Core Component 4D:
The organization provides support
to ensure that faculty, students, and staff acquire, discover, and apply
knowledge responsibly.
St. Cloud State University demonstrates through its governing policies,
financial support, institutional infrastructure, curriculum development practices,
student services, and academic support programs that ethically responsible
scholarship and academic integrity are integral to the life of learning experienced
by its students, faculty, and staff.
Policies Governing Responsible Scholarship
All institutions that perform certain types of research are federally mandated to provide safe working environments and assurances with the development of (1) policies and procedures for proper and ethical use of human and animal subjects in research, (2) chemical hygiene policies and procedures for safe use and disposal of chemicals, (3) policies for the proper use of radioactive materials/sources, and (4) policies for the proper use of recombinant DNA and microorganisms (biosafety policies and procedures). St. Cloud State University is committed to providing a supportive environment for research/scholarly activities while complying with state and federal government requirements.
Our federally registered Institutional Review Board (including representation by administrators, faculty, staff, students, and community consultants) for Protection of Human Subjects reviews all research applications and curricular proposals involving human subjects. Every proposal involving the use of animals (research/curricular) is reviewed and approved by an Animal Welfare Committee, using guidelines developed by the American Association of Animal Laboratory and Animal Science’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUC). St. Cloud State University’s vivarium currently found in the Wick Science Building is overseen by an Animal Welfare Officer. A future challenge is improvement of the animal care physical plant, which is about twenty years old and needs to be updated. We will need to add extra space to Wick Science Building and remodel the current animal housing space/facilities. As these changes come about, the Animal Welfare Committee will oversee IACUC policy compliance of the animal facilities. St. Cloud State University should also earn animal welfare certification from professional animal welfare organizations.
St. Cloud State University has also developed policies and procedures for chemical hygiene, radiation safety, and biosafety. The OSP is working towards setting up a committee to develop and improve the recombinant DNA/biosafety assurance plan. Other initiatives in progress include compliance with laboratory safety equipment installation in various buildings, including new buildings, and assurance of environmental safety and occupational health in old as well as new buildings.
Currently, the Institutional Review Board, Animal Welfare, Chemical Safety, Radiation Safety, and Biosafety committees are accountable to the Office of Sponsored Programs, which ensures oversight at both institutional and departmental levels.
In addition to the above, St. Cloud State University has a designated athletics compliance coordinator, who is an employee of a different unit (Records and Registration) and not in Athletics, to avoid conflict of interest concerns. The coordinator reports to coaches on student eligibility and monitors compliance, self reporting violations to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Coaches receive the NCAA manual and are mandated to take a test prior to each recruiting season. Students also go through an NCAA reading each year and sign off on their academic records and records of any past violations. Students receive a handbook with the student-athlete code of conduct and sign off each year that they have received and read the contents. The compliance coordinator also visits each team every year to ensure awareness.
Ethical Conduct and Academic Integrity
Faculty and Staff
Ethical conduct and academic integrity have traditionally been viewed as integral to the very nature of scholarship and the function of universities as educational institutions that build character. St. Cloud State University is an agency of the State of Minnesota and as such its faculty and staff are bound by the State Code of Ethics. MnSCU also has established a policy on nepotism. Additionally, the IFO-MnSCU Agreement includes contractual obligations for ethical conduct of faculty, and contractual agreements with members of the American Federation of County State and Municipal Employees (AFCSME) and MSUAASF unions on campus include similar provisions for ethical conduct.
In addition to policies for responsible scholarship noted above, St. Cloud State University has a Federally Approved Academic Misconduct/Research Integrity Policy modeled after other such policies that successfully address research ethics. This policy is carefully monitored and we have not had any instances of academic misconduct related to research integrity.
All external grants and contracts are administered via the Office of Sponsored Programs, and grants are reviewed for assurance of compliance with ethical conduct of research before submission and monitored while active. OSP provides strong support for ethical conduct that goes beyond codes to have direct influence on conduct, holding workshops on the subject, and working directly with newly hired faculty members. OSP oversees the policies and procedures for handling allegations of academic or research integrity fraud or serious academic misconduct. Acurrent initiative in progress by OSP is the development of a website to cover conflict of interest issues.
In addition to professional disciplinary practices of peer review for research and publication, St. Cloud State University’s contractual faculty evaluation and tenure/promotion processes call for continual review by colleagues and supervisors. These strong institutional policies on academic integrity are further supported through the academic freedom and responsibility policies noted under Core Component 4A, as well as the grade appeals and student complaint processes. All of these policies and procedures are reinforced by inclusion in a Faculty Handbook, which is distributed to all faculty.
Students
MnSCU policies govern student rights and responsibilities, student conduct, and student complaints. As noted under Core Component 1E, St. Cloud State University provides guidance for students in the form of strong statements on academic conduct in the Student Handbook, but understands the further need to ensure that these codes have influence on students in their academic coursework.
The St. Cloud State University Student Handbook spells out in detail the ethical conduct and academic integrity standards for students. Violations of these policies are referred to the Office of Student Life and Development. In addition, students are required to attend a Respect and Responsibility workshop during their first semester. Student Athletes are held to a separate code of conduct and drug and alcohol policy, both of which are included in a Student-Athlete Handbook. (Handbook available in the Resource Room) The university is currently considering implementing a required, annual Research Integrity Workshop program for graduate students.
Ethical Behavior in Development and Implementation of Curricula
Some examples of codes of ethics and ethical standards appearing on college or departmental websites follow: Electrical and Computer Engineering, English, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, and Social Work. Institutional policies and professional codes of ethics are reinforced and supplemented by coursework that addresses ethical issues. Examples include Democratic Citizenship, Philosophy courses in Professional Ethics and Global Business Ethics, and a Counselor Education and Educational Psychology course in Professional Orientation and Ethics.
Each discipline is responsible for building standards for academic conduct and ethics into instruction. Accreditation in many disciplines involves strong enforcement of ethical conduct. The College of Business requires its majors to take a Business Ethics course taught by the Philosophy department (see Core Requirements). The College of Education provides instruction in codes of ethics for teachers, administrators, and counselors and covers professional ethical standards in its student handbooks. Fine Arts and Humanities includes applied professional programs with ethical standards, as well as traditional study of ethical theory and practice. The Colleges of Science and Engineering and Social Science include accredited programs with professional codes of ethics. Chemistry and Biology build scholarly conduct matters into proposal writing and research design methods courses. The nursing program has a student handbook that includes ethical conduct for nursing students.
Plagiarism and other ethical concerns are defined and regulated by course syllabi throughout the university, and have been the subject of substantive online discussions over the university-wide faculty listserve. The St. Cloud State University Assessment Steering Committee is developing a template for course syllabi to ensure ethical communication of course content to students. Academic Affairs has begun monitoring the congruence between courses advertised and those actually offered. The campus community has become more aware of ethical issues related to copyright, plagiarism, and the use of online resources. LRTS and the Write Place have been instrumental in disseminating information to faculty and students and investigating software for detecting plagiarism.
Because
disciplines and needs change rapidly, periodic review of curriculum is imperative
to ensure academic currency and integrity. The development of a comprehensive
institutional assessment plan will build such periodic review into the infrastructure
of the university. It will also ensure
that departments continually compare current course content with the approved
course proposal. Additionally, while policies regarding faculty-authored
texts are covered under the IFO-MnSCU
Agreement and MnSCU ethical standards, in the future it may be appropriate
to consider additional policies related to the ethics of textbook requirements
and usage.
Faculty intellectual property rights are protected by MnSCU Policy 3.26. The Inter Faculty Organization Agreement, Article 27, Section C, Subdivision 4, “Patents and Intellectual Property” protects such rights for faculty and the OSP has policies on intellectual property rights.
LRTS has developed a computer use policy on the use and misuse of intellectual property or privately owned information that reflects society’s ethical and legal traditions toward financial resources and real property.
Role of Student Services and Academic Support Programs in Responsible Use of Knowledge
The Office of the Vice President for Student Life and Development administers the Code of Conduct that includes conduct related to academic integrity in the classroom. Responsibility for student behavior issues is vested in the President of St. Cloud State University, who has delegated that responsibility to the Vice President of Student Life and Development. That office works closely with faculty, students, and the broader community to create an academic community that fosters intellectual, personal, social, and ethical development of its students.
Services and programs throughout the division support student success (see Core Component 3C). In addition to providing social programming that complements academic learning, departments provide academic support through tutoring, advising, personal and career counseling, employment and life skill development, such as leadership and civic engagement experience. Essentially, the division contributes to the mission of the university through the development and implementation of quality programs and services that mutually shape and influence what is occurring in the life of a student academically and personally.
Multicultural Student Services provides academic tutoring services at several locations on campus to students. The Multicultural Academic Support Center helps students build the skills needed to successfully complete college and serves as a focal point of interaction between students, faculty, and the campus community. Services available at the Multicultural Academic Support Center include small group and individual tutoring, computer lab, quiet study area, assistance with class scheduling and advising.
Additionally, Athletes for Success in the Classroom (ASC) is a full-service academic support program housed in Multicultural Student Services. The ASC program provides the academic support services necessary for student-athletes and students of color in a supportive and flexible environment. ASC staff members and tutors are required to sign an Academic Integrity Form, and the office reinforces academic integrity in its tutor training (see ASC documents in Resource Room). The Student Disability Services (SDS) office also includes codes of ethics in its guidelines for interpreters and note takers, as well as for students using its services (see SDS documents in Resource Room).
Academic Resource Mentors (ARMs) in the residence halls also receive training in ethical conduct. They participate in a summer reading program that uses Students Helping Students: A Guide for Peer Educators on College Campuses, a 2000 Jossey-Bass book by Steven C. Ender and Fred B. Newton, which includes a chapter on “Ethics and Strategies for Good Practice.” The training addresses issues of inappropriate behavior in a mentoring role. (See ARM training documents in Resource Room.)
Tutors in the Math Skills Center participate in training meetings and receive a Tutor Handbook, which includes a tutor code of ethics. (Handbook available in the Resource Room) The Write Place tutor training similarly includes guidelines for professional behavior and for ethical use of writing center technology. Students are informed of Write Place policies that reinforce the teaching of proofreading, editing, and drafting skills and against tutors performing these tasks for students. (See Write Place documents in Resource Room)
Evaluation of Core Component 4D
The university places a high value on academic integrity and responsible scholarship, as demonstrated by its established policies, implementation of curricula, and ethical oversight in student services and academic support programs.
Strengths: Institutional policies and infrastructure are in place for compliance with federal and state requirements, responsible scholarship, ethical conduct, intellectual property rights, and academic integrity at all levels. Curricular and disciplinary ethics are reinforced by professional codes of conduct, accreditation, coursework, student handbooks, and other guidelines for responsible acquisition, discovery, and application of knowledge.
Current Initiatives: As chemical, biological, and technological advances continue to grow, improvements in assurance of safety and responsibility in scholarship require constant attention. Improvements in biosafety and continuing efforts by LRTS and the Write Place to raise campus awareness of copyright laws, plagiarism, and use of online sources are examples of ongoing oversight in this area. OSP is developing a webpage on conflict of interest to increase awareness as relationships with external constituents continue to grow. Assessment initiatives include the development of course syllabi standards, and Academic Affairs has begun monitoring congruence between courses advertised and courses offered. Finally, the university is considering implementing a required Research Integrity Workshop program for graduate students.
Future Challenges: Assessment plans should ensure periodic curriculum review and congruence of course content with approved course proposals. Improvements are needed in the specifically in the animal care vivarium and animal welfare assurance.
