Policies and Regulations
Disciplinary Procedures
All graduate students are governed by the regulations for academic and personal conduct set forth in the bulletin. The disciplinary procedure of the Graduate School Committee on Regulations and Discipline will be used whenever there appears to have been a breach of the Regulations. The one exception to this policy is the allegation that a graduate student has committed academic fraud (including falsification or fabrication of data and plagiarism) in the course of proposing, conducting or reporting research supported by the federal government, in which case the Policies and Procedures for Dealing with Allegations of Academic Fraud at Yale University will be followed. A student accused of a breach of the Regulations will be presumed innocent unless and until found by the Dean's Advisory Committee on Regulations and Discipline, pursuant to these procedures, to have breached the Regulations. Students may contact their academic dean for further information and advice.
For the 2011-2012 academic year, this committee is comprised of the following members:
Sarbani Basu, professor of Astronomy
Michelle Kriner, doctoral candidate, Microbiology
David Post, associate professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Lauren Tilton, doctoral candidate, American Studies
Marianne Wilson, doctoral candidate, Sociology
Ruth Yeazell, the Chace Family Professor of English
During 2009-2010 academic year, four graduate students were formally charged with violating the “Regulations for Academic and Personal Conduct” outlined in the Graduate School’s Programs and Policies bulletin.
Two students conceded the charges and requested that the Dean dispose of the matter without a formal hearing. The following cases were handled in this way.
- A doctoral student in the sciences who had been charged with plagiarism was placed on disciplinary probation for the remainder of the student’s enrollment in the Graduate School, required to submit a paper detailing expectations and acceptable practices for references scholarly documents, and issued a letter of reprimand.
- A doctoral student in the sciences who had been charged with cheating on an examination was suspended for one year.
Two students contested the charges and were heard by the Committee on Regulations and Discipline. The Committee consists of three graduate students appointed by the Graduate School Assembly and three faculty members appointed by the Dean (with one graduate student and faculty member from each academic division), as well as the associate dean responsible for the department or program in which the student who has been charged is enrolled. The following matters were handled in this way.
- A doctoral student in the sciences was charged with sexual assault and rape. The disciplinary committee concluded that the information presented was insufficient to make a positive determination that such conduct had occurred.
- A doctoral student in the sciences was found guilty of the charge of refusing to comply with the direction of a Univeristy official acting in the performance of his or her duties and was issued a letter of reprimand.
