The School of Education strongly supports the University’s mission to “educate students to become ethically and socially responsible leaders for the global community.” Professional dispositions, professional behavior, demeanor, and appearance are critical aspects of responsibility, instruction, and leadership with children and colleagues. Professional conduct is expected of candidates at all times.
Academic Honesty
We promote and rely on mutual respect, civility, concern for others and academic integrity in the pursuit of academic excellence. Academic dishonesty undermines all of these. All forms of academic dishonesty, unfair advantage, and plagiarism will have consequences in all instances. All members of the campus community are obligated to report any suspected instance of academic dishonesty on the part of graduate Education students to the Associate Dean for Graduate Programs in the School of Education. The Associate Dean for Graduate Programs will meet with the relevant parties and will take action deemed necessary. In all cases where faculty suspect academic dishonesty, they are obligated to bring the matter to the attention of the relevant Department Chair. If discussion between the instructor and the student and if needed, subsequent discussion with the department chair do not result in a satisfactory conclusion, the matter will be brought to the Associate Dean who will act. All students will be held accountable to and must become familiar with University and School of Education definitions, procedures, and sanctions, whether or not the course syllabus explicitly specifies a policy on academic integrity.
For any act of academic dishonesty, the School of Education may impose one or more of the following sanctions or an additional sanction: rewriting the assignment and/or failing the assignment, failing the course, taking a mandated workshop or other remedial course, academic warning or probation, denial of placement for or removal from student teaching, withholding a recommendation for certification, and/or suspension or expulsion from the graduate program.
For further specification of the process, please see the section "Grievance and Appeals Procedure for Graduate Students" below.
Dispositions
The School of Education values collaboration, emotional maturity, flexibility, honesty and integrity, professionalism, respect, responsibility, and reverence for learning.
These values are indicated by respectful action towards University faculty and classmates in classrooms and on-campus and towards children always. We believe that a candidate’s ability to behave professionally and respectfully at all times is diagnostic of his/her ability to behave professionally and effectively as an educator. We, therefore, expect candidates to model as graduate students the same behaviors they will follow in their own practice as educators, in and out of classrooms. Professional behavior and dispositions are assessed throughout a student’s program at Manhattanville. We expect and will observe and assess professionalism and respectful behavior at all times.
Any instance of unprofessional behavior which is not immediately rectified will be reported to and recorded by the appropriate Department Chair and/or the Office of Graduate Advising. Candidates who exhibit a serious, documented lack of professional dispositions will be subject to a range of sanctions including, but not limited to, a course grade being lowered, failure of the course, mandatory counseling and/or other required remediation, restrictions from activities or privileges, denial of the University recommendation for teacher or leader certification, removal from student or supervised teaching or denial or delay of placement for student teaching, and/or suspension or expulsion from the School of Education.
Please refer to the Manhattanville University Code of Community Conduct at the Manhattanville University website for the University’s policies on harassment, bias acts, and sexual misconduct, and confidentiality and academic freedom.
Absences
More than two absences can affect the course grade; individual courses may have more restrictive policies
Grievance and Appeals Procedure for Graduate Students
At Manhattanville, grievance procedures exist for graduate Education students who feel they have received truly biased or unfair treatment by a faculty member or by the School of Education administration.
1. If the student and faculty member or administrator cannot resolve any issue through direct discussion in a mutually satisfactory manner, the student should bring the matter in writing to the attention of the appropriate department chair, program director, or the Office of Graduate Advising. Graduate Advising may refer the matter to the relevant department chair. This must happen within one semester of the claimed instance. All appeals brought by students who have graduated must be made within 30 days of graduation.
2. If the matter cannot be satisfactorily resolved by the department chair or the Office of Graduate Advising, the student has the right to appeal to the School of Education Graduate Academic Standards Committee. The student must bring the issue in writing to the Office of Graduate Advising, within five business days of the latest communication with the department chair or Associate Dean. The Office of Graduate Advising will convene the committee as soon as feasible and present all material which the student wishes to submit to the committee, which will consult all parties, collect further information, and seek a solution. The Office of Graduate Advising will communicate the results in writing to the student.
3. If the issue remains open, the student may appeal in writing to the Dean of the School of Education within five business days of receipt of communication from the Office of Graduate Advising. The Dean will form an ad hoc grievance committee for a review, including the Provost, an Associate Dean, and one faculty member, either from the University or the School of Education. The Dean will serve ex-officio. Each member of the grievance committee will be novel to the offense. The committee will invite the student to a closed meeting. During this meeting, the committee will review all relevant evidence in reference to procedural unfairness or to any new evidence that might have resulted in a different decision. The committee may uphold the finding and sanction, overturn the finding and sanction, or impose alternative sanctions. The decision of the committee is final. The decision of the grievance committee will be conveyed by letter to the concerned parties.
Complaints
If a student has a concern or issue in a course, they should first try to resolve the situation with their instructor. If the outcome of those discussions is unsatisfactory, the student should reach out to the Department Chairperson. If the outcome if this meeting is unacceptable, the student should schedule a meeting with the Associate Dean of the School of Education. The Associate Dean may convene a meeting of the Academic Standards Commitee, where appropriate, where the student can express their concerns. The committee will make a recommendation for the resolution of the student's issue.
The Dean of the School of Education has the final decision on the matter.
All written complaints/concerns should be accompanied by relevant documentation. The Dean and appropriate other parties will review the documents and the circumstances with the appropriate area and will either respond personally to the complaint or direct the appropriate member of the institution to do so within 10 days of receipt of the written complaint.
Due to Federal regulations the University generally only corresponds with students, not parents, guardians, or spouses. For a full statement of Manhattanville University FERPA policy, please see FERPA for Students and Parents (mville.edu).