Filing Incidents: Step-by-Step

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Every Academic Integrity Violation (AIV) filing begins with an investigation. Starting an investigation doesn't mean you have to file, only that you have a suspicion that misconduct has occurred. Academic integrity investigations follow a simple "3-3-3" process of three steps, each taking up to three business days.

Step 1: Faculty Notifies Student of Academic Incident

Faculty must notify the student via their Conestoga email within three business days of noticing potential misconduct.

  • Note that this is three days from when the incident is first suspected, not three days from when the incident/evaluation occurred.
  • If an incident occurred in a testing situation, and the student was told immediately of the faculty's intent to file, the full 3-3-3 is still required. The faculty must follow up in writing to explain/summarize the incident.

This step creates an electronic "paper trail," and allows the student a fair opportunity to explain any possible misunderstanding. This reduces the chances of an appeal.

Step 2: Student Response

The student has three business days to respond to their faculty with evidence. This can include an explanation that helps contextualize the situation, proof of original work (such as version histories, drafts, or research notes), or any other material that might shift the balance of probabilities in the case.  Some students may respond using our student email templates, or similar templates provided to them by CSI.

  • If there is still a productive ongoing conversation happening at the 3-day point, or if it is determined that a meeting needs to be scheduled and this cannot occur within the 3-day limit, the timeline can also be extended. Faculty are, however, encouraged to keep the process as close to the three-day limit as possible to reduce both faculty workload and student stress.
  • If the student is sending repeated emails with no new evidence, it is better to move on.
  • NOTE: Student Success Week does not count towards the three business days.

Once a student has sent all of their evidence, faculty can move to Step 3, even if less than three business days have passed. If the student does not reply within the three business days, the faculty can move to Step 3.

Step 3: Decision Outcome

Faculty have three business days to make their final decision and file the incident based on the available evidence and the balance of probabilities (i.e. whether misconduct is more likely than not to have occurred). There are two outcomes: 

  • No academic incident is filed; or 
  • An academic incident is filed using the Integrity Violations tab located in the Employee Portal.

Once an outcome has been finalized, the student will be notified via automatic email to their Conestoga email.

Faculty are welcome to use our faculty email templates to help compose email communication at any step of the 3-3-3 process. A similar set of student email templates exists for students to use in response.

The formal policy and procedure documents can be found here.