Student Rights and Responsibilities, Including Withdrawal Arrangements 

Student Rights

The primary right of students is to pursue their education so long as they maintain their eligibility to remain a member of the community by meeting its academic standards and so long as they observe the regulations imposed by the university for the governance of the academic community.

The second right of students is to be recognized as members of the student body, with all the privileges pursuant thereto as to use of physical plant, university services and facilities.

Every student has the constitutional rights and responsibilities of any citizen under the law. Conversely, a responsibility of any student is to respect these rights of any other member of the university community.

A student has the right to expect that academic and professional processes should be flexible and periodically open to review and to participate constructively with faculty and administration in those processes by which the university community maintains the excellence of the standards of its curriculum and methods of instruction and the viability of its total educational program.

The student has the right to recourse through the procedures outlined in The Student Handbook against unreasonable academic action.

Student Responsibilities

Students at Carnegie Mellon, because they are members of an academic community dedicated to the achievement of excellence, are expected to meet the highest standards of personal, ethical and moral conduct possible.

These standards require personal integrity, a commitment to honesty without compromise, as well as truth without equivocation and a willingness to place the good of the community above the good of the self. Obligations once undertaken must be met, commitments kept.

As members of the Carnegie Mellon community, individuals are expected to uphold the standards of the community in addition to holding others accountable for said standards. It is rare that the life of a student in an academic community can be so private that it will not affect the community as a whole or that the above standards above do not apply.

The discovery, advancement and communication of knowledge are not possible without a commitment to these standards. Creativity cannot exist without acknowledgment of the creativity of others. New knowledge cannot be developed without credit for prior knowledge. Without the ability to trust that these principles will be observed, an academic community cannot exist.

The commitment of its faculty, staff and students to these standards contributes to the high respect in which the Carnegie Mellon degree is held. Students must not destroy that respect by their failure to meet these standards. Students who cannot meet them should voluntarily withdraw from the university.

Ethics and Discipline

The Heinz School is a professional school designed to prepare students for responsible positions requiring the trust and confidence of the public. Therefore, the School must demand the highest ethical standards of its students. The two cornerstones of these ethical standards are honesty and concern for others. The Heinz School will not tolerate plagiarism, false presentation of the extent of individual contributions to joint efforts, cheating, or falsification of records. It also will not tolerate disruptive behavior, ethnic intimidation, sexual harassment, or illegal activities. Any of these actions can carry severe penalties up to and excluding expulsion from the university.

• Cheating and Plagiarism
  Plagiarism and other forms of academic misrepresentation are viewed as extremely serious matters.
• Collaboration
  Collaboration has an important role in any academic community, however the appropriateness of collaboration can vary greatly for students, depending upon an individual instructor’s policies. Students are responsible for being aware of the rules for collaboration on specific assignments. Engaging in prohibitive collaboration is punishable as academic misrepresentation.
• Role of Teaching Assistants
  Since some of the responsibility for grading falls on Teaching Assistants (TA’s), and since they are sometimes the classmates of those whose work they grade, TA’s are in a special ethical position. Violation of the trust and responsibility given to TA’s is viewed as a serious violation by all who are involved.
• Software Piracy and Computing Facilities
  All Heinz School students are required to sign the software policy agreement found in their student handbook and familiarize themselves with policies relating to software and documentation. Details of the University’s Computing policies can be found at: http://www.cmu.edu/computing/documentation/index_policies.html.
• Other Violations
  Students who engage in disruptive behavior, criminal activities, ethnic intimidation, sexual harassment, moral turpitude, violations of School procedures, or violations of university regulations will be subject to disciplinary action, including possible expulsion.

Full details of students’ rights and responsibilities can be found in Carnegie Mellon’s Graduate Student Handbook and your program handbook.