For the past several weeks, members of the Sanction Reform Committee have met every Thursday night on the fourth floor of Newcomb Hall, discussing among themselves current problems with the honor system and brainstorming viable alternatives to the single sanction.
As of last night's meeting, however, the committee is ready to take the issue to the public and open the single sanction debate to the entire University community.
"In the past couple of weeks we've done internal debate, had core values discussions, and come to an understanding of the real situation the honor system faces," committee chair Sara Page said. "I think there's an understanding that the work of this committee is wonderful, but this discussion needs to be happening with the full student body and the full University community."
In an effort to make their mission more manageable, Page divided the 18-member group into four task forces.
"A large focus of the work of this group will be forwarding the debate to the student body and the University community as a whole," Page said.
One of the groups will create public debate opportunities by organizing forums, speaker series, and student-group debates, as well as submit articles in various publications around Grounds.
Another group will create an educational and interactive Web site to display the pros and cons of the single sanction, faculty perspectives on the issue, policy recommendations and a message board to post comments.
A community relations group will work to ensure that the debate reaches all relevant factions of the University community. Page said such factions include students who may feel targeted by or excluded from the honor system, such as minority and international students and athletes.
The fourth group is charged with drafting a policy best suited to address the problems and weaknesses of the single sanction and the honor system as a whole.
The policy-drafting group identified five options to consider: a single-sanction system as is, a single-sanction system with a forgiveness clause, a multiple-sanction system, a graded-sanction system and a single-sanction system where the punishment is suspension rather than expulsion.
While formal deadlines have not been set in stone, Page said she hopes the groups will be able to make significant progress before the end of the semester. She said it would be ideal if the Web site could be up and running so students could look at it over winter break.
Honor Committee Chair Meghan Sullivan said she supports the Reform Committee in its mission to foster a University-wide discussion about the single sanction.
"I think generally it's a good thing to include as many people as possible in this process," Sullivan said. "I'm glad they're trying to make it a balanced debate and bring the University into the discussion early on."
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