Valdosta State University.

What the Academic Integrity Code and the Student Code of Conduct say about how cases proceed

Who may be present

For a disciplinary-committee hearing (reached when a matter is referred beyond the instructor's own academic response), "[t]he notification will inform the accused student and/or organization/group that an advisor of their choosing may accompany them," though "[t]he advisor is not there to represent the student … before the disciplinary committee" and may only "advise the student … in their response to the committee." "An audio recording of the hearing will be made," kept on file by the Office of Student Conduct & Title IX. — Student Code of Conduct, 2026–2027 · Student Code of Conduct (PDF)

What follows on the record

No transcript-notation provision for an academic-integrity or conduct sanction was located; the Code instead lists "holding transcripts" (withholding release, an administrative restriction, not a permanent notation) among possible interim or sanction-linked restrictions. Disciplinary records, including "incident reports; final reports; evidence … formal hearing notes; final summary statements; decision statements; appeals documentation," are retained "five (5) years after graduation … or date of last attendance" under Board of Regents policy. — Student Code of Conduct, 2026–2027 · Student Code of Conduct (PDF)

The two questions an adviser raises first, answered from this institution's own published documents — or recorded as not stated in them.

VSU runs two linked tracks. The Academic Integrity Code (Appendix A to the Student Code of Conduct; no on-page date beyond a 2023 footer copyright) assigns the first response to the instructor, who must "(1) gather all pertinent information, (2) meet with the student or students involved, and (3) inform the student or students of the academic response," and may issue up to "a grade of ‘F’ in that course" — the most severe academic response any faculty member may impose alone. The instructor "should notify their department head and/or dean," and a Report of Academic Dishonesty is filed with the Office of Student Conduct & Title IX regardless of the academic outcome; a student "may not exercise the right to withdraw from a class to avoid academic dishonesty penalties." A student disputing the grade itself uses the Registrar's Student Grade Appeal Form; no deadline for that form is stated in the sources reviewed.

Where a case escalates to the conduct track — a second or subsequent report, or a particularly serious allegation referred directly — the Student Code of Conduct (last reviewed and revised July 30, 2026) governs. The respondent may choose an Administrative Hearing or the Student Conduct Committee; suspension- or expulsion-eligible cases go to the Committee. "Formal civil rules of evidence do not apply," and "[t]he standard of review shall be a preponderance of the evidence … whether it is more likely than not that the violation in question did occur," though "any decision to suspend or to expel a student must also be supported by substantial evidence at the hearing." A written decision follows by VSU email, including "details on how to appeal." Appeal grounds are limited to new information unavailable at the hearing, procedural error, or a finding against the weight of the evidence; appeals go to the Dean of Students "within five (5) business days" of the decision letter and are "a review of the record only," decided "within ten (10) business days." The Dean's decision "shall be the final decision of the institution," with further review available only through the Board of Regents' Discretionary Review policy. Source: Resolution of Academic Integrity Misconduct and the Student Code of Conduct (PDF). What these quotations mean for any particular case is for the institution and its process to determine; they are reproduced so you can read the originals in context.

Revision history of this page

2026-10-13 — Page created. Cold build (no prior CANDIDATES.md/procedure-facts research). All quotations retrieved this date. The Student Code of Conduct (PDF) carries its own statement, "This Student Code of Conduct was last reviewed and revised on July 30, 2026"; the AI Acceptable Use policy (PDF) carries its own "Date Approved 10/16/2025," with a logged 02/27/2026 revision approved by USG 04/16/2026; the Academic Integrity Code and Resolution-of-Academic-Misconduct pages, and both Turnitin pages, show no on-page date beyond a 2023 site-wide footer copyright. Named-vendor sweep (Turnitin and its AI writing indicator specifically, SimCheck, Originality, Copyleaks, iThenticate, GPTZero, Originality.ai, Winston AI, Crossplag, ZeroGPT, Packback, Grammarly Authorship, Honorlock, Proctorio, Respondus, Examity) found only Turnitin, described on VSU's own pages as similarity/originality checking with no AI-writing feature named. Category sweep covered the Academic Integrity Code, the AI Acceptable Use policy in full (13 pages), and the AI Literacy Library Guide's landing page; none named a detector beyond the material in section 01. GENUINE UNRESOLVED INVENTORY, NOT A DISQUALIFICATION: the AI Acceptable Use policy directs instructors to disclose in their syllabus if they personally use "AI detection software," which establishes that detection is contemplated at the instructor level and requires disclosure, but names no specific tool and does not state whether any instructor has turned one on; it also references a University AI Tool Inventory that is gated behind Active Directory login and could not be read — listed by link only, nothing quoted from it. Two-track process captured: the academic response (instructor-level, capped at a course "F," reported to Student Conduct & Title IX regardless of outcome, appealed only via the Registrar's Grade Appeal Form with no stated deadline) and the conduct response (Administrative Hearing or Conduct Committee, preponderance standard with a substantial-evidence floor for suspension/expulsion, audio-recorded hearings, advisor present to advise only, five-business-day appeal window to the Dean of Students, Board of Regents Discretionary Review as the only further step). Transcript notation: searched specifically ("transcript," "notation," "disciplinary hold") across the full 2,123-line extracted Code; the only transcript-adjacent provision found is "holding transcripts" as an administrative/sanction restriction (withholding release), not a notation placed on the document itself, and that distinction is stated on the page rather than assumed. Records retention quoted directly from the Code's own Disciplinary Records Retention Policy section. Ombuds/advocacy search ("ombuds," "ombudsperson," "student advocacy," "advocate") found nothing on valdosta.edu, including a full-text search of the Code itself, which uses "advisor" throughout but never "ombuds" or "advocate." Office contact: the Code's cover page states the Office of Student Conduct & Title IX's location and phone directly; no general office email is published on the pages read this pass (only individual staff emails tied to Title IX reporting specifically, which are not substituted here for a general academic-integrity contact). Deliberately not used: individual staff names and direct emails tied to Title IX intake specifically, since the docket calls for the office's own published general contact, not an inferred individual one. Nothing paraphrase-pending. Archive captures pending. Reviewer: Carrie Schluter (review confirmed 2026-10-14).

2026-10-14 — Internet Archive captures requested this date by an automated capture pass; no human review is claimed for this entry. No quotation, date, finding or link above was changed by it. Each capture below was requested through Save Page Now and then confirmed to play back. Captures added: Academic Honesty Tools at VSU → https://web.archive.org/web/20261014043333/https://www.valdosta.edu/academics/academic-affairs/academic-honesty-tools.php; Turnitin — Center for eLearning → https://web.archive.org/web/20261014043455/https://www.valdosta.edu/academics/elearning/turnitin.php; Student Code of Conduct (PDF) → https://web.archive.org/web/20261014043526/https://www.valdosta.edu/administration/enrollment-student-affairs/student-conduct-office/student-code-of-conduct/student-code-of-conduct-ay-2026_2027.pdf; Artificial Intelligence Acceptable Use → https://web.archive.org/web/20261014043642/https://www.valdosta.edu/administration/policies/documents/ai-acceptable-use.pdf; valdosta.edu/administration/student-affairs/student-conduct-office → https://web.archive.org/web/20261014043705/https://www.valdosta.edu/administration/student-affairs/student-conduct-office/; valdosta.edu — Academic Integrity Code → https://web.archive.org/web/20261014043738/https://www.valdosta.edu/administration/student-affairs/student-conduct-office/student-code-of-conduct/appendix-a-academic-integrity/academic-integrity-code.php; Resolution of Academic Integrity Misconduct → https://web.archive.org/web/20261014043925/https://www.valdosta.edu/administration/student-affairs/student-conduct-office/student-code-of-conduct/appendix-a-academic-integrity/resolution-of-academic-misconduct.php.

Spot an error or an outdated quotation? hello@gatheredwork.com — corrections are made on the record, in this log.