For the first time since the release of an in-depth report two weeks ago, members of the Honor Committee and the Honor System Review Commission formally convened to hear the general student body's candid reactions to major reform proposals to the University's 158-year-old honor system.
The proposals, intended to bring about drastic constitutional and procedural changes to the student-run honor system, drew concern and met challenges from audience members worried about what these changes would mean to the future of the system.
The Commission members, who argue that the 15 reforms - including six constitutional amendments - are necessary to "save the system before it's too late," listened to comments from about 50 students, faculty members and administrators in Minor Hall last night.
While a wide range of subjects were discussed and debated, three issues dominated the forum discussion. These issues were the Commission proposal to remove seriousness as a consideration in honor cases involving academic cheating, the proposal to replace randomly selected student juries with mixed juries of four Committee members and five random students, and one issue the Commission did not address in its report - the often debated topic of single sanction.
Panel and Commission member Neil Bynum, who also serves as the director of the Luther P. Jackson Cultural Center, explained that while the Commission did discuss the single sanction policy, members did not include it in the report because "single sanction has been up for referendum to the students three times in the last 10 years and each time it has been passed by the students. The Commission felt students had already voiced their opinion on this subject and so left it alone."
While Commission members attempted to explain the rationale behind their proposals, Committee members answered questions on how they would present the proposals to the student body and educate students on possible changes.
Jim Haley, panel member and Education School representative, explained that for the six constitutional changes to occur they would have to be voted on in a University-wide referendum in which 10 percent of the student body casts a vote. Of that 10 percent at least 60 percent of student votes must be in favor of the changes.
Haley said the Committee now is in the process of deciding whether to put all six proposals on the Student Council's spring election ballot or whether to pick one or two of the most important proposals for immediate votes and work to make more gradual changes to the system.
One thing Committee members made clear last night, and at Monday's Committee meeting, was that while the Commission is strongly in favor of adopting all 15 proposals, Committee members disagree - some very strongly - on whether the Committee should adopt any of the proposals or even whether the Committee should send the constitutional changes to the students for referendum.
"My concern is that the Commission sees the honor system as something we have an obligation to teach the students about rather than the students administering the system for themselves," Law School Rep. Dan Smith said. "The report removes from the students the right to determine what constitutes the community of trust. That is a fundamentally different system than what I signed on to."
Last night's forum drew a number of distinguished members of the University community including William W. Harmon, vice president for student affairs, and John Davis IV, the great-great-grandson of the man whose death inspired the formation of the honor system over 150 years ago.
Twenty-five years ago Davis was on a similar commission charged with reviewing and recommending overarching changes to the honor system. Davis commended the Commission members and the Committee for taking on the task of reviewing and trying to better the honor system.
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