The Honor Committee released its 2002-2003 case statistics last week, which reveal an overall decrease in cases brought before the Committee. The statistics also show that 62.5 percent of initiations were brought against racial minorities.
Only 48 cases were investigated this year, significantly less than the 196 initiations in 2001-2002, 158 of which came from Physics Prof. Louis Bloomfield. Statistics show an overarching downward trend as well, as initiations decreased from the 77 in 2000-2001, before the Bloomfield trials began.
Bloomfield's initiations sprung from a computer program which compares term papers in order to pinpoint instances of copying within a class and from year to year.
"I hope that means that in the aftermath of Bloomfield, students are more aware of what constitutes an Honor offense and the consequences that entails," former Honor Chair Christopher Smith said.
Bloomfield expressed the same desire.
"It certainly had an eye-opening effect in my class," he said. "I wouldn't be surprised if it spread elsewhere."
Despite the low number of investigations, the number of students going to trial remained stable. This year, 32 students went to trial after an investigation, compared to 31 last year and 28 the year before.
"Overall, in every demographic category, the cases were stronger this year," Smith said.
Of the investigated students, 19 percent were African-American and 42 percent were Asian, a category that encompasses students of Middle Eastern, Indian and East Asian origin. One Hispanic student was investigated and the remainder of investigated students were Caucasian.
International student comprised 42 percent of the investigated students.
Saket Narula, former Committee diversity advisory board chair, stressed that the sample was too narrow to allow for any general conclusions.
"These numbers shouldn't cause the community to shout out and say, 'We are convinced statistically there is spotlighting,'" Narula said. "It is wrong to make inferences about bias here; you have to analyze these numbers over a period of time, not just one year."
Smith also recognized the small size of the numbers presented in this year's statistics. Nevertheless, he acknowledged the presence of a disparity between the proportion of minority students with cases initiated against them and their representation in the student body.
"That continues a trend we've seen of spotlighting over the years," he said. "The Committee worked very hard this year to increase awareness of the issue and I'm sure that work will continue next year."
Okem Nwogu, current diversity advisory board chair, confirmed his plans to continue work on spotlighting.
"These statistics bring about great concern to me because they indicate certain hot spots in terms of initiations," Nwogu said. "There's more to be done and that's one of the charges that DAB has."
Thirty of the 48 investigations were brought against male students and 23 of those went to trial. Seven of the initiations were against athletes, six of whom went to trial.
Cases were initiated against students in the College, Engineering school, Commerce school and Law school, with two thirds of investigations occurring in the College.
Continuing trends from previous years, the majority of cases investigated involved cheating, and faculty were the primary initiators.
Honor Chair Carey Mignerey said he plans to make use of this year's results.
"We will certainly take these numbers into account for how we strategize for our programs this year," he said. "This reflects the importance of us redoubling our education efforts."
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