West Chester University.

Detection status: Turnitin AI Writing Detection tool enabled in D2L; faculty urged to use it with caution
Office in these sources: Office of the Provost — Academic Integrity · Philips Memorial Hall, Room 103, 700 South High Street, West Chester, PA 19383 · 610-436-3405 · no office-wide email published on the academic-integrity page, only named staff addresses
Ombuds or advocacy office: None located on the institution's own pages in this review.
Sources last checked: Sep 17, 2026

Reproduced from the institution's own pages quoted below — potentially relevant official sources, not a determination of which one governs any case.

West Chester University's published sources on AI detection and academic integrity, quoted and linked below. These are potentially relevant official sources, not a determination of which one governs any case — course syllabi and instructor-set rules may also apply, and WCU's own generative-AI framework says it is "not a university policy" but a living set of recommendations working within existing rules. Confirm applicability with the institution. Any dates are quoted from the sources, not a deadline calculation performed for you.

01Detection status

Turnitin's AI Writing Detection tool is enabled at WCU

The Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) and Information Systems & Technology (IS&T) state, in a faculty-facing guidance document (document properties dated Sep 7, 2023; retrieved Sep 17, 2026):

"Turnitin is a text-matching software available through WCU's learning management system (D2L) that offers tools to support academic integrity. When an instructor enables Turnitin in a D2L course, student assignments are submitted to Turnitin which then matches text within the assignment to existing text in a database of previously submitted papers, internet sources, journal, and other publications." "Turnitin recently rolled out an 'AI Detector' tool to help faculty identify instances of academic dishonesty where students submit AI-generated material for course assignments. The 'AI Detector' tool tries to match submitted text against AI-generated text." "The AI Writing Detection tool is currently enabled at WCU. The Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) and Information Systems &Technology (IS&T) urge faculty who may choose to use this tool to do so with caution." "It is risky to use the AI Detector Similarity Report as the sole basis for determining that a student has violated academic integrity because it is not wholly reliable."

Source: Turnitin AI Writing Detection Tool — Teaching and Learning Center (PDF). The same document lists faculty recommendations — "[e]rr on the side of caution," "[m]ake comparisons to students' previously submitted work," and "[t]alk with the student about the work that you are questioning and give them an opportunity to share their process" — but states no institution-wide rule on how a flagged report must be used, and no evidentiary weight beyond these cautions.

WCU's "Generative AI @ WCU — A Guiding Framework" page states it is not itself a policy: "This framework is a living document, not a university policy. It contains a series of recommendations intended to work within and support existing WCU policies," adding that "the university policy process is a deliberate and collaborative process that takes time" (page last updated 8/18/26; retrieved Sep 17, 2026). It does not mention Turnitin or any AI-detection tool by name. Source: Generative AI @ WCU — A Guiding Framework.

Named-vendor sweep of wcupa.edu found no first-party mention of SimCheck, Originality, Copyleaks, iThenticate, GPTZero, Originality.ai, Winston AI, Crossplag, ZeroGPT, Packback, Grammarly Authorship, or Examity. Honorlock proctors the Mathematics Department's placement exam and Proctorio and Respondus are offered campus-wide for online exam proctoring, but each is described only as an exam-monitoring tool — none carries a first-party claim of AI-writing-text detection — so they are recorded here and not presented as AI detectors. Sources: Proctorio — Teaching and Learning Center; Placement Exam — Department of Mathematics (retrieved Sep 17, 2026).

02Published procedure

What WCU's own catalog says about how cases proceed

Who may be present: At the faculty stage, "[e]ach party can bring a mutually agreed upon advisor or support person to witness the meeting." At an Academic Integrity Board hearing, "[b]oth parties shall have the right to be assisted by advisors, who may be attorneys, and who may be present at hearings," though advisors "may only consult and interact privately with their advisees, and may not address the board." Recording is addressed only for the Board stage: "All hearings will be recorded." — Undergraduate Academic Integrity Policy, 2026–2027 Undergraduate Catalog (retrieved Sep 17, 2026) · Academic Integrity — Undergraduate Catalog
What follows on the record: A first violation's report "will be kept by the Vice Provost's designee until the student has graduated and the degree has been awarded," and "is destroyed once the student's degree is awarded"; a reference-letter form asking "if the student has ever been sanctioned for academic dishonesty" may be answered from that file. Where a Board case ends in suspension or expulsion, "[a] disciplinary file will be established as a permanent record of these actions," and for expulsion specifically, "the reason for it will be entered upon the student's official transcript and upon all copies thereof." — Undergraduate Academic Integrity Policy, 2026–2027 Undergraduate Catalog (retrieved Sep 17, 2026) · Academic Integrity — Undergraduate Catalog

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

From the 2026–2027 Undergraduate Catalog's Academic Integrity Policy (retrieved Sep 17, 2026):

"After collecting the evidence available, the faculty member will present the evidence of an alleged violation and request an explanation from the student, both in writing within 10 business days." "If the student denies the charges, or the student's explanation suggests some corrective action may be necessary, the faculty member is required to initiate within 10 business days a follow-up meeting with the student. […] The student will be required to respond to the meeting request within 10 business days of the initial request." "The faculty member will also inform the student of their right to file an appeal within 10 days of the faculty member's decision." "The burden of proof rests on the individual bringing charges. All matters upon which the decision will be based must be introduced into evidence at the hearing." "A written recommendation based on a preponderance of evidence, arrived at by majority vote, in which the facts and reasons for the recommendation are set forth shall be issued within 15 calendar days, after the close of the board proceedings."

Penalties for a first violation are drawn from "[c]ompletion of alternative work, with or without a grade reduction," "[a] reduced grade (including F or zero) for the assignment," or "[a] reduced grade (including F) for the entire course"; a second or subsequent violation adds "[s]uspension from the University for a designated period of time" and "[e]xpulsion from the University" to the range, decided by the Academic Integrity Board. Appeal runs from the department chair (10 days), to the college dean (10 days), to the WCU Academic Integrity Board (10 days after the dean's decision); a student "who files an appeal within 10 days of the faculty member's determination will suffer no worse penalty" for having appealed. Source: Academic Integrity — Undergraduate Catalog. 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.

03Source map

Where the documents live

Document	Location
Turnitin AI Writing Detection Tool (TLC/IS&T guidance, PDF)	wcupa.edu/tlc — Turnitin AI Writing Detection Tool (PDF)
Generative AI @ WCU — A Guiding Framework	wcupa.edu/infoServices/generative-AI.aspx
Proctorio (exam proctoring, not text detection)	wcupa.edu/tlc/proctorio.aspx
Mathematics placement exam (Honorlock-proctored)	wcupa.edu/sciences-mathematics/mathematics/placement-exam.aspx
Academic Integrity Policy (2026–2027 Undergraduate Catalog)	catalog.wcupa.edu — Academic Integrity
Office of the Provost — Academic Integrity	wcupa.edu/_admin/provost/academicIntegrity.aspx (page last updated 7/28/26; retrieved Sep 17, 2026)
Office of Student Conduct (holds the permanent disciplinary file where Board sanctions are imposed)	wcupa.edu/_services/conduct/contact.aspx (page last updated 6/22/26; retrieved Sep 17, 2026)
Student Advocacy & Resources (financial-hardship support; not a general or academic-integrity ombuds)	wcupa.edu — Student Advocacy & Resources (page last updated 8/25/26; retrieved Sep 17, 2026)

Organizing your own drafts and records to bring to any of this: the records checklist. Capturing the pages above as they read today, and keeping your own dated record beside them: what to do with these sources.

04Change log

Revision history of this page

2026-09-17 — Page created. First PASSHE (Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education) build in this collection; no system-level detection position was located — WCU's guidance is campus-specific, issued by its own Teaching and Learning Center and IS&T, so no inference was drawn for other PASSHE schools and none should be until each is checked. Detection: the TLC/IS&T Turnitin AI Writing Detection Tool document (document properties dated Sep 7, 2023) states the tool "is currently enabled at WCU," with faculty urged to use it "with caution" and never as "the sole basis" for a finding; the Generative AI @ WCU framework page (last updated 8/18/26) confirms it is not itself a policy and names no detection tool. Named-vendor sweep (Turnitin/AI Writing Detection confirmed; SimCheck, Originality, Copyleaks, iThenticate, GPTZero, Originality.ai, Winston AI, Crossplag, ZeroGPT, Packback, Grammarly Authorship, Examity all empty) and category sweep (TLC AI resources page, IS&T software list, Mathematics placement exam, Office of the Provost's Academic Integrity page) found Honorlock and Proctorio/Respondus in proctoring roles only, with no first-party AI-text-detection claim; recorded in the sweep, not presented as detectors. Process captured from the 2026–2027 Undergraduate Catalog's Academic Integrity Policy: faculty-stage evidence and meeting timelines, the escalation to a department Report of Violation, the three-step appeal (chair, dean, Academic Integrity Board), the Board's preponderance standard, penalty range, and the record-retention and transcript-notation language quoted in section 02. Office: Office of the Provost's dedicated Academic Integrity page (last updated 7/28/26) publishes only the general Office of the Provost phone (610-436-3405) and named staff emails, no office-wide academic-integrity address; recorded as such rather than substituting a different office's contact. The Office of Student Conduct (last updated 6/22/26) is recorded separately in the source map because the catalog directs Board-imposed disciplinary files there, not because it administers the Academic Integrity Policy itself. Ombuds/advocacy: WCU's former Student Ombuds program's own pages (previously at wcupa.edu/_services/STU/studentOmbuds/) now return HTTP 404 on every checked path, consistent with a 2025 retitling; its apparent successor, Student Advocacy & Resources (last updated 8/25/26), is scoped entirely to "emergency funding" and "financial hardship," names no role in academic-integrity matters, and does not describe itself as confidential, neutral, independent, or impartial — so the docket records no ombuds or advocacy office rather than presenting a financial-aid office as one. Nothing paraphrase-pending. Archive captures pending — not requested this pass (unattended scheduled run). Reviewer: Carrie Schluter (review confirmed 2026-09-17).

2026-09-17 — 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 Integrity | West Chester University Catalog → https://web.archive.org/web/20260917142945/https://catalog.wcupa.edu/undergraduate/academic-policies-procedures/academic-integrity/. Not captured because the publisher refuses the Archive's fetcher — each of these returns normally to an ordinary browser, so the source is unchanged and only the capture is missing: Turnitin%20Ai%20Writing%20Detection%20Tool — www.wcupa.edu (HTTP 200 to the Archive); Generative AI @ WCU – A Guiding Framework - WCU of PA (HTTP 200 to the Archive); Proctorio - WCU of PA (HTTP 200 to the Archive); Placement Exam - WCU of PA (HTTP 200 to the Archive); Academic Integrity - WCU of PA (HTTP 200 to the Archive); Contact Office of Student Conduct - WCU of PA (HTTP 200 to the Archive); Financial Support - WCU of PA (HTTP 200 to the Archive).

2026-10-06 — Internet Archive captures requested on 2026-09-26 by an automated capture pass and recorded this date; 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: wcupa.edu/_admin/provost/academicIntegrity.aspx → https://web.archive.org/web/20260926042903/https://www.wcupa.edu/_admin/provost/academicIntegrity.aspx; wcupa.edu — Student Advocacy & Resources → https://web.archive.org/web/20260926042940/https://www.wcupa.edu/_services/STU/health-and-wellness/student-advocacy/default.aspx; wcupa.edu/_services/conduct/contact.aspx → https://web.archive.org/web/20260926043026/https://www.wcupa.edu/_services/conduct/contact.aspx; Generative AI @ WCU — A Guiding Framework → https://web.archive.org/web/20260926043109/https://www.wcupa.edu/infoServices/generative-AI.aspx; Placement Exam — Department of Mathematics → https://web.archive.org/web/20260926043238/https://www.wcupa.edu/sciences-mathematics/mathematics/placement-exam.aspx; Proctorio — Teaching and Learning Center → https://web.archive.org/web/20260926043326/https://www.wcupa.edu/tlc/proctorio.aspx.

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