Memra

Policy 71: what it is, and its list of offences

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Student Discipline — not Policy 70, not Policy 72 — and how to place an act on the policy's own list of academic offences.

Three policy numbers that are each other's distractors

The University of Waterloo's Policy 71 is titled Student Discipline. It covers academic and non-academic offences, defines them, and sets out who investigates and what penalties exist. Two neighbours are the standard distractors, and you should know their titles too: Policy 70 is Student Petitions, Grievances and Requests for Reassessment — the route for a student who wants a decision reconsidered — and Policy 72 is Student Appeals, the route for appealing a decision made under 70 or 71. A fourth number that turns up is Policy 33, Ethical Behaviour, which governs the conduct of everyone in the university community and is not the student-discipline policy. (Titles as on the Secretariat's pages, read September 2026; the Policy 71 text itself was last updated in 2019 and 2020.)

The offence list is flat

Students expect the offences to be grouped under headings. They are not. Section 3 of the policy gives one illustrative list of academic offences, in the policy's own words, and says both that the list is not exhaustive and that attempting or assisting someone to commit an offence is itself subject to discipline. The labels you need, in the order the policy lists them:

  • cheating — gaining or giving an improper advantage in an evaluation (copying, letting another copy, submitting another's work, fabricating data, unauthorized consultation or aids in a test)
  • plagiarism — presenting others' work or ideas as your own, intentionally or not
  • unauthorized co-operation or collaboration, as defined by the instructor
  • unauthorized aids or assistance, as defined by the instructor
  • unauthorized resubmission of work
  • violation of examination regulations
  • impersonation — sitting an evaluation as another student, or arranging to be impersonated
  • obtaining, distributing or receiving confidential academic material
  • theft of intellectual property
  • academic or admission fraud discovered after registration
  • altering, falsifying or withholding a relevant document
  • misrepresentation — lying, false credentials, altering graded work, misrepresenting when work was submitted
  • obstruction or interference — tampering with another's data, files, materials or research
  • misconduct in research

Notice what is not a label: "aiding and abetting" is the principle that assisting an offence is an offence, not a category; "contract cheating" is a phrase from the integrity literature, not from the policy — a bought essay is cheating (submitting another's work) and plagiarism (presenting it as yours).

Worked example — eight acts, placed on the list

  1. Copying two answers from the person beside you in a term test → cheating (and a violation of examination regulations).
  2. A paragraph paraphrased from a report with no citation → plagiarism.
  3. Two students agreeing to share a draft on an assignment marked individual → unauthorized collaboration — for both, and the one who supplied the draft has also assisted an offence.
  4. Using a solutions site on a take-home the instructions forbid → unauthorized aids or assistance.
  5. Submitting your own AFM 191 essay again in an ARBUS course, without permission → unauthorized resubmission of work. This is the one that surprises people: your own work, resubmitted for new credit without the instructor's permission, is an offence.
  6. Asking a friend to sit an online quiz for you → impersonation — for both.
  7. Forging a doctor's note to get a deferred exam → altering, falsifying or withholding a relevant document (it is also misrepresentation; the document label is the more specific one).
  8. Deleting a group member's files from the shared drive the night before the deadline → obstruction or interference.

Six more to place yourself

A changed grade on a returned test handed back for "re-marking" (misrepresentation — altering graded work). Photographing the exam paper and posting it (obtaining or distributing confidential academic material). Telling the instructor an assignment was submitted Friday when the timestamp says Sunday (misrepresentation). Passing your Excel file to a classmate "to see the structure" (assisting an offence — unauthorized collaboration). Sabotaging another team's presentation file (obstruction or interference). Claiming a co-op credential you do not hold on an application (academic fraud / misrepresentation).

The method is always the same: find the policy's own label that fits most specifically, and remember that the helper is on the list too.

Policy 71 labelCoversExample actcheatingimproper advantage in anevaluationcopying in a term testplagiarismothers' work or ideas asyour ownuncited paraphraseunauthorized collaborationco-operation the instructorforbidsshared draft, individualworkunauthorized aidshelp the instructor forbidssolutions site on atake-homeunauthorized resubmissionyour own work, for newcreditAFM 191 essay in ARBUSimpersonationsitting an evaluation asanotherfriend writes your quizaltering / falsifying adocumentforged or changed recordforged doctor's notemisrepresentationlying; altered graded workchanged mark on a returnedtestobstruction or interferencetampering with another'sworkdeleting a group member'sfilesconfidential academicmaterialobtaining or distributingitposting the exam paperAssisting or attempting any of these is itself an offence (§3).
Policy 71 §3 lists the offences flat, in the policy's own words. Pick the most specific label; the helper is liable under the same list, because assisting an offence is itself subject to discipline.
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