Faculty and Staff
Academic Integrity and Student Support
The Office of Student Conduct is committed to promoting a culture of academic integrity and student support at Western Oregon University.
Find out more about how the Student Conduct program at WOU works with faculty, staff, and students to offer student support while encouraging personal accountability and academic integrity.
Academic Misconduct
The Office of Student Conduct encourages faculty to submit a report of possible academic misconduct when it is discovered in a course. Fill out the form below to submit a report.
Working with Disruptive Students
Disruptive behavior can hinder the educational experience. However, many factors contribute to why a student participates in disruptive behavior, so it is important to approach these situations with sensitivity and to utilize the many resources available to support both you and the student.
How does the Office of Student Conduct handle reports of alleged academic misconduct?
- We like faculty to have agency in how cases of alleged academic misconduct are handled, but we do appreciate having a record of the case submitted via our Academic Misconduct Reporting Form.
- One of the questions on the reporting form asks you if you would like the students to go through the formal conduct process, if you would like the case documented informationally in our database in case it happens in another course in the future, or if you would like a combination of informational documentation while we do educational outreach to the student(s).
- Our conduct process is educational in nature, and if the conduct process option is selected, we would meet with each of the students involved, talk to them about what happened and other things they have going on in their lives, and determine if they violated policy. If they have violated policy, we assign them a sanction and connect them with any campus/community resource they need. A typical sanction for a student with their first instance of academic misconduct would be an educational or reflective essay. Should students go through our conduct process, we would likely meet with all involved students for potentially violating the Code of Student Responsibility.
- The academic outcome of the situation is up to the instructor’s discretion. Our processes work parallel, and we have no say in the academic outcome, trusting the faculty member to make their best judgement on that side.
- We often recommend that the instructor contact the students and let them know that they are forwarding the information along to Student Conduct or ask them about the situation directly, depending on the instructor’s level of comfortability. If you are meeting with the student(s) in person or on Zoom and would like to have a member of the Office of Student Conduct with you, we would be happy to accommodate that.
Consultation from the Office of Student Conduct
Unsure about how to handle a situation? Unsure if you should report academic misconduct or other behavior?
Contact us!
studentconduct@mail.wou.edu or 503-838-9318
Request a Presentation
To request a presentation for your group or class, please email studentconduct@mail.wou.edu with the following information:
- Dates and times you’re looking at having us
- Type of audience (class, department meeting, club meeting, etc.)
- Type of presentation
- Academic integrity and how to avoid academic misconduct for students
- Reporting academic misconduct and the Student Conduct Process
- Supporting students through the Conduct Process
- A combination of the above presentations
- Other ideas — tell us what you’re looking for!
