For Students: Policies

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: 

According to section 10.1 of the LSU Code of Student Conduct, “A student may be charged with Academic Misconduct” for a variety of offenses, including the following: unauthorized copying, collusion, or collaboration; “falsifying” data or citations; “assisting someone in the commission or attempted commission of an offense”; and plagiarism, which is defined in section 10.1.H as a “lack of appropriate citation, or the unacknowledged inclusion of someone else's words, structure, ideas, or data; failure to identify a source, or the submission of essentially the same work for two assignments without permission of the instructor(s).”

DISABILITY CODE: According to our General Catalogue, "The Office of Disability Services assists students in identifying and developing accommodations and services to help over-come barriers to the achievement of personal and academic goals. Services are provided for students with temporary or permanent disabilities. Accommodations and services are based on the individual student's disability-based need. Students must provide current documentation of their disabilities. Students should contact the office early so that necessary accommodations can be arranged."

ATTENDANCE POLICY: When students have valid reasons for absence (see PS-22), they are responsible “for providing reasonable advance notification and appropriate documentation of the reason for the absence” and “for making up examinations, obtaining lecture notes, and otherwise compensating for what may have been missed.” Teachers “will assist those students who have valid reasons,” but some in-class activities are difficult to make up. Valid reasons that must be documented include:  Illness; serious family emergency; special curricular requirements such as judging trips or field trips; court-imposed legal obligations such as subpoenas or jury duty; military obligations; serious weather conditions; religious observances (see the interfaith calendar website); official participation in varsity athletic competitions or university musical events.

Absences without valid reasons, or unexcused absences, are limited to three per term in classes that meet three times a week (e.g., MWF) and two per term in classes that meet two times a week (e.g., TTH or MW).   Beyond these limits, each unexcused absence will lower the final course grade by half a letter grade, or five points on a 100-point scale.

NOTE: DOCUMENTATION FOR ABSENCES ARE DUE TO THE INSTRUCTOR WITHIN A WEEK FOLLOWING THE ABSENCE.