.79
Magna Cum Laude: 80 – 3.89
Summa Cum Laude: 90 – 4.00

TURNITIN

Turnitin is an internet-based plagiarism-prevention service used by many schools and universities that allows students to submit submit papers to the Turnitin website and checks the documents for unoriginal content. There is NO grade associated with Turnitin

This website provides information regarding how to submit a paper for review as well as how to access and interpret feedback.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

Eastern Mennonite University fosters a culture where faculty, staff, and students respect themselves and others. In this culture, faculty, staff, and students gain confidence in their desire and ability to discover their ideas, construct new knowledge, and think critically about their own ideas and the ideas of others. In doing so, EMU community members grow as competent thinkers and writers.

EMU faculty and staff care about the integrity of their own work and the work of their students. They create assignments that promote interpretative thinking and work intentionally with students during the learning process. Honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility are characteristics of a community that is active in loving mercy, doing justice, and walking humbly before God.

At EMU, academic integrity means

honesty in producing one’s own work.
use of documented course information and aids.
submission of work that is one’s own.
honesty in representation of research results, one’s credentials, and facts or opinions.
honesty in use of technology, including cell phones and the Internet.
honesty in acknowledging sources used in research and presented in papers and other assignments.
honesty in establishing and maintaining the appropriate parameters of collaborative work.

Academic integrity includes

documenting and citing work that was created for a previous assignment, whether for the current course or for another one.
using accurate quotations. When used, quotations are exact, word-for-word as they appear in the original document. Every quotation, including a short phrase or a single word if it is unusual, includes the required citation and quotation marks.
using appropriate documentation when using words from a class speaker, including the class instructor, in an assignment, i.e. cite professors’ lectures.
using appropriate paraphrasing with documentation. Paraphrasing is more than rewording the original material. It must be nearly entirely in the writer’s own words, using new phrases and synonyms. The writer may repeat technical terms. Place quotation marks around any exact words that are retained. The sentence structure should not be the same as in the source. In the paraphrase, do not add interpretations, ideas, and assessment that are not in the original source.
using common knowledge appropriately. Common knowledge is information that is easily observed, commonly reported facts (George Washington was the first president of the United States.), or proverbs. Common knowledge does not need to be cited, but be certain that these words are in the public domain. When in doubt, ask the professor.

EMU defines plagiarism as occurring when a person presents as one’s own someone else’s language, ideas, or other original (not common-knowledge) material without acknowledging its source (adapted from the Council of Writing Program Administrators, 2005, http://www.wpacouncil.org).

Academic integrity violation for students may be evidenced as a:

Minimal Violation

A minimal violation of academic integrity codes includes doing the following without appropriate documentation:

using a minimal number of distinguishing words from a source.
rearranging the word order of a sentence.
producing a similar sentence or style from a source.
using an idea or argument from a source
(These items are adapted from “Westmont College Plagiarism Policy” (2002) http://www.westmont.edu/_academics/pages/provost/curriculum/plagiarism/.)

Substantial Violation

A substantial violation of academic integrity codes includes (but is not limited to)

cheating on a quiz, test, or exam.
copying or attempting to copy someone else’s work, including paraphrasing or quoting a professor’s classroom lectures, handouts, and presentations without appropriate documentation.
falsifying results and credentials, withholding data, misrepresenting facts.
using someone else’s work as one’s own work.
using quotations with no documentation.
using an online source by copying and pasting with no documentation. Online sources may appear free. In this case, free means economically free. While a source may not be paid for, it is to be used only for its specified use. A citation must be given if words, graphics, or ideas are used.
presenting material as one’s own from a site that sells essays. Some of the papers-for-sale sites do have disclaimers that state the work must be cited. Remember, if a source can be found, the professor can also find it.
frequently committing minimal violations within a single document or repeatedly over time.
Undergraduate academic departments and graduate units are responsible for establishing right-of- use parameters for non-print materials (e.g. presentations).

Procedures

When a student violates academic integrity values, the student and professor/advisor will work together to restore the student to community.

Procedures for Minimal Violations

When a first-time minimal violation is noted in a project, the professor will use this as an opportunity to teach the student/s explicitly about academic integrity. Faculty should keep internal records of minimal violations. When a second minimal violation occurs, either within the same class or in multiple classes with the same instructor, faculty will document this as a substantial offense by submitting a Violation of Academic Integrity Report to the respective Dean.

Procedures for Substantial Violations¹

At EMU, when academic integrity codes are violated to this level, the following procedure will be followed.

The professor will”

notify the student of the violation.
determine whether the student is guilty of the violation.
contact the respective Dean’s office to check on previous student violations in order to determine first, second or third offense.
document the finding and the action either taken (First-time offense) or repeated (Second and Third-time offenses) on the Violation of Academic Integrity Record.
meet with the student to obtain the student’s signature, either acknowledging her/his violation or acknowledging discussion in which the professor explained the charges to the student. In the event that a student refuses to sign, the professor will document that the violation was discussed with the student and the student refused to sign. (Under some circumstances, the professor may want to request another professor present as witness. Students have the option to include a faculty or staff member, e.g. academic advisor, student life personnel, coach.)
submit the Violation of Academic Integrity Record to the respective Dean. The respective Dean’s office will
inform the Vice President for Student Life of violations and actions taken.
follow steps for Second and Third-time offenses. The student will either
- accept the decision or
- submit an appeal by following the Appeal Procedures. (See respective catalog.) Graduate Catalog emu.edu/catalog/graduate/general/academics Seminary Catalog http://www.emu.edu/seminary/catalog/index.html
http://www.emu.edu/studentlife/studenthandbook/

Consequences for Students

First-time substantial violation: If a student cheats on a quiz, test, or exam or plagiarizes material in an assignment, the quiz, test, exam, or assignment receive an F or 0 grade at faculty discretion. For an extreme first time offense, a professor may give the student an F for the course (e.g. essay taken from Internet, test answers from another source). At the discretion of the professor, educational and restorative outcomes could include enrolling in an Academic Integrity workshop, provided by EMU’s Writing Program Director, revising and re-submitting the assignment.
Second-time substantial violation: If the student repeats the above violation in the same or another course or commits another violation in the same or another course, a professor may give the student an F for the course, and the student may receive a Letter of Probation. (See Student Handbook, University Policies, http://www.emu.edu/studentlife/studenthandbook/)
Third-time substantial violation: If the student commits the violation for the third time, the professor may give the student an F for the course, and the student may receive a Letter of Indefinite Suspension/Disciplinary Withdrawal. (See Student Handbook, University Policies.)
Upon re-enrollment and a subsequent violation, the professor may give the student an F for the course, and the student may be subject to a Letter of Dismissal at the discretion of the university. (See Student Handbook, University Policies, http://www.emu.edu/studentlife/studenthandbook/)

Faculty and staff who violate academic integrity codes are subject to review by the Provost’s office.

The graduate, seminary, and undergraduate units use this policy for processing academic integrity violations with the exception of student appeal. (See above.) This policy appears in yearly course catalogs; the Student Handbook; on graduate, seminary, and undergraduate websites; and at z://provost/forms.