At a meeting last night, the Honor Committee released its official case statistics for the 2000-2001 Committee term. The total number of investigations and trials was up significantly from last year, but the number of students found guilty of honor offenses remained the same.
There were a total of 77 investigations, 28 trials and 10 guilty verdicts between April 2000 and April 2001. Last year, there were only 47 investigations, 16 trials and 10 guilty verdicts.
"There have been variations [in the number of cases processed by the system] over the last several years," Honor Committee Chairman Thomas Hall said. "Typically, there are between 50 and 100."
"It is possible that the referenda raised people's consciousness about the honor system," Hall said. He added that a stronger orientation process for faculty may have been influential also.
The case statistics were compiled by Nicole Aremo, special assistant to the Committee. The statistics break down the data by race, gender, school, athletic status, offense and whether the student involved is an international student.
Of the 77 investigations, 34 were of white students, 18 of black students, 21 of Asian students and four of Hispanic students. These statistics do not reflect the actual distribution of races at the University.
The student body now consists of 71.2 percent whites, 9.5 percent blacks, 10.3 percent Asians, 2.3 percent Hispanics and 0.2 percent Native Americans.
Of the 10 guilty verdicts, four were for white students, none for black students, five for Asian students, one for a Hispanic student and one for a Native American student. The one case involving a Native American student was carried over from the previous Committee term.
This is the first year international students have been included in the honor statistics. In the past year, 15 international students were investigated, six had trials, and four were found guilty.
Although there were no statistics from previous years with which to compare these numbers, Hall said they seemed high.
"Some people had requested information [on international students], and we realized that was a category we should be keeping," Hall said.
But "it is dangerous to make any cultural arguments based on these data," he added.
The number of student athletes investigated for honor offenses was up considerably from last year. There were 20 student athletes investigated, nearly one-quarter of the students investigated. Last year, only four were investigated.
But, this year no student athletes were found guilty of offenses, compared with one guilty verdict from the previous year.
The statistics on the distribution of honor offenses were fairly consistent with past years, Hall said. The vast majority of cases dealt with cheating.
The system "has become much more of a system of academic integrity," Hall said.
College Rep. Brian Smith, chairman of the Committee's Diversity Advisory Board, stressed the importance of publicizing the new statistics.
"A key way to address issues of spotlighting of minorities and athletes is to show that they are brought up on more charges," Smith said.
"It's not the Committee that initiates charges," Smith said, pointing out that bias may begin at the initiation stage rather than once the cases enter the system.
"It's really easy to say the Honor Committee is racist, but I feel very confident in the fairness of the system itself," Hall said. "The [distribution] of initiations speaks for itself. These numbers are just shocking in some areas," he said.
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