Student Rights & Responsibilities

Each student is expected to become thoroughly familiar with both program and Institute regulations and with the requirements for degrees. Students' current address/phone number must be on file with the Registrar at all times. Students should promptly notify the Registrar's Office of a change of address.

Academic Integrity

The Institute expects all faculty and students to adhere strictly to standards of academic integrity. These are expressed through practices of intellectual honesty.  In order to promote the integrity of the professions, the Institute embraces three broad principles:

Each faculty member and student should benefit from being able to rely upon the honesty of another.

Each faculty member and student is held personally accountable for being intellectually honest.

Each faculty member and student is held accountable for reporting observed violations of intellectual honesty. Any forms of cheating, plagiarism, distortion of materials related to a person's performance or collusion in another's dishonesty constitutes a fundamental violation of intellectual honesty and is unacceptable.

The Institute defines violations of academic integrity as the following:

Cheating is the attempt by a person to alter his or her performance by the use or attempted use of unauthorized aids in any material submitted for evaluation. This includes, but is not limited to, copying from another's work; the use of purchased essays, term papers, or preparatory research for such papers; submissions of the same written work in more than one course without prior written approval from the instructor(s) involved; misleading reasons given for requests for either extensions on papers or make-up examinations; theft of an exam prior to examination.

Plagiarism is the deliberate act of taking the words, ideas, data, illustrative material, or statements of someone else, without full and proper acknowledgment, and presenting them as one's own. It also includes ignoring proper forms for quoting, summarizing, and paraphrasing.

Distortion of materials includes forgery; alteration or knowing misuse of Institute documents including research data, graded examinations, other evaluation materials, grade lists, transcripts, letters of recommendation, and instruments of identification; and destruction of evaluation materials after submission for the purpose of covering up possible poor performance.

Collusion is assisting or attempting to assist another in an act of intellectual dishonesty.

Academic integrity is a very important matter. Students with any questions about what is acceptable or not acceptable conduct should discuss the matter immediately with the appropriate faculty member, faculty advisor, or the Provost.

Guidelines for Conduct

The following guidelines apply to all persons affiliated with the MGH Institute of Health Professions. Their intent is to preserve freedom of expression and association and to protect civil, personal, and property rights. Conduct subject to disciplinary action includes but is not limited to:

Interference with freedom of speech or movement, or intentional disruption of teaching, research, administration, or any other functions at the Institute.

All forms of dishonesty, including cheating, plagiarism unauthorized copying of software, giving false information to the Institute, forgery, and any alteration or misuse of Institute documents or instruments of identification.

Any behavior incompatible with the guidelines for professional and ethical conduct as established by each discipline. 

Any action that endangers the health or safety of self or others. 

Any person whose conduct is subject to disciplinary action is entitled to adequate notice of all charges and to a fair due process hearing. The standards and rules of those institutions also govern conduct in affiliated institutions.

Hazing

The MGH Institute of Health Professions does not tolerate any form of hazing. In compliance with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' anti-hazing statute, the Institute provides each student with a copy of the state law. This law defines hazing as "any conduct or method of initiation into any student organization, whether on public or private property, which willfully or recklessly endangers the physical or mental health of any student or other person. Such conduct shall include whipping, beating, branding, forced calisthenics, exposure to the weather, (forced) consumption of any food, liquor, beverage, drug or other substance, or any brutal treatment or forced physical activity which is likely to adversely affect the physical health or safety of any such student or other person, or which subjects such student or other person to extreme mental stress, including extended deprivation of sleep or rest or extended isolation." Disciplinary action will be taken in cases of alleged hazing. 

Resolution of Conflicts

Mediation

Mediation provides a student involved in a dispute with Institute faculty or administration the opportunity to discuss and negotiate, with the help of uninvolved parties, an arrangement that is mutually acceptable to all parties of the dispute. It is a first-step process designed to avoid, when possible, a resolution imposed by the Hearing Committee. Mediation is not open to students facing dismissal. Faculty members or students involved in the dispute are not eligible to serve as mediators.

The following individuals may participate in mediation:

The student(s) and faculty member(s) or administrator(s) directly involved in the dispute.

Two mediators - a faculty member and student whose selection is facilitated by a Program Director. The mediators must be acceptable to all parties of the conflict.

The student must request mediation within 5 school days following the warning or suspension. Mediation may not exceed 15 school days from the time of the request. If there is no resolution within 15 school days, the student may initiate the student grievance procedure. Extenuating circumstances such as semester/summer breaks or temporary unavailability of faculty and/or student may necessitate a longer interval between the request for mediation and a resolution.

The mediation process is as follows:

The student writes a letter requesting mediation to the faculty member involved, with a copy to the student's Program Director.

The Program Director facilitates the appointment of two mediators, mutually acceptable to both sides of the dispute.

Two mediators must be selected within five school days from receipt of the student's letter to the Program Director and faculty member. 

If the Program Director is directly involved in the disciplinary problems, he/she may be replaced by another Program Director for the purpose of facilitating the selection of mediators. 

The mediators are responsible for having the first meeting within 5 school days of their appointment.

Disciplinary Action

The Institute reserves the right to initiate disciplinary action for any student whose conduct, clinical performance, or academic integrity does not meet the standards deemed acceptable by the Institute. Disciplinary action may include any or all of the following:

Warning: Institute faculty or administrators may issue a warning to a student for the purpose of specifying problematic behavior or performance, defining corrective action, and delineating the time frame for corrective action.

Oral Warning: A note documenting the oral warning will be placed in the student's permanent academic file in the Registrar's Office. Notification to review the statement will be sent to the student's advisor. In the case of oral warnings, no permanent record is retained after the student leaves the Institute. If expectations related to corrective action are not met in the delineated time, a written warning will be issued.

Written Warning: A letter stating "this is a written warning" will be issued to the student and a copy placed in the student's permanent academic file in the Registrar's Office. Notification to review the warning will be sent to the Program Director and the student's advisor. In the case of a written warning, a record is retained in the permanent file with documentation regarding the outcome. If expectations related to corrective action are not met in the delineated time, suspension commences.

If a dispute with regard to an oral or written warning cannot be resolved, the student may initiate the student grievance procedure. The procedure must be initiated within 10 school days of the notification.

Suspension: Suspension is a disciplinary action in which the student is temporarily and immediately removed from the academic or clinical setting. Written notification of the plan for corrective action(s) that are required of the student prior to his or her return to responsibilities or initiation of the dismissal procedure must occur within 5 days of the suspension. This written notification will also include the reasons for and the duration of the suspension or dismissal. A copy of the written notification will be retained in the student's official Institute file. Notification of the suspension with a copy of the plan for corrective action will be sent to the Program Director and the student's advisor. 

Dismissal: Dismissal is expulsion from the Institute when, in the judgment of the Program Committee, a student's conduct, clinical performance, or academic integrity is unacceptable.  To initiate a dismissal, the Institute faculty member to the student's Program Committee must submit a copy of the documentation of the problems and procedures involved to date. Each program will identify a committee for making recommendations for dismissal and the student appeal process at the program level. This process must preserve the student's right to receive adequate notice of the problematic conduct, to submit documents for review, and to appear before the programs' designated committee. Based on the findings of this process, the program is responsible for the decision. The student will be informed in writing of the decision. A copy of the written decision will be placed in the student's official Institute file.  Once the dismissal procedure has been initiated, the process should be completed within ten school days. The only method to reverse a dismissal decision is through the grievance procedure.

Students who are subject to any of the above actions will be notified in writing. The student grievance procedure is available to students who wish to appeal such actions.

Student Grievance Procedure

The student grievance procedure provides a student who is involved in a dispute with Institute faculty the opportunity to appeal a warning, suspension or dismissal.  (The Student Grievance Procedure does not address disputes regarding final course grades, which are addressed in the section entitled "Process for Challenging a Final Course Grade.")  A five-member Hearing Panel, which will be selected from a Hearing Committee, will be convened in each case to hear a student's grievance.  The Hearing Committee is composed of eight Institute faculty members, elected bi-annually by the Institute, and eight  students, selected through a discretionary process determined by the Institute, all who serve as a panel pool.  The Committee will meet to select a faculty chairperson and delineate a process by which panel members will be chosen for each grievance.  Each Hearing Panel will consist of three  faculty members and two students chosen at random from the Committee membership.  Any member of the Committee who is involved in the specific corrective action and mediation will be excluded from the Panel while it hears the case in question.  The individual bringing the grievance will have the opportunity to exclude members from the Panel if he or she can demonstrate a conflict of interest.  If a grievance is in progress when the Panel members' one-year terms are completed, the members shall serve until a decision is made. 

Time Requirements

A student wishing to initiate the grievance procedure must submit a request in writing, as further described below, to the chairperson of the Hearing Committee within ten school days after unsuccessful mediation or notice of dismissal.  The Hearing Panel must hear the case within ten school days after receiving the request.  Extenuating circumstances such as term/summer breaks or temporary unavailability of faculty and/or student may necessitate a longer interval between request and hearing.  In such cases, the Committee Chairperson will use reasonable efforts to inform the petitioning student of the delay and anticipated timeline.

Process

To initiate a student grievance procedure, the student's request in writing, as mentioned above, shall be made to the chairperson of the Hearing Committee, with a copy to the student's Program Director and the faculty member/administrator involved.  The request must include information to support the claim of a violation, misinterpretation, or inequitable application of existing rules, procedures, and regulations.  In addition, the letter should outline the actions taken to date.  The chairperson of the Hearing Committee will convene a Hearing Panel, according to the committee's established procedure, to review and investigate the student's case.  Both student and faculty or administrator involved has the right to seek and submit supporting documentation. All evidence must be submitted to the Panel chairperson three  school days prior to the hearing for review by all Panel members.  A transcriber must be present at the hearing to record verbatim the entire proceeding.  Neither party involved in the grievance may have an attorney present at the hearing. After hearing all evidence, the Hearing Panel reaches a decision based on a simple majority rule.  The chairperson of the Hearing Panel informs the student of the Panel's decision, in writing, no later than ten school days following the hearing.  Copies of this letter are sent, at the same time, to the faculty or administrator involved the student's Program Director, and the Institute's President.

The decision of the Hearing Panel is final.  No Institute Committee, Program Committee, faculty member or administrator has the right to overrule the decision of the Hearing Panel.