Information for Students

Overview

As a student at Santa Fe College you have the opportunity to benefit from a quality educational experience. You are provided that opportunity in exchange for your cooperation and expectation to uphold the College’s standards for behavior – in and out of the classroom. The following information is provided to help you understand your rights and responsibilities as related to the Student Conduct process at Santa Fe College:

What to expect if you are alleged to have committed misconduct

  • The College investigates reports about concerns related to student behavior. If it appears that there is merit to the information reported, you will be contacted about the report. Depending on the situation and the information available at the time, you will receive a letter sent via email to your SF email address you have with further instructions. The letter may contain one or more of the following:
    • The meeting date/time/location that has been scheduled for you, or how to schedule a meeting so you may review and respond to the case information.
    • Notice to you of what aspect(s) of the Student Code of Conduct you are alleged to have violated.
    • For allegations of academic misconduct, the classroom sanctions assigned by the faculty member who made the allegation.
    • Information about your rights and options as provided for in the Student Conduct Code.
  • In most cases, you will be notified of the allegation of misconduct and directed to attend an investigative meeting with the Student Conduct Officer, at which time you will be asked to provide your perspective on the allegation at hand and provided with more information about the conduct process and your options for adjudication.
  • If you have any questions about what is going to happen, just ask! The Student Conduct Officer's role includes explaining the process. The Student Conduct process does not have any procedural secrets.

Your Procedural Protections

  • As a student, you are entitled to the procedural protections as outlined in the Student Code of Conduct, the College Handbook, and other applicable College policies. Some of those protections include:
    • The option to file complaints about misconduct towards you
    • The right to timely written notice. The code requires a student or student organization is provided with timely written notice of the alleged violation of the code of conduct. The notice must include sufficient detail and be provided with sufficient time to prepare for any disciplinary proceeding.
    • The right to a presumption that no violation occurred. The institution has the burden to prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that a violation has taken place. Preponderance of the evidence means that the information presented supports the finding that it is more likely than not that the violation of the code of conduct was committed by the student or student organization.
    • The right to an impartial hearing officer.
    • The right against self-incrimination and the right to remain silent. Such silence may not be used against the student or student organization.
    • The right to present relevant information and question witnesses.
    • The right to an advisor or advocate who may not serve in any other role, including as an investigator, decider of fact, hearing officer, member of a committee or panel convened to hear or decide the charge, or any appeal.
    • The right to have an advisor, advocate, or legal representative, at the student’s or student organization’s own expense, present at any proceeding, whether formal or informal. Such person may directly participate in all aspects of the proceeding, including the presentation of relevant information and questioning of witnesses.
    • The right to appeal the final decision of the hearing officer, or any committee or panel, directly to the vice president of student affairs, or any other senior administrator designated by the code of conduct, who must hear the appeal and render a final decision. The vice president of student affairs or person designated by the code of conduct to hear the appeal may not have directly participated in any other proceeding related to the charged violation.
    • The right to an accurate and complete record of every disciplinary proceeding relating to the charged violation of the code, including record of any appeal, to be made, preserved, and available for copying upon request by the charged student or student organization.
    • The privacy and access protection that applies your student conduct record under FERPA.
  • The College may also take action to protect the campus community, such as if you are deemed to constitute a threat to others or post a significant disruption to the operations of the College. In some cases, this means you may not be able to attend classes, may be restricted from accessing the College, or may need to avoid contact with another party to the case until your hearing occurs.
  • Review the Student Code of Conduct to learn more about your protections in the student conduct process.

How to Submit a Report

Santa Fe College offers a variety of options for filing a report.

  • If you have an immediate concern for safety, contact the Santa Fe Police Department at 352-395-5555. You may also report any person you think might engage in violence here.
  • If you have been the victim of sexual or gender-based misconduct by any person, please review Santa Fe College’s Title IX/Sexual Misconduct information. Inquiries regarding non-discrimination policies or concerns about discrimination or harassment, including concerns about sexual harassment or sexual violence under Title IX, should be directed to SF’s Equal Opportunity Officer and Title IX Coordinator, 3000 NW 83rd Street, R-Annex, Room 113, Gainesville, Florida 32606, 352-395-5950, equity.officer@sfcollege.edu.
  • If the grievance pertains to a faculty or staff member’s decision, you can follow the Academic Reporting Process (if it pertains to an academic issue) or the Non-Academic Reporting Process (if it is not academic in nature). These processes are outlined here.
  • If the complaint pertains to discrimination by a College employee towards you, you may file a report under the College's Prohibition Against Discrimination and Harassment procedures, outlined in College Rule 2.8P. Contact the Equal Opportunity Officer and Title IX Coordinator with questions about this process or to initiate a report.

Academic Misconduct Information

Your faculty/instructors are the ones who determine if you have engaged in academic misconduct in a specific course. Forms of academic misconduct include:

  • Cheating – The improper taking or tendering of any information or material which shall be used to determine an academic grade. A detailed definition of cheating may be found on page 3 and 4 of the Student Code of Conduct.
  • Plagiarism – The attempt to represent the work of another as the product of one’s own thought whether the work is published or unpublished. This includes, by paraphrase or direct quotation, the work of another person without full and clear acknowledgement. This applies to speech, electronic media and content generated by artificial intelligence. It also includes the unacknowledged use of materials prepared by another person or agency engaged in the selling or distributing of term papers or other academic materials.
  • Bribery – The offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any materials, items, or services of value to gain an academic advantage for the student or another.
  • Misrepresentation – An act or omission with intent to deceive an instructor for academic advantage; may also include lying to an instructor to increase a student’s grade or when confronted with an allegation of academic misconduct.
  • Conspiracy – The planning or acting with one or more persons to commit any form of academic misconduct to gain advantage for the student or another.
  • Fabrication – The use of invented or fabricated information, or the falsification of research or other findings with the intent to deceive in order to gain academic advantage.
  • Failure to cooperative – Refusal to hand over materials, electronic media, and/or other resources pursuant to a reasonable request by a College official or instructor in their efforts to determine if academic misconduct has occurred.

Within seven instructional days of determining a student has committed academic misconduct, instructors are required to make every reasonable attempt to notify the student of the potential misconduct and hear any explanation from the student prior to assigning appropriate classroom sanctions, and then they submit an academic misconduct report.

Avoiding Academic Misconduct 

The best ways to avoid academic misconduct includes:

  • Avoid taking short cuts. Students who attempt to cheat because they do not have time to do well on a test or an assignment often end up with a 0% instead of the C or B that might have been earned otherwise.
  • Cite your sources - even in rough drafts or when paraphrasing. Be sure top use quotations marks if you are using exact words written by another.
  • If you are not sure how to cite sources accurately, talk with your instructor before you turn in an assignment or visit the writing tutors at the Learning Commons
  • Proofread your papers - try typing the words into an internet search engine. Your instructors have the same access to the internet as you do and will always notice if your writing sounds different than you would normally write or speak.
  • Talk to your instructor before you turn in plagiarized work. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE.