Code of Academic and Professional Conduct

As part of preparing students for careers in global affairs and public policy, the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) promotes the highest academic and professional standards. This code is speciﬁc to the SIPA community and reﬂects the values we hold dear as an engaged, international community. To clarify the school’s expectation of professional and ethical conduct, including honesty, accuracy, and integrity in academic and professional activities, the administration, faculty, and students have adopted the following Code of Academic and Professional Conduct.

All SIPA community members are responsible for reading and upholding this SIPA Code of Professional and Academic Conduct, Columbia University’s Standards and Discipline Policy, the policies held by the Ofﬁce of Institutional Equity, and the Rules of University Conduct.

“In order to promote honesty, professionalism, fairness, and academic integrity within the SIPA community, I hereby pledge to abide by the standards of academic and professional conduct outlined below”

I will fully participate in the academic life of the school by understanding degree and course requirements, and putting forth my best efforts in completing all assignments and exams according to the guidelines and procedures established by faculty, instructors, and teaching assistants. I vow to undertake my academic and professional work with honesty and integrity.

I will dedicate adequate time to my studies by effectively managing conﬂicts between my academic responsibilities and other commitments. I will communicate responsibly with faculty, administrative staff, and the Ofﬁce of Student Affairs about matters that affect my ability to participate as expected in my classes and other school activities.

I embrace the diversity of SIPA and understand that professional and civil conduct is expected to guide interactions between all constituents of the school: including employees, students, faculty, administrative staff, and student staff. SIPA students are ambassadors for the school and should behave accordingly.

I recognize that my personal engagement at SIPA and beyond affects me and others in the community. To that end, I will not engage in the following activities which are considered inappropriate and disruptive and can negatively impact the SIPA community.

These include actions towards peers, faculty, administrative staff, and guests. The following list provides examples of prohibited behaviors (written or verbal) but is not exhaustive.
- Fabricating or falsifying research data and information
- Misrepresenting one’s professional self
- Bullying, disrespectful, or discriminatory behavior, which can include the use of degrading or demeaning comments, threatening language or gestures directed to speciﬁc persons or groups, and the exclusion of speciﬁc individuals or groups from events, activities, or other programming at SIPA.

As a professional community of faculty and students conducting research in international and public affairs, we at SIPA must be mindful of the need for accuracy and consistency in citing the sources of our research findings. SIPA's reputation and yours are one and the same, and we must all work together to ensure the integrity of academic work conducted here.

I understand that cheating comprises the giving or receiving of unauthorized and/or unfair aid in academic work. This may include but is not limited to lying, deceiving, stealing, talking, signaling, copying from other students, and unauthorized usage of books, data (both in hard copy and electronic formats), study aids, or other sources in a manner inconsistent with the expectations established by SIPA and my classroom instructors. I understand that cheating also includes falsifying data in support of laboratory, internship, Workshop, or Capstone Project work.
If graded together with other students in study groups, I pledge to contribute to my fullest capacity. I will not seek unauthorized help outside my study group unless specifically authorized by the faculty member."
I understand that plagiarism includes but is not limited to:
- Submitting written work of any kind (e.g., reports, essays, exercises, papers), or portions of such written work that is not my own but rather the written work of another author;
- Failing to acknowledge, through proper footnotes and bibliographic entries, the source of ideas not my own;
- Failing to indicate through proper use of quotation marks followed by an author citation, endnote, or footnote whenever my work includes significant passages of verbatim text not my own
- Submitting written work prepared for one course to meet the requirements of a second course without having received in writing prior permission from both instructors;
- Collaborating with other students or outside sources on an assignment or examination without specific permission from the faculty member to do so;
- Using another person's or institution's research or data without attribution."
I have read SIPA's Code of Academic and Professional Conduct and understand that violating my School's Code is prohibited under the University's Standards and Discipline Policy. Engaging in behavior that violates the University’s and SIPA’s rules and expectations for conduct may result in disciplinary action.

Updated October 2024