Fuqua Community Standard

The most recent version is available at fuqua.duke.edu/fuqua-community-standard.

Duke University is a community dedicated to scholarship, leadership, and service and the principles of honesty, fairness, respect, and accountability. Citizens 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. To uphold the Fuqua Community Standard:

• I will not lie, cheat, or steal in my academic endeavors;

• I will conduct myself honorably in all my endeavors; and

• I will act if the Standard is compromised.

The Fuqua Community Standard embodies Fuqua’s principles. Community entails a sense of connectedness to others and their welfare, feeling part of Duke University every day, and being responsible for its continual improvement. Community refers as well to a feeling of connection to the region of the world in which we are located. It posits the counterbalancing of group benefit with individual needs and wants, and a Duke identity with the many personal identities based on demographics and interests. The kind of environment we strive to achieve is one in which civility (but not docility) reigns; an environment in which ideas are promulgated, and challenged, in a stimulating give and take; an environment in which learning (whether from peers, faculty, administrators, or others in the Duke and broader communities) is accomplished with openness, honesty, and respect. The Honor Code is a driving influence in the community standard because it expresses our institution’s core values and a concomitant set of expectations for behavior.

Because behavior is derivative of fundamental values, the Community Standard applies off campus as well as on. The principles it articulates, while lofty in one sense, are firmly grounded in individual decisions made on the ground every day about every aspect of the Fuqua experience, in academic, recruiting, and cocurricular activities alike; in the classroom and in hotels in all regions of the world—wherever students may go. In addition, the standard asks that students not only reflect on their behavior, as important as that is, but that they also act to encourage the integrity of their peers. By inspiring and supporting each other, students can shape their environment so that it reflects the ideals expressed in the Fuqua Community Standard.

The standard, therefore, expresses our goals for the Fuqua community in the broadest sense and is foundational to life as a Duke student. Duke University seeks to engage all students in its tradition of honor, a tradition that defines the institution and helps to guide students during their Fuqua experience and beyond. The students here today, who are the beneficiaries of the efforts of those who preceded them, have an extraordinarily important role to play in perpetuating and strengthening this tradition.

Student’s Obligation to Act

The Fuqua community stresses the commitment that students share with all members to enhance the climate for honesty, fairness, respect, and accountability at Duke University. Other than situations involving the Fuqua Honor Code, there are no disciplinary sanctions associated with the failure to act; however, students are nonetheless expected to take action—to do something—as a responsibility of membership in the Duke community.

The university recognizes that it is not always easy to act in these situations, and several alternatives are available to suit a student’s level of comfort and confidence. These alternatives are not mutually exclusive.

• Speaking directly with the individual exhibiting the behavior, both to gain clarity about the situation and to inform the individual about the concern.

• Publicly calling attention to the behavior as it is occurring.

• For incidents involving social behaviors, alert The Fuqua School of Business staff or other university staff. The information provided will give staff an opportunity to address the matter informally or through appropriate formal channels.

• For cases involving academic integrity, refer to the Fuqua Honor Code.