Honor Counsel Brian O'Neill, a third-year College student, introduced a proposal to change the representation of students on the Honor Committee in yesterday's meeting. The proposal would increase the number of seats held by students from the College of Arts & Sciences to give the College representation proportionate to its enrollment.
Almost half of the University's total enrollment is now composed of students in the College, an increase from 46 percent when the Honor Committee's constitution was first ratified in 1977. The College currently holds three seats -- or 13 percent of the positions -- on the committee, according to the proposal.
O'Neill suggested increasing representation to around 20 percent in the proposal he submitted to the committee.
"It would be a bad idea for the College to have its full representation," O'Neill said. "It would dominate the community discussion and prevent other sides from being heard."
The proposal put forth two different approaches to solve the problem of the College's under-representation in the Committee. One approach would add two additional seats to the committee, increasing the number of seats allocated to members from the College from three to five.
The other approach would reallocate the 23 seats currently on the committee. Under this approach, representatives from the College would have six seats, the Engineering School would have three, and the Commerce School, Law School, Education School, School of Continuing and Professional Studies and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences would each have two. The School of Architecture, School of Nursing, Medical School and Darden School would be represented by one member each. Currently the committee is made up of two representatives from each school, with the exception of three representatives from the College.
Several committee members noted that the College tends to have more contested elections, marking an increased interest in Honor.
"Because so many of the support officers are from the College, the people that come from the College are the ones with case-oriented experience -- just experience in general," said Vice Chair for Education Kendall Fox.
O'Neill noted that he would petition to add the proposal to the ballot should it fail to pass in the committee.
The committee also discussed moving Honor documentation into an online format, with the goal of introducing a case processing system to streamline the investigative process. Though the details of the shift are under discussion, Vice Chair of Investigations Andrew Siegel said he plans to work with the Information Technology and Communication office to ensure the system implemented maintains security precautions to protect confidential information involved in the investigation process.
The committee was unable to vote on a proposed change of definitions in the bylaws because of a lack of quorum.
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