Students at USC are considered to be maturing adults, capable of making their own decisions as well as accepting the consequences for those decisions. In cases involving alleged academic integrity violations, the appropriate action is initiated by the course instructor or appropriate university official.
According to the office of Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards (http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/SJACS/academicreview.html), if the instructor has reasons to believe, based on observation or other evidence, that a student has violated the university academic integrity standards, he or she should make reasonable attempts to meet with the student and discuss the alleged violation and the evidence which supports the charge. The instructor must also report the action to the office for Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards, and he or she may recommend additional sanctions. The student should be given the opportunity to respond to the complaint. If the violation is discovered during the final exam period, the instructor should assign a mark of “MG” until he/she has had an opportunity for such a meeting. Likewise, if the instructor’s grade penalty is a grade of “F” for the course, a mark of “MG” should be assigned if the student does not admit responsibility for the violation and accept the grade penalty. Also, because the student may contest the allegation, he or she must be allowed to attend all classes and complete all assignments until the complaint is resolved.
