Teaching & Learning
- The MES graduate handbook states that using AI to complete any portion of an assignment is not allowed unless faculty specifically allow it
- AI use in coursework and assignments is governed primarily by faculty, course, program, project, and assignment rules rather than a single uniform allowance
- Students must not use AI to do their work unless a faculty member specifically permits it, and prohibited or unauthorized AI use is treated as academic dishonesty
Many syllabi will include rules for using AI. If AI isn’t mentioned, ask your faculty about it immediately to avoid misunderstandings.
Varied Policies: Expect that AI policies will vary between faculty, offerings, and even specific projects and assignments.
Course/Program-Specific Rules: Some faculty members will encourage or even require the use of AI, while others will prohibit it. These decisions are based on the learning goals for the course or program.
Originality: Ensure all submitted work is your own, reflecting your unique voice and ideas. If you use AI tools for assistance, do not use it to do the work for you, unless explicitly permitted by your faculty.
Using assistance or materials that are expressly forbidden to complete an academic product or assignment (including AI);
Using Aritificial Intelligence software, such as Chat GPT, copilot, or other applications, to complete any portion of an assignment unless specifically allowed by faculty.
- The university does not provide an AI rule specific to exams or quizzes in the provided sources
- Instead, use of AI in assessed work depends on whether materials or assistance are authorized, and unauthorized study aids or forbidden assistance in any academic exercise are treated as cheating or academic dishonesty
Cheating is defined as using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information or study aids in any academic exercise.
Using assistance or materials that are expressly forbidden to complete an academic product or assignment (including AI);
- AI may be used for assistance in learning only within faculty-set boundaries
- Students are told AI policies vary by faculty and assignment, and they may use AI for assistance only if it does not do the work for them unless the faculty member explicitly permits that level of use
Many syllabi will include rules for using AI. If AI isn’t mentioned, ask your faculty about it immediately to avoid misunderstandings.
Varied Policies: Expect that AI policies will vary between faculty, offerings, and even specific projects and assignments.
Originality: Ensure all submitted work is your own, reflecting your unique voice and ideas. If you use AI tools for assistance, do not use it to do the work for you, unless explicitly permitted by your faculty.
- There is no separate coding-specific academic rule in the provided sources
- However, AI use rules vary by faculty and assignment, and Microsoft Copilot is institutionally available and described as useful for "writing code," while students still must follow faculty restrictions and may not use AI to do their work unless explicitly permitted
Course/Program-Specific Rules: Some faculty members will encourage or even require the use of AI, while others will prohibit it. These decisions are based on the learning goals for the course or program.
Originality: Ensure all submitted work is your own, reflecting your unique voice and ideas. If you use AI tools for assistance, do not use it to do the work for you, unless explicitly permitted by your faculty.
Copilot streamlines tasks, whether generating content, analyzing data, summarizing documents, or writing code.
Follow college guidelines about using AI tools appropriately and ethically, see: AI Essentials for Students.
Research
- The provided sources do not define a university AI policy for using AI to draft, edit, or format research papers, theses, dissertations, or manuscripts
- The only directly relevant research-integrity rule is that plagiarism in proposing, performing, reviewing, or reporting research is research misconduct
Research misconduct means fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism in proposing, performing, or reviewing research, or in reporting research results.
- The sources do not set an AI-specific rule for using AI in research data collection, analysis, statistics, synthetic data, or interpretation
- However, Evergreen permits Microsoft Copilot as a protected institutional tool for tasks including data analysis, and research misconduct policy prohibits fabrication or falsification in research and reporting
Copilot streamlines tasks, whether generating content, analyzing data, summarizing documents, or writing code.
Research misconduct means fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism in proposing, performing, or reviewing research, or in reporting research results.
- No separate AI-specific IRB or grant-proposal rule is stated in the provided sources
- Human-subjects research by faculty, staff, or students must be reviewed and approved by the IRB before it begins, and student human-subject projects are guided by Belmont principles
- Evergreen applies its research misconduct framework to all research by faculty, staff, students, and affiliated personnel, and defines misconduct as fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism in proposing, performing, reviewing, or reporting research
The Institution adopts the following Public Health Service (PHS) definition of research misconduct:
Research misconduct means fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism in proposing, performing, or reviewing research, or in reporting research results. Research misconduct does not include honest error or differences of opinion (42 CFR §93.234).
This policy applies to:
* Research proposed, conducted, or reported at Evergreen by those with an appointment or official affiliation with Evergreen, i.e., faculty, staff, students, and all personnel participating in research on behalf Evergreen
The Evergreen State College requires that all research conducted by faculty, staff, or students involving human subjects be reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) prior to research initiation.
The principles articulated in the Belmont Report should guide any investigation relying on human participants, whether or not the project requires review by the IRB: first, minimize the risk to participants and ensure the potential benefits outweigh the risk (beneficence); second, ensure all participants are fully informed about the purpose, procedures, and risks of the research and give voluntary consent to participate (respect for persons); third, promote equity in research (justice).
Academic Integrity
- Disclosure and citation of AI use are determined by faculty rules rather than a single institution-wide citation format
- Students are expected to follow faculty requirements for acknowledging or citing AI use, and when uncertain they are told to ask for clarification
Acknowledgment and Attribution: Follow your faculty's rules for acknowledging or citing AI use. If unsure, ask for clarification. APA, Chicago, and MLA provide guidelines for citing generative AI work.
- The provided sources do not state a university position on AI-detection software
- Enforcement is handled through existing academic honesty and student conduct processes: unauthorized AI use can constitute academic dishonesty, reports can be made by anyone, college officials review complaints, and penalties may be severe, including loss of credit, referral to conduct officials, expulsion from programs, or possible dismissal from the graduate program
All forms of academic dishonesty, including cheating, fabricating, facilitating academic dishonesty and plagiarism, are violations of Evergreen's Social Contract.
Your academic program often forms a covenant which will set out the roles and responsibilities of the members of your learning community. It may include possible penalties and procedures for appeal to the deans. Penalties for violation of the standards of academic honesty may be severe, such as expulsion from programs.
The Code describes the processes that the college uses to hold students accountable for behaviors that violate Evergreen's standards of student conduct.
Anyone who is aware of a Code violation can make a report. College officials will conduct a review of the complaint and determine an appropriate remedy if needed.
Using Aritificial Intelligence software, such as Chat GPT, copilot, or other applications, to complete any portion of an assignment unless specifically allowed by faculty.
A proven case of academic dishonesty by a graduate student will result in the loss of credit and possible dismissal from the graduate program.
However, if the first or subsequent incident of plagiarism is major or egregious (e.g., copying another student’s work or copying any work not originated by the student), the student may be referred to the MES Director or campus Conduct Officer.
Institutional & Administrative
- The only direct statements are that faculty may set course-specific AI rules and that Evergreen employees can access Copilot with data protection
- The provided sources do not define an AI policy for faculty or staff uses such as grading, feedback, lesson planning, recommendation letters, or administrative communications
Course/Program-Specific Rules: Some faculty members will encourage or even require the use of AI, while others will prohibit it. These decisions are based on the learning goals for the course or program.
Evergreen students and employees can access Copilot at m365.cloud.microsoft/chat
- Evergreen’s IT policy also requires users to protect college data and keep confidential information out of unsafe places
- Copilot is available to students and employees through institutional login, with enterprise data protection, no model training on prompts and responses, and protected access controls
- Evergreen instructs users not to share sensitive, personal, or confidential information with AI systems and recommends using its enterprise Microsoft Copilot environment for greater protection
Data Security and Safety: Be cautious with the information you share with AI tools, as it may no longer be private and could be used in ways beyond your control. Never share sensitive, personal, or confidential information with AI systems. Use Evergreen's enterprise license for Microsoft Copilot with Data Protection for greater protection.
Microsoft Copilot with Data Protection is an institutionally scoped AI-powered assistant and generative AI tool that ensures data privacy and security.
Evergreen students and employees can access Copilot at m365.cloud.microsoft/chat
Copilot with Enterprise Data Protection prioritizes security. Chat data is not saved and remains inaccessible to Microsoft or other large language models for training purposes. Your privacy and Evergreen's data are safeguarded.
Prompts and responses in Copilot are not used to train the underlying AI models. This separation ensures that our work content remains confidential.
Users of college information technology resources should:
* protect college data, and ensure that confidential information isn’t stored or displayed in unsafe places;
- The clearest institution-level direction is that AI expectations vary by faculty and that users should follow college guidance for ethical and appropriate use
- Evergreen has published student AI guidance and an institutionally scoped Copilot service, but the provided sources do not set out a formal university-wide AI governance framework, AI committee, or strategic roadmap
Tips for navigating the usage of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) and academic work.
Varied Policies: Expect that AI policies will vary between faculty, offerings, and even specific projects and assignments.
Microsoft Copilot with Data Protection is an institutionally scoped AI-powered assistant and generative AI tool that ensures data privacy and security.
Follow college guidelines about using AI tools appropriately and ethically, see: AI Essentials for Students.
DocuMark: Responsible AI Use for Academic Integrity
Knowing your institution's AI policy is step one. DocuMark helps enforce it fairly by empowering universities to manage AI-generated content, prevent cheating, and support student writing through responsible AI use.
Common Questions About Evergreen State College's AI Policies
Evergreen State College has defined AI policies in 12 of 12 categories, with an overall coverage score of 100%.
Disclosure and citation of AI use are determined by faculty rules rather than a single institution-wide citation format. Students are expected to follow faculty requirements for acknowledging or citing AI use, and when uncertain they are told to ask for clarification.
The provided sources do not state a university position on AI-detection software. Enforcement is handled through existing academic honesty and student conduct processes: unauthorized AI use can constitute academic dishonesty, reports can be made by anyone, college officials review complaints, and penalties may be severe, including loss of credit, referral to conduct officials, expulsion from programs, or possible dismissal from the graduate program.
Evergreen instructs users not to share sensitive, personal, or confidential information with AI systems and recommends using its enterprise Microsoft Copilot environment for greater protection. Copilot is available to students and employees through institutional login, with enterprise data protection, no model training on prompts and responses, and protected access controls. Evergreen’s IT policy also requires users to protect college data and keep confidential information out of unsafe places.