Academic Integrity Committee

History of the Academic Integrity Committee

The Academic Integrity Committee was created to serve as a standing committee in the Cabinet of College Councils in the mid-eighties. Due to the widespread occurrence of cheating and other forms of dishonesty, the Cabinet created the Scholastic Dishonesty Committee in order to foster integrity and ethics among the student population.

In the early days, the committee’s work consisted of posting signs before final exams that discouraged students from cheating. The committee also provided faculty with information regarding best practices to deter cheating in the classroom. When it became apparent to the Cabinet that eliminating scholastic dishonesty would require a year-round effort, the committee became Students for Academic Integrity (SFAI). SFAI was critical to the development of the University Honor Code.

In April 2011, the committee was once again renamed to the Academic Integrity Committee. The initiatives taken by the Academic Integrity Committee strive to uphold the principles outline in the Honor Code and ensure that they are prevalent in the mind of every member of The University of Texas community. Recent studies have found that the admitted cheating rate on campus decreased to approximately 11% – a dramatic decline from the rate in the last decade.

Articles Regarding the UT Honor Code and Academic Integrity
Students fail to recognize plagiarism
Honoring the Honor Code
U. Texas students improvise to illustrate integrity
Honor code based on core values adopted by The University of Texas at Austin
UT adopts its first formal honor code; Student-led effort intended to emphasize standards and give would-be cheaters pause
Conservative group protests proposed honor code at U. Texas
Group hopes pledge will curb cheating at U. Texas
U. Texas students propose new honor code
Web engine could help Honor Code
Concern over scholastic dishonesty prompts proposal for new honor code at U. Texas
Survey finds cheating not taken seriously by high school students
Illegal collaboration on assignments on the rise at U. Texas-Austin
Survey: Professors can stop academic cheating