All students, as future optometrists, committed to the rule and spirit of the Optometric Oath of Practice, are expected to conduct themselves ethically in every clinical situation and every didactic course. The administration, faculty, staff and fellow students at the UM-St. Louis College of Optometry expect that all work you submit is your own.
Dishonesty is a broad category defined in the University of Missouri Code of Student Conduct, which includes, but is not limited to:
1. Plagiarism: copying another person's words, written or verbal, and representing them as one's own.
2. Cheating: copying answers from another person, soliciting answers, both written and verbal, from another student (or from any unauthorized information source), or knowingly permitting another student to copy your work.
3. Stealing: unethical use or distribution of secured exam questions (with or without answers), taking reserved materials from the library without intent of returning them and the like.
4. Violation of Clinical Ethics: fabrication or alteration of clinical records, forgery of preceptor, patient or intern signatures, violation of patient confidentiality (with or without intent) or removing any clinic properties from the clinic floor without expressed permission from a faculty member.
Students must diligently adhere to the strict principles while completing all assignments, quizzes, projects or patient records. Regardless of performance in other portions of this course, anyone who engages in academic dishonesty will normally be given a score of zero for that assignment and be referred to Academic Affairs for a sanction. As described in the Collected Rules, sanctions for academic dishonesty may range from probation to expulsion from the university.
After the university determination, because professionalism and integrity are academic requirements for the O.D. degree, the Student Committee and when appropriate the Clinic Committee will review the case and rule on its academic impact on the student’s ability to complete the program. Students can appeal decisions of the Committee to the dean.
The Professional Program of the College of Optometry is accredited by the Accreditation Council on Optometric Education, 243 N. Lindbergh Blvd., Suite 301, St. Louis, MO 63141; 800-365-2219; accredit@theacoe.org.
