Ethics & Professionalism

Since it is a responsibility of the University and The Teachers College to instill and develop professional and ethical attitudes and practices in its candidates for certification as educational professionals, the department sets forth the following position on student behavior that is academically dishonest, belligerent, disruptive of order in the learning environment, or abusive of classmates, students, colleagues, or teachers. Such behavior will be considered unethical and/or unprofessional in the developing candidate for certification. These are specific examples:

• Academic dishonesty shall be interpreted to include all cases in which students attempt to claim as their own the work of others (fellow classmates, authors [published or unpublished], visual or graphic representations, computer or media applications, etc.) without giving appropriate credit to the author or originator of the idea. Cheating and plagiarism are considered serious breaches of ethics.
  
• Behavior or use of language or images that are belligerent, offensive, disruptive of the learning environment, disrespectful, or abusive of classmates, students, colleagues, or teachers in both face to face and online settings is considered inappropriate and a serious breach of professional behavior.

In accordance with policy stated in the University Policy Handbook, faculty members may make the disposition of any cases of disruptive behavior, excessive absenteeism, or academic dishonesty within their classes as they deem appropriate. Following such cases, the faculty member shall make available to the chair of the department and to the office of the Vice President for Student Affairs a record of such student absenteeism or disruptive behavior and the action taken by the faculty member (3D.08 STUDENT CONDUCT [FSB 01011 approved by President, 4/29/02]).

Further, the Chair of the Department, the Director of Secondary Education, and/or the Associate Director of Secondary Education shall cause a file to be maintained of such offenses. If a student exhibits two or more instances of such inappropriate behavior before admission to Phase I, it is possible that student will not be admitted to Phase I of the secondary education teacher preparation program. An offense during or after Phase I shall be deemed sufficient cause to warrant a hearing before the Admissions Committee. The Committee may take a variety of actions including refusing admission or postponing the admission to Phase II and/or the assignment to student teaching.

Effective: August 22, 1994
Reaffirmed by SL/MSTE: November 9, 1998
Updated and reaffirmed by SL/MSTE: October 17, 2018