The recent court case in British Columbia, Canada, involving a student suing instructors for alleged plagiarism at University Canada West raises an uncomfortable but important question: Should academic integrity policies apply only to students?
In this case, the court dismissed the lawsuit, noting that the university’s academic integrity policy explicitly applied to students, but not faculty. Although the legal reasoning is sound, the ethical implications are profound.
Integrity Is a Shared Responsibility
Academic integrity is not a student-only obligation. As Julia Christensen Hughes and I pointed out in our 2022 chapter on why academic integrity is about more than student cheating, faculty members are role models and gatekeepers of scholarly standards. When instructors are exempt from integrity policies, institutions risk creating a double standard that erodes trust and credibility.
Why does this matter?
- Role Modeling: Faculty are the standard-bearers of scholarly conduct. When instructors fail to uphold integrity, it undermines the credibility of the entire educational process. This is an idea repeated over and over again in the Second Handbook of Academic Integrity and one that emerged in the Comprehensive Academic Integrity Framework: academic integrity includes, and extends beyond student conduct.
- Trust and Fairness: Students trust that their learning environment is built on fairness. A double standard, where plagiarism policies apply only to students, erodes that trust. As I have written about elsewhere, trust has been a central theme of academic integrity for decades and is a foundation for education and it applies not only to students, but to faculty and administrators as well.
- Institutional Reputation: Universities thrive on public confidence in their academic rigour. Ignoring faculty misconduct risks reputational damage far beyond the classroom.
What should change?
Institutions need comprehensive integrity policies that apply to everyone—students, faculty, and administrators. These policies should include clear definitions, reporting mechanisms, and consequences for violations. Academic integrity is a shared responsibility, and everyone in the learning community is accountable.
Recommendations for Higher Education Institutions
- Expand and Unify Policy Scope: Ensure academic integrity policies explicitly apply to faculty, staff, and administrators, not just students.
- Develop Reporting Mechanisms: Create confidential, transparent processes for reporting and investigating faculty misconduct.
- Mandatory Training: Require regular integrity training for faculty, emphasizing ethical scholarship and teaching practices, as well as research ethics.
- Institutional Culture: Promote integrity as a shared value through leadership messaging, recognition programs, and open dialogue.
- Accountability Framework: Include consequences for faculty breaches in contracts and performance evaluations.
Call to Action
Academic integrity is a foundation of higher education. If we expect students to be honest in their work, then faculty must be held to the same (if not higher) standards. Universities and colleges should act now to close the policy gap, embed integrity in institutional culture, and hold everyone accountable. If we want students to take integrity seriously, faculty must lead by example. Anything less is hypocrisy.
References
Eaton, S. E. (2024). Comprehensive Academic Integrity (CAI): An Ethical Framework for Educational Contexts. In S. E. Eaton (Ed.), Second Handbook of Academic Integrity (pp. 1–14). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-54144-5_194
Eaton, S. E. (2025). Think Piece: Trust as a foundation for ethics and integrity in educational contexts. Critical Studies in Teaching and Learning (CriSTaL), 13(SI2), 4–7. https://doi.org/10.14426/cristal.v13iSI2.3057
Christensen Hughes, J., & Eaton, S. E. (2022). Academic misconduct in Canadian higher education: Beyond student cheating. In S. E. Eaton & J. Christensen Hughes (Eds.), Academic integrity in Canada: An enduring and essential challenge (pp. 81–102). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83255-1
Labbé, S. (2025, November 13). B.C. student sues his teachers over plagiarism, judge strikes case. Business Intellgence for BC. https://www.biv.com/news/human-resources-education/bc-student-sues-his-teachers-over-plagiarism-judge-strikes-case-11485013
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Sarah Elaine Eaton, PhD, is a Professor and Research Chair in the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary, Canada. Opinions are my own and do not represent those of my employer.
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