Faculty Handbook

Definitions

Last updated: 6/19/2009

VI. RESEARCH AND CREATIVE ENDEAVOR (Cont.)

PROCEDURES CONCERNING ALLEGATIONS OF MISCONDUCT 
IN RESEARCH AND CREATIVE ACTIVITIES  (Cont.)

These Procedures were approved by the Board of Trustees on April 11, 1997 and revised June 28, 2002 and June 19, 2009. 
I. Definitions

  1. "Advisor" means a member of the University community secured by a Complainant to serve as an advisor to the Complainant in Misconduct Proceedings arising from an Allegation made by the Complainant.
  2. "Allegation" means a disclosure of possible Misconduct by a Respondent to the RIO by any means of communication.
  3. "Bad Faith" means a material and demonstrable failure to meet the standards for Good Faith set forth herein as a Complainant, a witness, a Review Panel member, an Inquiry Panel member, an Investigative Committee member, the Responsible Administrator, or the RIO.  The context in which actions have occurred is a relevant and important factor to be taken into account in determining whether an individual has acted in Bad Faith.
  4. "Complainant" means a person who makes an Allegation. A Complainant need not be a member of the University community.
  5. "Conflict of Interest" means any personal, professional, or financial relationship that influences or reasonably would be perceived to influence the impartial performance of a duty assigned under these Procedures by any of the following: a member of an Inquiry Panel, Investigative Committee, or a Review Panel, the Responsible Administrator, the RIO, the VPRGS, or the President.
  6. "Counsel" means lay or legal counsel secured by a Respondent to serve as an advisor to the Respondent in Misconduct Proceedings against the Respondent.
  7. "Creative Activities" means the preparation or creation of computer programs, websites, motion pictures, sound recordings, and literary, pictorial, musical, dramatic, audiovisual, choreographic, sculptural, architectural, and graphic works of any kind by (1) a faculty member or other employee of the University as part of her or his noninstructional scholarly activities, or (2) a student in fulfillment of any independent study requirement at the University whose product is intended to be an original scholarly or creative work of potentially publishable quality (including, without being limited to, a master's or doctoral thesis).
  8. "Evidence" means any document, tangible item, or testimony that is received, or that may be offered, as evidence during a Misconduct Proceeding to prove or disprove the existence of a fact relevant to the Allegation at issue in that Misconduct Proceeding.  This could include, depending on the Allegation, materials such as:
    • proposals, grant applications, and comments thereon,
    • relevant research data and related records,
    • laboratory notebooks and computer files,
    • telephone logs and memos of calls,
    • correspondence, or
    • manuscripts, posters, publications, and tapes of oral presentations.
  9. "Fabrication" means making up Research data or results and recording or reporting them.
  10. "Falsification" means manipulating Research materials, equipment, or processes, or changing or omitting Research data or results, such that Research is not accurately represented in the Research Record.
  11. "Good Faith" as applied to a Complainant or witness, means having a belief in the truth of one's Allegation or testimony that a reasonable person in the Complainant's or witness's position could have based on the information known to the Complainant or witness at the time.  An Allegation or cooperation with a Misconduct Proceeding is not in Good Faith if made with a knowing or reckless disregard for information that would negate the Allegation or testimony.  Good Faith as applied to an Inquiry Panel member, an Investigative Committee member, a Review Panel member, the Responsible Administrator, or the RIO means cooperating with the Misconduct Proceeding by impartially carrying out the duties assigned under these Procedures for the purpose of helping the University meet its responsibilities for research integrity.  An Inquiry Panel member, an Investigative Committee member, a Review Panel member, the Responsible Administrator, or the RIO does not act in Good Faith if his or her acts or omissions in carrying out any such duty are dishonest or influenced by a Conflict of Interest.
  12. "Inquiry" means information gathering and initial fact finding to determine whether an Allegation warrants an Investigation.
  13. "Inquiry Panel" means a group of at least three persons appointed by the Responsible Administrator to conduct an Inquiry.
  14. "Investigation" means the formal, thorough examination and evaluation of all facts relevant to an Allegation to determine if Misconduct occurred and to assess its extent, gravity, and actual and potential consequences.
  15. "Investigative Committee" means a group of at least three persons appointed by the Responsible Administrator to conduct an Investigation.
  16. "Misconduct" means Fabrication, Falsification, Plagiarism, or any other practice that seriously deviates from practices commonly accepted in the discipline or in the academic and research communities generally in proposing, performing, reviewing, or reporting Research and Creative Activities. Misconduct does not include appropriative practices in the Creative Arts insofar as they accord with accepted standards in the relevant discipline.  Misconduct does not include honest error or honest differences in the interpretation or judgment of Research data.
  17. "Misconduct Proceeding" means any proceeding under these Procedures related to the review of an Allegation, including Preliminary Assessments, Inquiries, Investigations, and internal appeals.
  18. "Misconduct Proceeding Records" means:  (1) Evidence secured for any Misconduct Proceeding; (2) a record of the RIO's review of other documents, tangible items, and testimony received or secured by the RIO in connection with that Misconduct Proceeding but determined by the RIO to be irrelevant to the Allegation at issue in the Misconduct Proceeding or to duplicate Evidence that has been retained; (3) the Preliminary Assessment report or referral and final (not draft) documents produced in the course of preparing that report or referral, including any other documentation of a decision that an Inquiry is not warranted; (4) the Inquiry report and final (not draft) documents produced in the course of preparing that report, including any other documentation of a decision that an Investigation is not warranted; (5) the Investigation report and all records (other than drafts of the Investigation report) in support of that report, including the transcripts of each interview or hearing conducted during an Investigation; (6) the complete record of an internal appeal (see Section IX below) from a finding of Misconduct; and (7) the complete record of any challenge or review under Section II(l) below.
  19. "Plagiarism" means the appropriation of another person's ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit.
  20. "Preliminary Assessment" means initial information gathering to determine whether there is credible Evidence to support further review of an  Allegation  and whether the Respondent's alleged conduct could constitute Misconduct or Unacceptable Research Practices.
  21. "Preponderance of the Evidence" means proof by Evidence that, compared with that opposing it, leads to the conclusion that the fact at issue is more probably true than not.
  22. "Procedures" means these Procedures Concerning Allegations of Misconduct in Research and Creative Activities.
  23. "Questionable Research Practices" means practices that do not constitute Misconduct or Unacceptable Research Practices but that require attention because they could erode confidence in the integrity of Research or Creative Activities.
  24. "Research" means formal investigation conducted for the purpose of producing or contributing to generalizable knowledge, and the reporting thereof, by (1) a faculty member or other employee of the University as part of his or her noninstructional scholarly activities, or (2) a student in fulfillment of any independent study requirement at the University whose product is intended to be an original scholarly or creative work of potentially publishable quality (including, without being limited to, a master's or doctoral thesis).
  25. "RIO" means the University's Research Integrity Officer.
  26. "Respondent" means a person who is the subject of an Allegation.  A Respondent must be an employee of the University or a student at the University, or must have been an employee or a student at the time the Misconduct allegedly occurred.
  27. "Responsible Administrator" means the administrator who has most immediate responsibility for the Respondent and who is not disqualified from serving as Responsible Administrator by a Conflict of Interest. The RIO shall identify the Responsible Administrator. If the Responsible Administrator is a dean or the VPRGS, she or he may designate a subordinate to act as Responsible Administrator. If the Respondent is a student, the Responsible Administrator shall be the chairperson of the department with which the student is affiliated. If an Allegation involves multiple Respondents, the RIO shall identify an appropriate individual as the Responsible Administrator.
  28. "Research Record" means the record of data or results from scholarly inquiry, including, without being limited to, research proposals, laboratory records, both physical and electronic, progress reports, abstracts, theses, oral presentations, internal reports, journal articles, books, and other publications of any kind in any media and any material in any media necessary to support the content of any such document, presentation, or publication.
  29. "Retaliation" means an adverse action taken against an individual who has, in Good Faith, participated in a Misconduct Proceeding (as Complainant, witness, Review Panel member, Inquiry Panel member, Investigative Committee member, Counsel, Advisor, Responsible Administrator, or RIO) or otherwise cooperated in the review of an Allegation under these Procedures, where there is a clear causal link between the participation or cooperation and the adverse action.  The context in which an adverse action has occurred, including its materiality, is a relevant and important factor to be taken into account in determining whether it constitutes Retaliation.
  30. "Review Panel" means a body described in Section II(l) below.
  31. "UGC" means the University Graduate Council.
  32. "Unacceptable Research Practices" means practices that do not constitute Misconduct but that violate applicable laws, regulations, or other governmental requirements, or University rules or policies, of which the Respondent had received notice or of which the Respondent reasonably should have been aware, for proposing, performing, reviewing, or reporting Research or Creative Activities.
  33. "VPRGS" means the University's Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies.
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