Standard of Conduct for Student Organizations

Student organizations recognized by the University assume an obligation to behave in a manner compatible with the University’s function as an educational institution.

  1. JURISDICTION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON generally shall be limited to conduct which occurs on the FDU premises or at University-sponsored or University-supervised functions.
  2. CONDUCT for which student organizations are subject to sanctions falls into the following categories:
  3. Academic dishonesty, such as cheating, plagiarism, or sabotage. The Board of Curators recognizes that academic honesty is essential for the intellectual life of the University. Faculty members have a special obligation to expect high standards of academic honesty in all student work. Students have a special obligation to adhere to such standards. In all cases of academic dishonesty, the instructor shall make an academic judgment about the student’s grade on that work and in that course. The instructor shall report the alleged academic dishonesty to the Primary Administrative.
  4. Forgery, alteration, or misuse of University documents, records or identification, or knowingly furnishing false information to the University.
  5. Obstruction or disruption of teaching, research, administration, conduct proceedings, or other University activities, including its public service functions on or off campus.
  6. Physical abuse or other conduct which threatens or endangers the health or safety of any person.
  7. Attempted or actual theft of, damage to, or possession without permission of property of the University or of a member of the University community or of a campus visitor.
  8. Unauthorized possession, duplication or use of keys to any University facilities or unauthorized entry to or use of University facilities.
  9. Violation of University policies, rules or regulations or of campus regulations including, but not limited to, those governing residence in University-provided housing, or the use of University facilities, or the time, place and manner of public expression.
  10. Manufacture, use, possession, sale or distribution of alcoholic beverages or any controlled substance without proper prescription or required license or as expressly permitted by law or University regulations, including operating a vehicle on University property, or on streets or roadways adjacent to and abutting a campus, under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance as prohibited by law of the state of Missouri.
  11. Disruptive or disorderly conduct or lewd, indecent, or obscene conduct or expression.
  12. Failure to comply with directions of University officials acting in the performance of their duties.
  13. The illegal or unauthorized possession or use of firearms, explosives, other weapons, or hazardous chemicals.
  14. Misuse in accordance with University policy of computing resources, including but not limited to:
    1. Actual or attempted theft or other abuse.
    2. Unauthorized entry into a file to use, read, or change the contents, or for any other purpose.
    3. Unauthorized transfer of a file.
    4. Unauthorized use of another individual’s identification and password.
    5. Use of computing facilities to interfere with the work of another student or faculty member
    6. Use of computing facilities to interfere with normal operation of the University computing system.
    7. Knowingly causing a computer virus to become installed in a computer system or file.

Ethical Leadership: Doing What’s Right

Ethical leadership includes making decisions about what is the right thing to do and acting on those decisions. The decision-making com­po­nent of ethical leadership can sometimes be easy, often be difficult, and occasionally be excruciating. The action component of ethical lead­er­ship may go unnoticed, often is applauded, and sometimes results in negative consequences. The ethics of leadership ac­counts in part for the oft-cited observation that “no one ever promised you it would be easy.” Ethical leadership is not easy, but it is right — and it is cur­rently being recognized as one of the most critical issues in leadership

An ethical person has both good character and good judgment. It is not enough to be a good person — we must also make decisions based on judgments that emerge from a set of principles. To be ethical, we don’t only think ethically — we behave ethi­cally. Ghandi ob­served that the ethical person would think, say, and do the same things.

Albert Schweitzer said, “In a general sense, ethics is the name we give to our concern for good behavior. We feel an obligation to con­sider not only our own personal well-being, but also that of others and of human society as a whole.”

Ethical leadership combines ethical decision-making and ethical behavior, and it occurs in both an individual and an organizational context. The ethical leader balances her or his obligation to self with obligations to the organization and the community within which the or­ganiza­tion exists. This means that the ethical leader selects or creates an organization that is consistent with his or her own individual ethi­cal prin­ciples, and then works with and through the organization to make decisions and engage in actions that are consistent with those principles.

The ethical leader has both responsibility and authority to enable an organization to be ethical and to do all that is possible to uphold indi­vid­ual ethics through organizational decisions and behavior. All organizational members have a stake in the ethics of their organiza­tion, and if they do not understand and adopt the ethical code or ethical norms, they have a responsibility to seek clarification or to advo­cate for a change in organizational ethics. However, responsibility of a leader is to make ethical decisions and behave in ethical ways — and to see that the or­ganization understands and practices its ethical code.