02/24/2026

Reflecting to Return: Supporting Suspended Academic Integrity Students

by Victoria K. Malaney-Brown

Image credit: Author using Gemini Pro 3 with prompt “create an image of college student dealing with an academic integrity suspension but growing through reflection and career aspirations”

One of the benefits of being an inaugural Director of Academic Integrity is having the ability to create programming when you notice a need or a gap in services for students. At my institution, Columbia University in the City of New York, I am the only administrator with a focused title on Academic Integrity and I have had the privilege of creating new opportunities for undergraduate students at Columbia College and Columbia Engineering. The biggest area of learning is through self-reflection whether through my one-on-one integrity case management conversations, referrals to campus workshops on ethical decision making with partners in the Writing Center or Libraries, and even a week long series of programming with Integrity Week. However, one of the most impactful programs that I have created thus far has been to support the growth, learning, and development of college students who have been suspended for academic dishonesty.

For many students getting a notice of suspension feels like the ultimate failure, especially since a suspension due to a breach in ethics or integrity can be one of the most serious cases in higher education. I choose to view suspension as an opportunity to help the student really wake up and understand the true consequences of their actions. Now for most students, receiving the outcome of a suspension is arguably one of the worst days of their lives. With my student population of undergraduates at Columbia, many initially think that they will not recover from such a transgression, but I know better and have now seen many cases of student success after a suspension due to an academic integrity violation. As a result, this is why my program was created.

During the 2019-2020 academic year (my second year at Columbia) I worked with my first suspended students to support them during their time away from campus. Every year since then, I have continued to provide individual support and coaching to students returning from a suspension.

Program Structure

At its core, the program is initially a series of three meetings while students are away from campus that are scheduled virtually. The first meeting happens after the student receives the final disciplinary outcome of an academic integrity suspension and after the conclusion of the appeal process. The second follow up meeting is about a month after the initial suspension. The third meeting occurs about one to two months prior to reenrollment.

First Meeting 📖

This first meeting is scheduled to get a sense of what the student’s goals are and how their time away from academics will be meaningful and purposeful in helping the student utilize this forced pause in their education to see the opportunities of how they can focus on what they want to learn and do during their time away from school. This meeting can be in person if the student is still on campus, or virtual if the student has already moved off campus to the community that they are returning to.

For example, I have worked with some undergraduate students whose plans while away from campus were to work in an industry that they think they want to pursue (e.g. hospital, finance/banking, law), volunteer in schools, travel domestically/internationally, or complete an internship in their local community.

During my first follow up meeting after suspension, we discuss all of the possible options and review what access they have to family and peer support during their time away. Many students at this time tend to still be struggling with shame and feeling conflicted about the true impact of their actions. We conclude the meeting with options to find a local mental health provider if they would like to continue to process and cope with any feelings of disappointment and anger. I also pay special attention and discuss any connections to their faith-based community (if applicable). We conclude our meeting by scheduling our next check in meeting (usually a month after our first) and I give the student a resource handout detailing plans for a gap year, prompts for reflective journaling, and self-help support podcasts.

Second Meeting  📔

During the second follow up meeting, the student generally has a better sense of what they will be doing with their free time now that they are not in classes. This meeting uses the S.M.A.R.T. goal framework to help the student reflect on their time away from school and make decisions about how they will either volunteer, work, travel and do so intentionally to rethink their goals of why they were a student in the first place at Columbia. Having the time to think, write down their new goals, and reevaluate their stressors helps students better understand their breach in academic integrity, focusing on their actions, but also the impact of their decision. I also assign the student their reflection assignment which is based on the type of integrity policy violation. For example, if it was a testing exam violation, but the student also indicated that they were dealing with intense stress, uncertainty about learning goals of the course, and didn’t know how to communicate with the Professor or advisor, I use this information to customize a tailored assignment. Typically, the assignment will focus on the students’ expressed interest in their career pathway and also get them to revisit their own self-care practices as well as give them permission to not feel guilty about just being away from school and academics.

Third Meeting 📚

In the third meeting, the student meets with me to review their completed reflection assignment and to check in on their progress with their volunteerism, job, or any activities they have been involved with, including therapy (if needed) while away from campus. This final meeting in the suspension support program prepares the student to return to our campus. In this conversation, the student speaks with me as the Director of Academic Integrity and gets support in making connections with the Counseling or Disability Services Offices (if applicable), the Libraries, and of course their academic advisor. We also discuss their plans to re-engage with social and club activities on campus. Finally, we focus on time management strategies and review their goals for the incoming semester.

Final Reflections: Ongoing Monthly Check In Meetings 🎒🎓

After the student returns to campus and moves back into their residential hall, as Director of Academic Integrity, I continue monthly check in meetings to ensure the student’s transition back to campus is as smooth as possible. In these monthly meetings, we review their semester goals. For instance, a goal could be “I would like to join a new club on campus” or “I will attend weekly tutoring and attend the Writing Center workshops.” The main goal of these check in meetings is to provide the student with ongoing support and identify any challenges they may be facing head on before the student becomes overwhelmed. We typically conclude meetings by the final month of the semester where the student fills out a survey form to provide feedback to the Director and reflects for the final time on the support that they have been receiving and what they will do moving forward to ensure they maintain their values and integrity.

While I feel I have had the privilege of supporting Columbia students who return from suspension, here is a student perspective from an anonymous survey:

“Meeting with the Director of Academic Integrity, Dr. Malaney-Brown, was very helpful for reflecting and also for learning about academic resources. The questions she posed in both the reflection assignment and in our discussions, as well as her own perspective that she shared, were specific and thought-provoking. I felt like we had really productive conversations, where every new comment or topic would build on the last. I also thought it was really engaging because we wouldn’t stick to just one topic and the various topics we did talk about weren’t surface-level or solely logistical. We also went into more personal subjects, which I felt very comfortable doing with her and it helped me have a deeper reflection about how I wanted to be worthy of other people’s trust. Also, I wasn’t expecting to receive so many resources about my future academic and career goals during our meetings, so this was a very helpful surprise.”

As students like this one shared, programs that support suspended students fill an urgent need in higher education to help them heal. We owe it to our students to not just sanction them, but allow them intentional time and space to grow, reflect, and be ready to return to campus with newfound confidence and purpose in their academic and career goals. Having a program like this can do just that and more.

Overall, the suspension support program for academic integrity students was so successful with Columbia College and Columbia Engineering undergraduate students that it is now being used as a model for student conduct suspensions through the Return to Columbia Program. If you would like to consult with me to see if creating an academic integrity suspension support program would be beneficial for your campus please reach out to me at ugrad-integrity@columbia.edu.

Victoria K. Malaney-Brown, PhD is the inaugural Director of Academic Integrity at Columbia University in the City of New York serving the undergraduate schools of Columbia College and Columbia Engineering.