Honor
Code Constitution
of the students of the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine
Honor Code Violation Petition
Honor Committee
Preamble
To promote a cohesive bond of trust and a stronger sense of mutual responsibility,
respect, and fairness among all members of the University of Illinois College
of Medicine at Chicago community and with the desire to instill a collective
reverence for the ideals of honorable and professional behavior, we, the students
of University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago, have set forth the
following Honor Code:
Upon matriculation I become a member of the medical profession. My patients,
colleagues, and teachers will expect me to maintain and promote the ethical
standards that my chosen profession embodies. As a student enrolled at the
University of Illinois College of Medicine, my actions at all times and in
all places reflect on the College of Medicine and m
new position and responsibilities within society and the student body as enumerated in the following Code:
Code
I. I shall be dedicated to learning the art and the science of medicine, and shall pursue this endeavor with compassion and with respect for human dignity;
II. I shall approach the study of medicine with the utmost academic integrity and deal honestly with patients and members of the health care team;
III. I shall respect the rights of patients, their families, and members of the health care team;
IV. I shall demonstrate respect and consideration for my fellow students, faculty, and staff in word and deed;
V. I shall respect the directives of my superiors. However, I will question decisions that may be contrary to the wishes or best interests of the patient;
VI. I shall not create a false impression of my knowledge or ability, nor allow patients or their families to believe that I am anything other than a medical student;
VII. I shall safeguard patient confidences within the constraints of the law and inform my patients when I am unable to maintain their confidentiality;
VIII. I shall neither accept patient care responsibility nor perform any action without proper supervision; I shall ask for supervision when appropriate and request assistance when necessary;
IX. I shall serve patients to the best of my ability regardless of diagnosis, race, gender, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, age, socioeconomic status, religion, or political beliefs;
X. I shall not allow competitiveness with colleagues to adversely affect patient care;
XI. I shall assist impaired colleagues in seeking professional help and accept such help if I am impaired;
XII. I shall allow my colleagues fair and equal access to educational materials and not strive to create an unfair advantage over my colleagues;
XIII. I shall abide by all commonly understood principles of academic honesty.
This includes, but is not limited to:
* I shall not provide to, or receive from another person, any impermissible
assistance on any academic exercise;
* I shall not intentionally falsify, reproduce, use without attribution, or
invent any information or citation in an academic or clinical setting;
* I shall not offer bribes or favors to, or threats against, any person with
the intention of affecting a grade or evaluation of academic performance;
* I shall not take an examination by proxy;
* I shall not attempt to change my grades in an unauthorized manner;
XIV. In addition to abiding by the above principles, I shall seek to promote
these virtues in my colleagues.
In recognition of the need to define formally the role of the Honor Committee
as a supervisory body of the Honor Code, we hereby establish this Constitution
of the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago Honor Committee.
Article I. Purpose and Derivation of Authority
The Honor Committee, acting with the authority which has been delegated to it by the medical student community, shall embody the interests and attitudes of the current student generation of the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine at Chicago and the medical community at large in performing those functions necessary and proper to uphold and to promote the Honor Code. It is the intent of the Honor Committee to work in conjunction with the processes already in place to deal with the academic evaluation and/or discipline of students as carried out by the College Committee on Student Promotions and the UIC Senate Committee on Student Discipline. As such, the only sanctions that may be imposed solely by the Honor Committee are the reprimand of a student and/or the recommendation for further action by the other said committees.
Article II. Powers
The Honor Committee shall:
(1) Determine and publicize what constitutes an Honor Code violation;
(2) Conduct hearings on alleged Honor Code violations;
(3) Determine whether there is an infraction or no infraction;
(4) In the event of finding no infraction, terminate the case and exonerate
the accused student;
(5) In the event of finding an Honor Code infraction, the Honor Committee
will issue one of the following:
a.) issue an oral and or written reprimand without informing the Administration
b.) submit a written recommendation to the Senior Associate Dean for Educational
Affairs that further action be taken by the Student Advancement Committee,
College Committee on Student Promotions, and/or UIC Senate Committee on Student
Discipline, and furthermore recommending a specific sanction;
(6) Record Honor Code violations and accusations (keeping identifying information
anonymous), with records kept by the Honor Committee and such announcements
made by the Honor Committee purged of identifying information beforehand;
unexpurgated records shall be retained by the Associate Dean for Student Affairs
in a sealed envelope in the student's personal file; except as required by
law or legal process, only the student and/or designees identified by the
student in writing will be granted access to the contents of the envelope;
(7) Establish programs, policies, and guidelines for the operation and maintenance
of the Honor Code; and
(8) Inform present and prospective students and faculty of the philosophy
and operation of the Honor Code.
Article III. Structure
Section 1. The Honor Committee shall consist of two elected representative
members from each class of the University of Illinois at Chicago College of
Medicine at Chicago. In addition, one alternate shall be elected from each
class to substitute for an absent member as the need arises. Each member shall
have one vote, and each elected alternate shall vote only in the place of
an absent elected representative member. There will be two elected members
and one elected alternate from each class. M1, M2, and M4 members will serve
only one year and the M3 members will serve two years. Thereafter, each M1
and M2 member and each M1 and M2 alternate shall serve a one-year term, and
each M3 member and M3 alternate shall serve a two-year term spanning the M3
and M4 years.
Section 2. The Honor Committee, by a majority vote, shall elect from among
its members a Chairman and two Vice-Chairmen. The Chairman or Vice Chair shall
preside at all Honor Committee meetings. The officers shall also perform other
duties assigned to them.
Section 3. The Honor Committee may provide for the selection of other officers
when it is deemed appropriate.
Section 4. Honor Committee officers may be removed from their positions as
Honor Committee officers by two-thirds vote of the Honor Committee.
Section 5. A quorum shall consist of two-thirds of the Honor Committee. Meetings
may be called by the Chairman or by request of two of its members.
Section 6. Except as otherwise provided in this constitution or bylaws adopted
under it, meetings shall be conducted in accordance with the latest edition
of Robert's Rules of Order.
Article IV. Election and Removal
Section 1. Honor Committee elections shall be conducted at the time of class
officer elections. Those elected shall take office the first Monday after
elections.
Section 2. An Honor Committee member or alternate may be recalled by a majority
vote in his or her class within a reasonable time after its receipt of a recall
petition signed by at least ten percent of the students in the class.
Section 3. A vacancy shall be filled by another election within a reasonable
time.
Section 4. The College of Medicine Student Council (CMSC) shall administer
all Honor Committee elections.
Article V. Rights of the Accused
Section 1. Every student accused of an honor violation shall have the right:
(1) To respond to the accusation(s) against him or her through a hearing process
to be conducted by an impartial hearing panel. That panel shall consist, at
the accused student's election, of either:
(a) Six Honor Committee members. The Honor Committee may, if deemed necessary
by a majority vote of its members, recuse itself from panel duties if serving
as such would not be in the best interest of the hearing; or
(b) Six eligible Student Jurors with one non-voting Honor Committee member:
(i) The six voting members shall consist of persons randomly drawn from a
pool of eligible students and the one non-voting Honor Committee member shall
serve as a facilitator only;
(ii) There shall be at least two voting Jurors from the class of the accused,
and no voting panel member is to be presently a member of the Honor Committee
or its alternates nor shall any voting member have any direct knowledge of
the incidents which lead to the accusations themselves;
(iii) In order to gain eligibility as prospective Student Jurors, students
from each class shall be required to register for and complete a Student Juror
training program held at the beginning of each academic year;
(2) To an impartial group of student jurors, the hearing panel will be asked
prior to the hearing if they will be able to deliberate and rule impartially
on the case at issue. If the answer is no, members of the Honor Committee
will be replaced by other members or alternates and Student Jurors will be
replaced by other Student Jurors. The accused student will then be sent a
list of proposed members of the hearing committee and may challenge the empaneling
of no more than two students. Any members of the Honor Committee refused by
the accused student will be replaced by alternate members of the Honor Committee.
If no members or alternates remain due to prior recusal, or if replacement
members or alternates are unavailable, Student Jurors will serve as replacements.
Alternative Student Jurors will also replace refused Student Jurors. If the
accused student uses one challenge in the first round, he or she may object
to one of the replacements, but the total of objections in both rounds shall
not exceed two. In this round, the same rules for replacing the refused panel
member shall be followed. After two challenges are exhausted, the accused
student may not challenge the empaneling of any further substitutes.
(3) To be advised in writing of the nature of the accusation:
(a) In order for a hearing to proceed based upon the allegations of a violation
of the Honor Code, the person who reported the allegation must fill out a
complaint form and the reporter must provide a witness or have witnessed the
event;
(b) The Complaint shall explain, with as much specificity as possible, the
nature of the violation, the date, time and location of the actions at issue,
and the names of any other persons who witnessed the said actions;
(c) The accused student shall be sent a copy of the complaint within ten business
days of receipt of same and with sufficient time to prepare for the hearing
on said complaint;
(4) To be informed of the nature of the evidence to be used against him or
her;
(5) To have all proceedings against him or her held privately with only those
persons in attendance as specified herein;
(6) To be given at least ten business days to prepare for a hearing before
the hearing panel, with all proceedings to be completed no later than 40 business
days from the date of the alleged incident;
(7) To be represented by a member of the Honor Committee or alternate as an
advocate to serve as an advisor on the rules of the proceedings, but with
no speaking part in the proceedings;
(8) To address the allegations against him or her;
(9) To refuse to speak against himself or herself without that refusal constituting
an admission of guilt; and
(10) In the event the student is issued a reprimand and does not agree with
the said decision, to have the matter forwarded to the appropriate administrative
body (UIC Senate Committee on Student Discipline, and/or the College Committee
on Student Promotions or the Student Advancement Committee) for a determination
of the original allegations through the established processes.
Section 2. All records kept by the Honor Committee of the proceedings against
a student not found to have committed an honor code violation shall be purged
of the student's identity after resolution of the case. Unexpurgated copies
of said records shall be retained by the Associate Dean for Student Affairs
in a sealed envelope in the student's personal file. Except as required by
law or legal process, only the student and/or designees identified by the
student in writing will be granted access to the contents of the envelope.
Article VI. Responsibilities of the Complainant
Every student who formally alleges an Honor Code violation by a fellow student:
(1) Will be required to:
(a) Lodge the complaint in writing to the Honor Committee; and
(b) Include in the complaint a description of steps taken to resolve the complaint
with the accused student or an explanation of why they feel that such interpersonal
resolution could not be undertaken.
(2) Will receive a written response to their complaint from the Honor Committee
within 10 days of receipt of the complaint that could indicate any of the
following decisions:
(a) The Honor Committee will hear the complaint and notify the accused student;
(b) The Honor Committee believes that the complaint lacks sufficient basis
to generate a hearing; or
(c) A further attempt at interpersonal resolution should be attempted before
the Honor Committee would consider a hearing.
(d) Both B and C
(3) Should recognize that complaints found to be without merit and malicious
in nature will be considered by the Honor Committee to be in violation of
the Honor Code and will subject the complainant to investigation and a possible
hearing by the Honor Committee.
Article VII. Hearing Guidelines
Section 1. Hearings under the University of Illinois College of Medicine
at Chicago Honor System are non-adversarial proceedings. It is the responsibility
of the hearing panel as the fact finding body to conduct any necessary investigation,
listen to the evidence presented to it, ask all relevant questions, to determine
the relevance of all evidence, to render decisions based only on the evidence,
and to impose sanctions (in the form of a reprimand and/or recommendation
for further action as set forth herein) where necessary.
Section 2. Basic concepts of fairness shall govern all procedures. The hearing
shall have the following objectives:
(1) Inform the accused of the charges;
(2) Determine the facts of the case;
(3) Determine if
(a) violation(s) of the Honor Code was/were committed and
(b) were intentional
(4) Determine the appropriate action to be taken in response to the complaint,
if any, based upon the facts, as determined at the hearing.
Section 3. Participation in all hearings is closed except for the following
individuals: members of the hearing panel, the hearing chair, the complainant,
the accused, previously recognized witnesses, and the accused student's chosen
advisor as stipulated in Article V, Section 1.
Section 4. If an accused student, having been provided written notice, fails
to appear at a hearing, and if further administrative involvement is judged
to be warranted solely on the basis of the complaint lodged with the Honor
Committee, the original complainant will be advised to lodge a formal complaint
with the Senior Associate Dean for Educational Affairs.
Article VIII. Hearing Format
The hearing is not conducted as a formal judicial proceeding, and strict
rules of evidence are not followed. Hearings will be lead by the hearing Chair,
who is either the Chair or the Vice Chair of the Honor Committee. Hearings
will follow the sequence below. Changes to the hearing format can be made
by the hearing chair to accommodate unusual circumstances of an emergent or
serious nature.
(1) The Chair of the Honor Committee or Acting Chair of a panel will convene
the hearing by reading the charge(s) as contained in the complaint and requesting
that all persons present state their identity;
(2) The complainant and the accused may each make an opening statement for
the purpose of providing the hearing panel with a short summary of the incident
and the evidence to be presented;
(3) The complainant may present evidence in support of the charge(s). Evidence
may take the form of witnesses, affidavits, written reports and memoranda,
or objects related to the incident(s). Members of the hearing panel may question
the complainant and the witnesses. When the hearing panel members have completed
questioning the complainant and witnesses, the accused may then question the
complainant and witnesses. Questions must be directed through the hearing
Chair;
(4) The accused may present evidence. Evidence may take the form described
above. Members of the hearing panel may question either the accused or the
witnesses. When the hearing panel has completed questioning the accused and
witnesses, the complainant may then question the accused and witnesses. The
complaintant's questions to the accused or witnesses must be directed through
the hearing Chair;
(5) The hearing panel members may recall any witnesses they choose to question
further and may, through the Chair, refuse to hear or consider any individual,
evidence, or testimony that does not, in the opinion of the hearing panel's
discretion, contribute to the issue(s) or which is/are disruptive to the proceedings;
(6) The complainant and the accused may each make a brief closing statement.
The closing statement should be a short summary of the evidence and testimony
presented;
(7) The hearing panel will then enter executive session to determine whether
the charge(s) have been proven. The executive session will begin with the
hearing panel reviewing the evidence presented in the hearing. The hearing
panel will also consider any sanctions imposed on the accused based upon previous
Honor Code violations. The review of any previous sanction will include all
penalties affixed as a result of administrative action, through the Judicial
Liaison Process, through the UIC Senate Committee on Student Discipline, through
the College Committee
on Student Promotions and through the University of Illinois College of Medicine
at Chicago Honor System;
(8) No student shall be found to have committed an Honor Code violation unless:
(a) The preponderance of evidence against him or her supports an accusation
of infraction to the unanimous satisfaction of the hearing panel, and furthermore
that said infraction was intentional; and
(b) The intentional act is of such character that open tolerance thereof would
be inconsistent with the community of trust and/or would undermine commonly
understood expectations of honorable and/or professional behavior as more
fully set forth in the Honor Code, to the unanimous satisfaction of the hearing
panel;
(9) The hearing panel shall take one vote on each of the following:
(a) If a violation occurred
(b) whether it was intentional
(c) and on the criterion of seriousness
(10) If a unanimous determination has been made that the act occurred, and
a second unanimous determination has been made that it was intentional and
of such a serious nature as to warrant a sanction, the hearing panel shall
have two options:
(a) The hearing panel may issue an oral and written reprimand to the accused,
with a decision that further action is unnecessary; or
(b) The hearing panel may determine that the action was of such a serious
nature as to warrant further action by the appropriate administrative body.
If such a determination is made, the hearing panel shall prepare and submit
a written report of the findings of the hearing along with a recommendation
for action to be taken by the appropriate body;
(11) If the hearing panel cannot unanimously agree that an Honor Code violation
has occurred, the accused student will be found not to have committed an Honor
Code violation;
(12) If the hearing panel unanimously finds that an Honor Code violation has
occurred, but cannot unanimously agree that it was intentional and of such
a serious nature as to warrant a sanction, the hearing panel may choose to
issue an oral and written reprimand to the accused, with the understanding
that further action will not be taken;
(13) A record of the hearing shall consist of a written summary of the proceedings;
the use of recording devices during the proceedings is prohibited.
(14) No character witnesses shall be allowed (Not Ratified, CMSC recommended
two witnesses).
Article IX. Recommendations of Sanction
The hearing panel, in the event of a finding of infraction, may recommend
one or more of the following penalties:
(1) Exclusion. Exclusion from the College, University, and Campus, including
termination of all rights and status as a student without readmission rights;
(2) Dismissal. Exclusion from the College, University, and Campus for a specified
period, with the right to apply for readmission at the end of the period.
Readmission is not automatic, and each case shall be reviewed by the appropriate
administrative body;
(3) Suspension. Exclusion from the College, University, and Campus for a specified
period with the right to reenter the College, University, or Campus or the
reinstatement of privileges after the specified period. Suspension does not
require readmission;
(4) Probation. Disciplinary probation may impose conditions on the student
for a specified time and may be taken into consideration in case of future
hearings. Should the student violate the terms of probation, the hearing panel
shall meet and specify further disciplinary action (which may include exclusion,
dismissal, or suspension). ( Our original word here was expulsion, CMSC found
typo and ratified it as exclusion).The hearing panel may also choose to outline
in the language describing the details of the probation the consequences for
non-compliance;
(5) Recommended Counseling. A recommendation that the student participate
in personal counseling sessions. These sessions may be provided by the University
or by a non-University affiliated counselor of the student's choosing. The
counselor must be a licensed professional. The hearing panel reserves the
right to recommend substitute sanctions when the student does not meet the
conditions outlined in the sanction previously recommended. The number of
counseling sessions in which the student must participate is at the discretion
of the student's counselor;
(6) Developmental Sanction. An assigned task or tasks recommended by the hearing
panel to be appropriate to the violation. Sanctions of this type may include
but are not limited to: community service, involvement with an established
University program or committee.
(7) Reprimand. A written censure issued to the student by the appropriate
administrative body; and
(8) Warning. A written admonition issued to the student by the appropriate
administrative body.
Article X. Appeals
Any recommendation of the hearing panel for a specific sanction will be submitted to the Senior Associate Dean for Educational Affairs, who may then forward the recommendation to the Student Advancement Committee, College Committee on Student Promotions, and/or UIC Senate Committee on Student Discipline. A student who is reprimanded under the Honor System who wishes to dispute the reprimand may have his or her case reviewed by the Student Advancement Committee, College Committee on Student Promotions, or UIC Senate Committee on Student Discipline. This review shall constitute an appeal of the decision of the hearing panel, and if the relevant administrative body disagrees with the hearing panel's finding of infraction, the letter of reprimand will be removed from the student's personal file. The remainder of the record of the student's hearing shall be retained by the Associate Dean for Student Affairs in a sealed envelope in the student's personal file. Except as required by law or legal process, only the student and/or designees identified by the student in writing will be granted access to the contents of the envelope.
Article XI. By-Laws
Honor Committee by-laws shall be consistent with this constitution and shall be adopted by a majority vote of the entire Honor Committee.
Article XII. Ammendments
Amendments or succeeding constitutions may be proposed by vote of two-thirds of the entire Honor Committee or by a petition signed by ten percent of the entire student body and shall take effect upon ratification by two-thirds of the voting membership of the College of Medicine Student Council.
Article XIII. Ratification
This constitution shall take effect upon ratification by majority vote of
the College of Medicine Student Council.
Ratified by the College of Medicine Student Council on 29 January 2001
Ratified by the College of Medicine Student Council on 25 April 2005