Attendance Policy Northern Illinois University has no university-wide policy on attendance. Faculty members determine whether they will excuse absences, how they will evaluate class attendance, and whether they will permit students to make up work missed. If a student will be absent for a week or more because of an illness, accident, or other emergency, the student (or an authorized family member or other third party) may request that the Campus Information Center notify the student's instructional staff of the absence. This notification does not constitute an excuse; the faculty member will judge whether this situation warrants any special consideration.
Faculty Role
Faculty members should include in their syllabus a statement on their requirements in this area. The syllabus should define the attendance expectations, the role attendance will play in the evaluation of the student's performance, and any specific information regarding excused absences and make-up work.
Grade Appeals Northern Illinois University has a formal policy under which a student may appeal a grade. Copies of the procedure for appealing allegedly capricious grades are available from the Ombudsman or from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Advising Off ice. Students should note that the grade appeal policy is not designed to appeal a professor's professional judgment. Rather, possible grounds for an appeal relate to allegedly capricious assignment of the grade (see the policy for specific definitions and procedures).
Faculty Role
Faculty should clearly indicate their expectations of student performance in the course syllabus. Faculty advisors should encourage students to discuss with their faculty the criteria that will be used to evaluate student achievement in the course. If the course lends itself to frequent graded assignments, the faculty member should consider returning those assignments, graded, expeditiously so that the student has clarity regarding the level of their achievement in the courses.
Student Role
Students should be certain that they understand the requirements of the syllabus and their faculty member's expectations regarding performance. Students should seek clarification of their questions regarding the course content and the work assigned by contacting faculty in their scheduled office hours or by appointment. If students are not attaining the level of performance they expect of themselves, the student may ask the professor for referrals to tutors, where appropriate, or to additional resources that
might clarify those elements of the course which the student finds difficult to master.
Academic Integrity
Honesty is the essence of the intellectual life of the university. The misrepresentation of academic work as one's own is a theft of intellectual property; faculty at Northern Illinois University consider a violation of the institutional policy on academic integrity a very serious offense. Students who copy the work of another or an examination, an assignment, a paper, are guilty of cheating. The misrepresentation of another's work as one's own, the copying of material from books, magazines, or other resources without acknowledgement and identification of those sources is plagiarism. If a student is
guilty of either cheating or plagiarism, or of assisting other students in cheating or plagiarism on an assignment, paper, quiz, or examination, the student may receive a grade of F for the course and may be suspended or dismissed from the university.
Faculty have original jurisdiction in matters involving academic integrity in any course they teach. The faculty member must follow the procedure outlined in the NIU judicial Code regarding academic misconduct (see the catalog and the NIU judicial Code for the details of this procedure).
Faculty Role
Faculty should be certain to clarify the expectations of academic integrity that govern participation in their courses. If appropriate, faculty might consider incorporating instruction in appropriate documentation in their discipline and the acceptable uses of literal sources. If the faculty member believes a student has cheated or plagiarized work in the course, the faculty member must follow the procedures outlined to address such
an issue. Failure to do so may mean that the student is not subject to the sanctions appropriate for the offense. If the student has previously been charged with academic misconduct (see the judicial Code), the student may be subject to additional sanctions, but only if the faculty member follows the requisite procedures.
Student Role
If students see other students cheating or committing acts of plagiarism, they may wish to report their observations to the faculty member who teaches the course. Students who have any doubts regarding appropriate use of resource materials should discuss this topic with faculty.
Classroom Disruption Students and faculty have the right to study and learn in an environment conducive to intellectual endeavors. If a student behaves in a classroom, laboratory, or other formal educational setting in such a way as to interfere with the rights of other students to participate in appropriate educational environment, the student will forfeit the privilege of attending or receiving credit for the class. In any case of classroom disruption, the faculty member who teaches the course should inform the student that his or her behavior is unacceptable and the student must alter the behavior or leave the class. If the student continues the disruptive behavior, the faculty member should inform the chair of his or her department; the chair may, after investigating the incident, suspend the student responsible from class attendance and recommend to the dean of the college that the student be permanently removed from the class. The procedure for this situation is outlined in the catalog and in the NIU judicial Code.
Faculty Role
Faculty are responsible for preserving an atmosphere conducive to learning. If a student's behavior is disruptive, the faculty member should direct the student to cease the disruptive behavior or to leave. The faculty member should then follow the procedures outlined in the catalog. In the classroom, the faculty member is a university official who may, acting in that capacity, require a student to leave the room and/or building. In a case of classroom disruption, the faculty member is responsible to all the students in the course to preserve an environment conducive to learning.
Student Role
Students deserve to be able to learn in an appropriate academic environment. Students do not have to tolerate the disruption of a classroom; their role, however, is to support the faculty member in controlling the potentially disruptive environment rather than to initiate corrective action themselves.
Religious Observances
As a state institution, Northern Illinois University does not observe religious holidays; the university tries to be mindful, however, of the fact that on occasion examinations and scheduled academic activities may interfere with the religious observances of some members of the university community. Students faced with a conflict should inform the faculty member well in advance of any possible conflict to see if reasonable accommodations can be made. For further details, see the Undergraduate Catalog.