Policies and Procedures

Important Resources

The Economics Department regards its graduate students as junior professional colleagues. Accordingly, we expect graduate students to behave ethically in their academic work and to maintain high standards of personal conduct in the workplace and in all social interactions with any members of the academic community.

By the same token, the administrators and faculty of the Economics Department have an obligation to maintain an environment that is safe, comfortable, and promotes academic achievement.

To heighten graduate student awareness of certain issues, to indicate the expectations that we have for graduate student behavior, and to outline the kind of department that we hope to maintain, we have drawn together policy statements from a variety of sources at Georgetown University.

We expect every Economics Department graduate student to read and understand these policy statements and to comply with them: They will be discussed at the Economics Department orientation at the beginning of every academic year.

Policy Statements on:

  • I – Academic Integrity
  • II – Consensual Relations and Sexual Harassment
  • III – Discrimination

I – ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

Please read the above Graduate Bulletin carefully. A common defense against accusations of academic misconduct is the claim of ignorance. This defense is futile. The best course is to make sure that you never make a mistake that could be construed as a violation of academic integrity. If ever you are uncertain about the integrity of any action, please ask any faculty member or representative of the Graduate School.

II – CONSENSUAL RELATIONS AND SEXUAL HARASSMENT

Consensual Relations: A graduate student serving as a grader or teaching assistant may find that s/he has a supervisory or academic authority over another student with whom s/he enjoys a social relationship by mutual consent. The University Policy on Consensual Relations is provided in the Student Handbook.

Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault: Under current University policies, allegations of sexual harassment and assault are dealt with through the Office of Student Conduct. The relevant policy statements are in the Student Handbook.

The code of conduct that pertains to all Georgetown students also reflects these policies. The code of conduct can be found at: http://studentconduct.georgetown.edu/code-of-student-conduct

III – DISCRIMINATION

The University prohibits discrimination in education and employment on the basis of:

Age
Citizenship
Color
Disability
​Familial status
Family Responsibilities
Gender Identification or Expression
Genetic Information
Marital Status
National Origin
Personal Appearance
Political Affiliation
Pregnancy
Race
Religion
Sex
Sexual Orientation
Source of Income
Veteran Status 

This means that we evaluate, retain, and support our graduate students solely on the basis of academic merit. It also means that our graduate students may not discriminate against any member of the academic community. Please familiarize yourselves with the University policies on affirmative action and discrimination by reviewing the website: ideaa.georgetown.edu/policies/

The Student Handbook also reviews policies on Bias-Relate Conduct on pages 186 – 190.