The Honor Committee discussed the possibility of bringing back the non-toleration clause at its meeting Sunday night.
The non-toleration clause, which allows honor charges to be brought on students who witness but do not report honor violations, was eliminated from the honor code in the 1970s.
College Rep. Brock Saunders suggested the Committee discuss the issue, which has been addressed periodically since its removal from the honor code.
"It would be a symbolic issue of honor," Saunders said.
Committee members voiced concerns about how to enforce such a policy.
"Part of me thinks it's philosophically sound, but at the same time, enforceability is a question and whether or not non-toleration would fall under the single sanction," Commerce Rep. Matt Miller said.
According to Vice Chair for Investigations Lauren Ross, data given at a recent Center for Academic Integrity Presentation showed that schools with non-toleration clauses spend most of their time enforcing them and non-toleration clauses do not do much to change the environment.
"It really decreases the legitimacy of the system as a whole by having an offense that no one believes in," Vice Chair for Trials Stewart Ackerly said.
Hobbs suggested the possibility of a confrontation clause, which would force students who witness honor violations to confront the perpetrators.
"The end goal is to have students hold each other accountable," Hobbs said. "It would be a little bit weaker than non-toleration, but it could also be effective."
Committee members stressed the fact that none of these changes can be effective without student support and involvement.
"You can't legislate a change in somebody's attitude," Continuing and Professional Studies Rep. David Perez said.
Ross suggested that this issue highlights that the benefits of the honor system can only exist within a culture of accountability.
"People have to hold each other accountable to make sure we can maintain the all those benefits," Ross said.
This issue is easy to identify but difficult to solve, Hobbs said.
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