Frequently Asked Questions
For Students
Your professor referred you for a suspected academic integrity violation.
Once we receive a referral, we review all submitted materials to determine whether to proceed with the referral process or dismiss the matter.
If we decide to proceed with the referral process, one of our advisors will contact you via your Mason email account to schedule a prehearing meeting with her or him. At the prehearing, she or he will explain (a) why you were referred to us, and (b) your options for responding to the referral. Then, after hearing all of that information, you make your own official decision on how to proceed.
You may potentially respond to your referral in one of three ways: accepting responsibility, denying responsibility, or accepting responsibility and challenging the professor's recommended sanction/s. However, responses typically boil down to accepting or denying responsibility. This is because the third option requires in part that some situation existed that left you no other alternative other than to do the improper action. If you accept responsibility, the matter is concluded and the professor's sanction/s will apply. If you do challenge any part of the referral, then your referral will be forwarded to the Honor Committee for review.
Being referred to us does not prove that you did anything wrong. Instead, it means only that, based on the circumstances surrounding your assignment/s, your professor believes there is something worth examining closer.
George Mason University faculty are required to refer all suspected academic integrity violations to the appropriate academic integrity office. For the George Mason University | Korea campus, that office is the Committee of Academic Integrity.
If you do not meet with us, we may place a hold on your account and the referral will be automatically forwarded to the Honor Committee for review.
George Mason University | Korea faculty are required to refer all suspected academic integrity violations to us. If your professor accuses you of an academic integrity violation and directly punishes you for it, please contact us at mkcai@gmu.edu.
Yes, FERPA applies to your academic integrity records. Thus, you hold the right to access them. You may also use a FERPA waiver to allow someone else access to your records. Please see Section 8 of the George Mason University | Korea Honor Code for more information about our records.
For Faculty
You must submit all suspected academic integrity violations to us. This requirement helps protect your student's right to due process, and it enables us to accurately maintain records.
Pertinently, you must recommend at least one sanction during the referral process. If you believe the alleged violation is ultimately a small issue, you may reflect that in the severity of your sanction recommendation/s.
Please see our Honor Code Sanction Recommendations.
Once we receive a referral, we review all submitted materials to determine whether to proceed with the referral process or dismiss the matter.
If we decide to proceed with the referral process, one of our advisors will contact the referred student via his or her Mason email account to schedule a prehearing meeting. At the prehearing, we will explain to the student (a) why he or she was referred to us, and (b) his or her options for responding to the referral. Then, after hearing all of that information, the student decides how to proceed.
A student may potentially respond to the referral in one of three ways: accepting responsibility, denying responsibility, or accepting responsibility and challenging your recommended sanction/s. However, responses typically boil down to accepting or denying responsibility. This is because the third option requires in part that some situation existed that left the student no other alternative other than to do the improper action. If the student accepts responsibility, the matter is concluded and your sanction/s will apply. If the student challenges any part of the referral, then the referral will be forwarded to the Honor Committee for review.
If the outcome of the decision may affect your student's grade, please use the HC (Honor Committee) grade designation in Patriot Web. That designation will result in an NR (Not Reported) on that student's record. Once a final decision is eventually made, you will need to update that student's grade using a Change of Grade form.
The Change of Grade form is available to local faculty in the Mason Korea Office of Academic Affairs. If you are a distance Fairfax faculty, then please check with the Office of the University Registrar or your department.