The Honor Committee hosted a forum on Minorities and Honor last night, kicking off the weeklong Honor Forum to raise awareness of Honor issues before spring elections.
The forum included three speakers -- Sara Page, the Honor Diversity Advisory Board chair, Assistant Dean of Students Daisy Rodriguez and Professor of Business Administration Sherwood Frey.
The forum, titled "Minorities and Honor --What's the Deal?" addressed Honor issues affecting minority students, especially the disproportionate number of initiations against minorities.
Professor Frey reviewed the Faculty Advisory Committee Report on honor initiations that was published last spring.
The report shows that the proportion of honor cases initiated against international students, athletes and African-Americans was several times greater that the proportion of cases initiated against the general student population.
"There is absolutely no doubt that when one looks at expulsion cases that there is a significant statistical difference between minority and majority," Frey said.
In the FAC Report, a partial control was provided by the Bloomfield cases -- when University Physics Prof. Lou Bloomfield blindly initiated Honor cases on the basis of plagiarism-detecting software in 2000-2001.
"The question is, are we really looking at spotlighting minorities or at dimming majorities," Frey said.
Comparison of the initiation rates of Bloomfield and non-Bloomfield cases not only highlights the issue of initiations bias, but also shows that a large percentage of honor violations go unreported, Frey said.
Page focused on the issue of international students, noting that of the 30 trials this year, 17 were against international students.
Page spoke about the unique cultural and linguistic circumstances that affect international students as well as the special penalties for foreign students who are expelled.
"International students are looking at being deported immediately upon expulsion," Page said.
International visas do not allow foreigners to remain in the country once their student status has been terminated, and expelled international students face huge challenges when trying to return to the United States to continue their degrees.
"It really is a bigger penalty, especially if their [honor] education is inadequate," Page said.
Page urged those seeking positions on the Committee for this year to make this issue a priority.
"These are the majority of cases that are coming through the system now," Page said.
Rodriguez addressed the lack of minority involvement in the honor system.
"Honor is seen as an elite, white, mainstream organization," Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez urged the Committee to make minorities a priority as soon as they arrive at the University, not just when they are recruiting honor support officers.
"I know there are some steps being made, but I know there is also more to be done," Rodriguez said.
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