The Honor Committee discussed the recently reported incident of homework copying in the Engineering School at its meeting last night.
In that incident, a student in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 321, "Fluid Mechanics," discovered that his homework was being removed and copied without his knowledge. The professor of the class, Hossein Haj-Hariri opted to change the class syllabus to exclude homework grades rather than to file honor charges.
Engineering Rep. Alison Tramba said she was very concerned about this and believes that there are other incidents like this occurring.
"Tolerating this sort of activity is not encouraged," Commerce Rep. Matt Miller said.
Tramba reminded the Committee much of the work done in the Engineering School is group work.
"Faculty need to be really explicit in their honor policy," Tramba said.
The Committee discussed the implications of the incident especially with regard to the lack of student initiations.
"There is significant proof that cheating has gone on," Honor Chair David Hobbs said. "What is deterring students from initiating cases?"
Committee members discussed the possible reasons for involved parties to opt out of using the honor system.
"My guess is that the outcome would be different had this not been homework," McFadden said.
In order to be found guilty of an honor offense a student must be found convicted guilty on three components: act, intent and seriousness.
"I think the seriousness issue is very misunderstood," Graduate Arts and Sciences Rep. Diane Gigantino said.
According to Tramba, the homework in the class was assigned weekly and was collectively worth 20 percent of a student's grade.
"The seriousness issue was actually what the professor was struggling over," Tramba said.
The Committee's bylaws state "an act is considered to be serious if open tolerance thereof would be inconsistent with the community of trust."
Any student who witnesses an honor offense can initiate, however, Gigantino said. Some students may believe only the professor, teaching assistants or directly affected students could bring chargers, she worried.
"I think it's also an opportunity to talk about who can initiate an honor case," Gigantino said.
Hobbs mentioned the possibility of the Honor Committee initiating cases.
"That's definitely more of a police force mentality," Hobbs said.
No such plans are forthcoming. Tramba said she and Engineering Rep. Dan Bowman intended to include a statement on this incident in a weekly e-mail to the Engineering school and to bring up the issue at the next meeting of the Engineering Student Council.
"We also need to use it as an opportunity to remind students that they take responsibility for the honor system," Vice Chair for Trials Stewart Ackerly said.
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