The Honor Committee discussed a proposal Sunday night to change the wording of the seriousness clause of the Honor Constitution.
To be convicted of an Honor offense, a jury must first find the accused student guilty of act and intent, and then find the student committed an act serious enough to merit expulsion.
The Ad Hoc Committee for Student Reporting's proposal would change serious to "not trivial" everywhere that it is mentioned in the Committee's bylaws.
Following discussions with the ad hoc committee and theHonor Committee at large, Alexander Hawkins, chair of the ad hoc committee, said he felt juries and the community at large had a hard time understanding the definition of seriousness.
"Rather than change the standard we wanted to take the standard and make it more concise," said Hawkins. "We believe this will help the trial panels and community at large be able to better understand the standard."
Hawkins added that virtually everyone on the ad hoc committee voted in favor of the proposal.
Some on the Honor Committee thought the re-wording might expedite the trial process.
"If you're looking at a case that involves academics, it's easier to determine if something is 'trivial' than 'serious,'" said Stewart Ackerly, vice chair for trials.
Ackerly also said many Honor support officers favor the proposal.
"We talked about this at the support officer meeting tonight," Ackerly said. "It was received pretty well. Everyone seemed to like this idea at least in terms of counsel and advisors."
Not everyone on the Honor Committee supported the proposed change.
"I'm just a little confused on how this really fixes the problem of jurors being confused about this vote," said Randall Warden, vice chair for education. "There is confusion with both definitions. They mean different things to different people ... I don't know if it accomplishes a whole lot."
Engineering School Representative Alison Tramba said the proposal "lessens the standard" for guilty verdicts.
Ackerly said the seriousness standard is "supposed to be ambiguous."
"The current student body can decide what that definition does mean," Ackerly said. "We're giving them a better idea of how to interpret it."
The committee will vote next week on whether the proposal will be sent to the student body during the referenda period, Honor Chair David Hobbs said.
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