Honor Code

Be Honest

Student Academic Honesty Policy
The first injunction of the BYU Honor Code is the call to "be honest." Students come to the university not only to improve their minds, gain knowledge, and develop skills that will assist them in their life's work but also to build character. "President David O. McKay taught that character is the highest aim of education." (The Aims of a BYU Education, p.6.) It is the purpose of the BYU Academic Honesty Policy to assist in fulfilling that aim.

BYU students should seek to be totally honest in their dealings with others. They should complete their own work and be evaluated based upon that work. They should avoid academic dishonesty and misconduct in all its forms, including plagiarism, fabrication or falsification, cheating, and other academic misconduct.

Procedures for academic dishonesty or other academic misconduct
Faculty are responsible to establish and communicate to students their expectations of behavior with respect to academic honesty and the student's conduct in the course. The responsible instructor shall investigate the incident, determine and take appropriate action, and report to the Honor Code Office (HCO) the final disposition of any incident of academic dishonesty by completing an Academic Dishonesty Student Violation Report. If the incident of academic dishonesty involves the violation of a public law, e.g., breaking and entering into an office or stealing an examination, the act should also be reported to the University Police. If an affected student disagrees with the determination or action and is unable to resolve the matter to the mutual satisfaction of the student and the instructor, the student may have the matter reviewed through the university's grievance process. (See Student Academic Grievance Procedure.)

The HCO will maintain a record of all violations of the Academic Honesty Policy reported to it by the faculty. If the occurrence is sufficiently egregious or if a pattern of dishonesty or misconduct is discovered, the HCO may take additional action on behalf of the university based upon the nature of the infraction(s). The HCO, in consultation with the involved academic personnel, may determine to place a student on probation or to suspend or dismiss a student for academic dishonesty and other forms of academic misconduct.

Source: University Electronic Handbook and BYU Undergraduate Catalog.

Honesty in civil and family disputes
Students are expected to fulfill all financial and family obligations. However, where a bona fide dispute exists over the payment of debt or the fulfillment of other contractual obligations (such as child support or alimony payments), BYU will generally refer the affected parties to the appropriate civil or family courts for resolution of the dispute and will not consider these matters to be within the HCO stewardship unless the case involves criminal or civil charges.

Honesty in usage of BYU computers
Students are expected to understand what constitutes appropriate use of the Brigham Young University owned and operated computing network. Any form of fraud or deception in use is offensive to the spirit of the Honor Code and an affront to the university community. The BYU Computer Network Patron Policy describes the appropriate uses, misuses, and the enforcement of potential consequences for inappropriate uses.