As the honor system receives increased scrutiny from faculty and Honor Committee members, two new groups of concerned students emerged this week ready to raise their voices on honor issues.
Students for the Preservation of Honor is dedicated to preserving the honor system's traditions, while another group formed this week, Hoos Against the Single Sanction, is dedicated to eliminating one of them.
Third-year College student Josh Hess, an honor support officer, announced the creation of SPH on Tuesday.
The group's two main goals are to "advocate for a set of policies which seek to preserve the honor system's greatest traditions like the single sanction and student self-governance" and to "energize the honor policy-making process by expanding it to the community of trust at large," according to a press release.
SPH members support a platform they call the "Culture of Accountability." They say the creation of the honor system in 1842 marked a transition from a culture of violence and unruliness to one in which every student is responsible for his actions.
"We are going to advocate for policies that remind us that we are accountable and that we do have a responsibility for honor's upkeep," Hess said.
In an effort to maximize student exposure to the honor system, Hess said the group is looking into policy proposals that will help revitalize the "Culture of Accountability."
At last Sunday's Honor Committee meeting, SPH member Matt Miller presented his "Honor Update" program which would post flyers containing "relevant, public information" about honor trials and initiations in dormitories, libraries and dining halls around Grounds.
"We want to give honor a more public, approachable face," Miller said. "We feel that the average student out there has no idea the amount of activity the honor system is engaged in."
Hoos Against the Single Sanction, co-founded by second-year College student Sam Leven and second-year Architecture student Marco Rivero, eventually hopes to develop viable alternatives to the single sanction.
"We're trying to create a forum and see what other people believe we should institute" instead of the single sanction, Rivero said. "Hopefully other people will put their two cents in and try to help us in this cause."
Rivero served as a juror in an honor case last October and said the experience led him to oppose the single sanction.
"The case itself that I was involved in did not merit expulsion," he said, adding that he is now in favor of some sort of graduated sanctioning system that penalizes convicted honor offenders in proportion to the severity of the crime.
Unlike Hoos Against the Single Sanction, Hess emphasized that the single sanction is "not the exclusive focus" of SPH.
"Our primary focus is the culture of accountability," he said. "The single sanction debate is something we're going to be engaged in energetically, but we did not create ourselves just to enter the debate."
After Wednesday's interest meeting attracted just one member to Hoos Against the Single Sanction, Rivero said their first mission will be to recruit more members.
SPH is comprised of five honor support officers. Hess said they would like expand its membership slightly to include students not directly involved with the honor system but also want to keep the group relatively small for easy management.
"Our focus would be on working with other groups and individuals rather than swelling our own ranks," he said.
Honor Committee Chair Meghan Sullivan said the Committee looks favorably on groups created to address honor issues and hopes students will bring their ideas to the Committee.
"The Committee is always supportive of students getting involved outside of Honor to help shape the system," she said. "It's a good thing for the honor system."
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