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 Academic and Professional 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, including degrading or demeaning comments, threatening language or gestures directed to specific persons or groups, and exclusion of individuals or groups from SIPA events or activities

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 lying, deceiving, stealing, signaling, copying from other students, and unauthorized usage of books, data, study aids, or other sources inconsistent with SIPA and instructor expectations. It also includes falsifying data for lab, 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, or portions thereof, that is not my own
  • Failing to properly cite the source of ideas that are not my own
  • Not using quotation marks and author citation when including significant passages of verbatim text
  • Submitting the same written work for multiple courses without written permission from both instructors
  • Collaborating on assignments or exams without specific authorization
  • 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 the School's Code is prohibited under the University's Standards and Discipline Policy. Violations may result in disciplinary action.