The Honor Committee will decide this Sunday whether it will send the forgiveness clause, developed by the Sanction Reform Committee, to this spring's student ballot.
In the meantime, students involved in the debate over sanction reform are split over whether the SRC proposal changes too much or too little in the honor system.
Under the forgiveness clause, a student convicted of an honor offense would be suspended for two semesters, and would then be eligible to re-enter the University. If convicted of a second honor offense, the student would be permanently expelled.
Sanction Reform Committee Chair Sara Page, who sponsored the proposal, said she believes the forgiveness clause is an appropriate compromise.
"What really changes with this forgiveness clause, I think, is the idea of a person's honor and whether or not they can recover from mistakes and whether or not they can be educated and whether or not this community can be compassionate," Page said.
Marco Rivero, president of Hoos Against Single Sanction, said the proposal is a "step in the right direction" but added he would prefer a more flexible system of multiple sanctions.
"A student who cheated on a 10-point quiz should not be treated the same as a student who stole a laptop from one of his or her roommates," Rivero said in an e-mail.
Other students say the current proposal is already too drastic.
Josh Hess, chair of Students for the Preservation of Honor and a member of the SRC, said he believes the SRC did not spend enough time exploring alternatives other than simply ending the single sanction policy.
Hess added he was also concerned that the voices of the students on the committee were overpowered by those of faculty committee members.
"It turns out that if the students alone had voted, it would have been six to five against the forgiveness clause," Hess said. "I think that people should be concerned that it's not something that is necessarily advocated for by students."
The current decision -- whether to send the amendment to the spring ballot for a student vote -- is up to the Honor Committee.
Students can learn more about the single sanction proposal by visiting www.singlesanction.com, where the SRC set up a discussion board for students to voice their opinions. Students can also attend the Committee's meeting this Sunday at 8 p.m.
And should the Committee decide to send the forgiveness clause to a student vote, Page said, "Students can express their opinions on it ultimately in the vote form."
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