The Fuqua Honor Code

Purpose

Duke University is a community dedicated to scholarship, leadership, and service and to the principles of honesty, fairness, respect, and accountability. Members of this community commit to reflect upon and uphold these principles in all academic and nonacademic endeavors, and to protect and promote a culture of integrity.

Members of The Fuqua School of Business community uphold these values in all academic, professional, and community activities. Individuals accept personal responsibility for living by these standards and a shared responsibility for sustaining a community that expects, supports, and protects honorable behavior. Recognizing that our choices shape the learning environment and the reputation Fuqua carries into the world, membership in the Fuqua community entails an obligation that endures throughout our time as students, alumni, and professionals.

The purpose of The Fuqua School of Business Honor Code (hereafter, “the Honor Code”) is to communicate, support, and promote these standards.

Scope

The Honor Code governs the conduct of master’s students of The Fuqua School of Business and others enrolled in Fuqua master’s courses, including those conducted jointly with other Duke schools or as part of joint-degree programs for which both schools have agreed the Fuqua Honor Code applies, regardless of location or modality. PhD students are members of The Graduate School of Duke University and are governed by its Judicial Code and Procedures.

Misconduct not explicitly covered by the Honor Code may fall under other Fuqua or Duke University policies, including the Fuqua Community Standard. Allegations involving discrimination, harassment (including sexual misconduct), domestic violence, dating violence, or stalking should be addressed through Duke’s Policy on Prohibited Discrimination, Harassment, and Related Misconduct and its applicable Duke University procedures.

Standards of Conduct

In all academic, professional, and community settings, Fuqua students are expected to demonstrate:

• Academic Integrity: Submitting only their own work, properly attributing sources, and refraining from cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation, or the use of unauthorized materials or collaboration. This includes responsible use of technology and AI tools, consistent with course instructor authorization and disclosure requirements.
• Fairness: By neither seeking nor providing unfair advantage in academic, employment, or extracurricular endeavors.
• Respect for Others’ Property and Information: Including the intellectual, physical, and digital assets of others and Duke University.
• Personal Accountability: Accepting responsibility for one’s actions and their consequences, recognizing that accountability is essential to personal integrity and the community of trust. Students should acknowledge the impact of their conduct, accept outcomes that result from their choices, and take steps to restore trust when it has been compromised.
• Shared Responsibility: Protecting community integrity by addressing or reporting conduct that undermines trust or violates these expectations.

Faculty share responsibility for upholding the Honor Code by clearly communicating academic expectations, designing assessments and learning experiences that reinforce academic integrity and equitable evaluation, and taking appropriate and prompt action when potential Honor Code violations arise.

Honor Code Procedures

All individuals involved in administering the Honor Code process described below, including Judicial Board members, Judicial Advisors, and administrators, must act impartially and avoid conflicts of interest. A conflict of interest exists when an individual has a personal, academic, professional, or other relationship with an accused student that clearly calls into question their impartiality. This includes, but is not limited to:

• A faculty investigator or Judicial Board faculty member who served as the instructor for a course in which an alleged Honor Code violation occurred, and
• A Judicial Board student member who was a teammate of an accused student on an assignment serving as the basis for an alleged Honor Code violation.

Any individual who believes they may have a conflict of interest must disclose it promptly. When a conflict is identified, the individual will be recused from participation in the matter, and an alternate will be assigned as appropriate by the Dean of The Fuqua School of Business or their designee.

Honor Code Violations

Any action that undermines the principles of integrity, honesty, or accountability may constitute an Honor Code violation, even if not explicitly described below. Students are responsible for understanding the standards and seeking clarification when unsure about appropriate conduct.

Specific violations of the Honor Code include, but are not limited to, the following:

Lying: Communicating untruths to gain an unfair academic or employment advantage. This includes, but is not limited to:

• falsifying information on documents,
• fabricating or falsifying data in academic work,
• providing false information related to classroom attendance or missing course deadlines, and
• providing deliberately misleading information during an Honor Code investigation or Judicial Board hearing.

Cheating: Engaging in any unauthorized action that grants oneself or others an advantage in an academic activity that is not available to all students under the same conditions. This includes, but is not limited to:

• using unauthorized materials or resources to complete an assignment, including unauthorized use of AI tools,
• copying the work of or unauthorized collaboration with another person,
• unauthorized providing of material or information (e.g., proprietary course information) to another person, 
• using the work of another without giving proper credit (e.g., plagiarism),
• unauthorized submission of identical or highly similar work in more than one course, and
• unauthorized work on course material outside the time constraints imposed by the instructor.

If a student is unclear about what constitutes unauthorized material and/or the appropriate time constraints, they have a duty to seek clarification from the course instructor. Instructors are responsible for defining how assignments should be completed.

Stealing: Taking or sharing the property of another, including physical or intellectual property, without consent or permission. This includes, but is not limited to:

• taking the property, including academic work, of another member of the Fuqua community without permission, and
• unauthorized sharing of academic materials, including exams, assignments, teaching notes, or other intellectual property.

Failure to Report: Failing to report conduct that is clearly inconsistent with the standards in this Honor Code. Good-faith uncertainty or situations involving ambiguous expectations do not, by themselves, constitute a failure to report. Individuals are encouraged to seek guidance from an instructor, administrator, or Judicial Board member when unsure how to proceed. Retaliation against any individual who raises a concern or participates in an Honor Code process is prohibited and may constitute a separate violation.

Obstruction: Engaging in conduct that obstructs, distorts, or compromises the integrity of an Honor Code investigation or hearing. This includes, but is not limited to, discouraging others from participating truthfully and providing false or misleading information.