Academic Standards

Academic Honesty

Pomona College is an academic community in which all members are expected to abide by ethical standards, both in their conduct and in their exercise of responsibilities toward other members of the community. The College expects students to understand and adhere to basic standards of honesty and academic integrity. These standards include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. In projects and assignments prepared independently, students never represent the ideas or the language of others as their own.
2. Students do not destroy or alter either the work of other students or the educational resources and materials of the College.
3. Students neither give nor receive assistance with examinations.
4. Students do not represent work completed for one course as original work for another or deliberately disregard course rules and regulations.
5. In laboratory or research projects involving the collection of data, students accurately report data observed and do not alter these data for any reason.

If an instructor concludes that any of the above standards has been disregarded, it is his or her responsibility to make the evidence available to the student and also to report the incident to the Dean of Students. If it is the first reported instance of academic dishonesty for that student, the instructor may handle the case, unless either the instructor or the student requests that the matter be referred to the Academic Discipline Board. If the instructor handles the matter, any academic penalty may be assigned, including failure in the course in which the infraction occurred. If the instructor believes that the infraction is serious enough to warrant withdrawal or reduction in the level of College academic honors, the matter should be referred to the Academic Discipline Board, which can make a recommendation on this issue. A student’s second offense, in whatever class it occurs, is automatically referred to the Academic Discipline Board. Suspensions or withdrawals required by the Academic Discipline Board are posted to the student’s official academic record.

Academic Standards Committee

The Academic Standards Committee meets at regular intervals to review the academic progress of students at Pomona. In order to continue in good academic standing and make normal progress toward a degree, students must: a) achieve a C average in courses taken under the auspices of Pomona College; b) maintain normal progress with an average of four courses passed for each semester of enrollment; and c) make suitable progress toward completion of all academic requirements, including completion of a major.

Depending on the seriousness and the duration of the academic difficulty, the following actions may be taken by the committee:

1. Warning or probation
2. Suspension
3. Required withdrawal from the College

Students placed on probation are required to meet the terms of a specific contract for future performance, which is typically completion of four courses with an overall grade point average of 7.0 or above with all four courses taken on a letter grade basis. When a student is suspended, a notation is made of this fact on the official transcript; the notation is removed at the end of the suspension period. When a student is required to withdraw, a permanent notation is made on the official transcript, unless the student is subsequently readmitted by the Academic Standards Committee.

Quality of Work

Students are required to earn and maintain at least a C average.

The College may require the withdrawal of a student at any time if the quality and amount of work seem to warrant such action. A decision in every such case is reached by the Academic Standards Committee. A liaison between the committee and the student is provided by the dean and associate deans of students. Decisions of the Academic Standards Committee are final.

Class Attendance

Students are expected to maintain regular attendance in their classes. While there is no general College requirement, each instructor has the right to establish specific regulations regarding attendance as is best suited for the course. If a student fails to attend the first two meetings of a course, and the absences were not approved in advance by the instructor, the instructor may drop the student from the class. However, students will not automatically be dropped from a course they do not attend.

Completion of Work

To be counted as work completed in the course, all papers, reports, computer programs or projects, drawings and other assigned exercises must be turned in to the instructor by the course’s regularly scheduled final exam time each semester, unless an earlier date has been specified by the instructor.

Duplication of Coursework

Student work that receives credit in one course may not receive credit in another course. If learning in another course would benefit substantially by focusing on the same material or techniques, then the student may receive credit in each course only if his/her work demonstrates the qualities (by additional length, depth, complexity, originality, analysis, etc.) of two pieces of work.