Policy Announcements

Library Loan Policy

Books borrowed from the Midwives College of Utah must be returned within one month from the date of loan. The student can extend the library loan by calling or emailing the MCU office. If the book is not reserved by another student, the loan can be extended by two weeks. If the student plans to extend, it is advisable to coordinate this at least ten days before the due date.

Fees associated with library loans are as follows:
Shipping: Cost of shipping to and from your area plus insurance
Overdue fines: $1.00 for every day late up to and including the cost of a replacement book.
Fees will be debited from the student’s account and must be paid before other books can be loaned to the student or before graduation, whichever comes first.

MCU Honor Policy

Students enrolled in MCU must maintain high personal and professional standards. In the event a student exhibits behavior unbecoming to a midwife, MCU will conference with the student and develop an appropriate plan of action.

1.An incident of unfavorable behavior is reported to Academic Dean, President, Distance Director or Clinical Dean.
2. A meeting is held with student and Academic Dean, Registrar and instructor involved. The situation is discussed, and consequences are put in place. A log of the incident is placed in the student’s file. The Registrar will follow up with the student to insure the student had followed through with consequences. If student has not followed the action plan created during the first meeting, the student will be placed on academic probation for a time period appropriate to offense.
3.If there is another offense while the student is on academic probation, the student will be expelled from MCU.

Academic Excellence Policy

Students enrolled in MCU must maintain high academic standards. In the event that their GPA falls below 2.5, MCU will conference with the student, develop a plan of action appropriate for the individual student and their specific situation.

1.If a student’s grade point average has fallen below 2.5, the registrar will contact the student and the student’s preceptor(s) and make them aware of the situation and a plan of action will be put into place. A log is kept in the student file.
2.If a student’s grade point average stays below 2.5 for two semesters in a row, the Registrar will contact the student and arrange a meeting with the Academic Dean, student and Registrar to re-evaluate the plan made in the previous semester. The student will be put on academic probation.
3.If a student’s grade point average stays below 2.5 for three semesters in a row, the Registrar and Academic Dean will meet with the student and determine if the student is an appropriate midwife candidate.

Academic Probation Policy

Student midwives enrolled in MCU must maintain high academic, personal and professional standards. In the event that their GPA falls below 2.5 steps will be taken to help the student improve GPA.

1.If a student’s grade point average has fallen below 2.5, the Distance Director will contact the student and make him/her aware of the situation. Together, the Distance Director and the student will develop a semester plan to improve the GPA. The plan may include coaching conversations, study groups, student mentors, and teacher support of the student’s unique learning style. A log will be kept of student’s progress. 2.If the student has shown improvement during the semester, the Distance Director will make note and the student will work towards maintaining and continued improvement of the GPA. 3.If the student’s GPA does not improve the Distance Director and the student will devise a second semester plan to improve the GPA. A log will be kept of student’s progress 4.If a student’s GPA falls below 2.0, she/he will be placed on Academic Probation. The student, faculty and deans will be notified. 5.Students on academic probation for one term who do not meet the 2.0 cumulative GPA requirement in the successive term of enrollment will be placed on Academic Suspension for at least one term. To reenroll, a student must meet with the President, Academic Dean and Distance Director. Students who have been suspended are denied all privileges as an MCU student.

Honor Policy- Preceptor Notification

Student midwives enrolled in the Clinical Program must maintain high academic, personal and professional standards. In the event that their GPA falls below 2.5 or a student exhibits behavior unbecoming to a midwife, MCU will notify their preceptor(s).

1.If a student’s grade point average has fallen below 2.5, the Clinical Dean will contact the student and the student’s preceptor(s) and make them aware of the situation and a plan of action will be put into place. A log is kept in the student file.
2.An instructor reports that a student enrolled in the clinical program behaves in a manner unbecoming a midwife. The instructor contacts the Academic Dean. A conference is held with all involved parties and consequences are determined as appropriate with the misbehavior, or as outlined in applicable policy. The Clinical Dean contacts the preceptor(s), as appropriate and makes them aware of the situation. A log of the incident will be kept in the students file.

Academic Integrity

The expectation of the Midwives College of Utah is that all work turned in by a student is the product of her own endeavors. Violations, which include but are not limited to, cheating, providing misleading or false information to staff or instructors and plagiarism, are cause for disciplinary action, including failure of assignment, conferences with MCU President and/or Academic Dean or expulsion from Midwives College of Utah.

Failing to give credit where credit is due is known as plagiarism. Copying, distributing, modifying or displaying a copyrighted work is known as copyright infringement.

1. Students are required to use APA format to cite all specific sources both in-text and in a reference list.
2. Avoid writing papers that "cut and paste" beyond what is appropriate. Generally speaking, no more than 20% of your paper should be direct quotes. Your instructor is looking for papers with your thoughts and ideas as well as supporting references.
3. If you paraphrase another person's written or spoken words, you are also plagiarizing. "You are guilty of the academic offense known as plagiarism if you half-copy the author's sentences - either by mixing the author's phrases with your own without using quotation marks or by plugging in your synonyms into the author's sentence structure." (Writer's Reference, Diana Hacker, 5th edition). This is not to say that you cannot use another person's ideas or words and put them into your own words. Just remember that when you do so, you acknowledge the source of information using the APA format.
4. MCU does not tolerate the submission of a paper that is written by another person or is "ghostwritten".
5. If you own a copyrighted audio or video recording, you must have permission from the copyright holder to copy, distribute, modify, display or perform their work. If you do not have this permission, you are infringing upon the copyright and could be subject to legal prosecution by the owner of the copyright.

Any time a teacher sees plagiarism, it will be reported to the Academic Dean and/or President and a log of the incident will be placed in the student's file. If offenses are taking place in more than one class, any offense after an initial warning from any or all class instructors will accrue towards a second or third offense.
o First offense: Instructor will conference with the student and student will redo the assignment.
o Second offense: Automatic failure on the assignment and mandatory conference with MCU President and/or Academic Dean.
o Third offense: Failure of the course and possible expulsion from Midwives College of Utah.

Complaint and Grievance Policy

The purpose of the Grievance Policy is to provide a vehicle in which a complaint may be brought forward; a fair and complete investigation undertaken; and appropriate action taken. This is a mechanism through which students, faculty, preceptors or staff of the Midwives College of Utah may be educated and protected if there is misconduct on the part of a student, faculty, preceptor or staff of MCU.

Grievances may be classified as follows:
A Complaint is a negative occurrence arising in any interaction between student, faculty, preceptor and/or administration. It may be reported by the injured party or another concerned party.

The purpose of a Complaint Review is to discover the facts and to provide support, advice, and correction as appropriate.

A Complaint is differentiated from a Grievance by the fact that it has been reviewed by one or more Grievance Committee members who have determined that the action requires more than support, education and advice.

The first step in resolution for any concern or complaint should be a conversation between the individuals directly involved. If this doesn’t bring satisfactory resolution, a formal grievance may be filed.

The process for doing so is as follows:

Activating Classes

April 17th 2008

During the month of April, we will be updating some of the curriculum in preparation for the May semester. Because of this update, it is imperative that you do not activate a new class until May 5th. If you do so, it is possible that you will be working from an incorrect curriculum and will have to resubmit work.