Sunday the Honor Committee released its analysis of the faculty survey conducted in spring 2005 after choosing to interpret the data independent of the Center for Survey Research, which compiled the data.
The response addresses concerns of faculty understanding of the system, support for Honor, the role of Honor in the classroom, cheating at the University, faculty experiences with Honor, fair treatment of students and faculty interaction with the system.
Though the survey was conducted by the CSR, Committee members elected to interpret the data themselves in order to use the results to determine where improvements could be made.
"We weren't looking for a response that would just interpret the data," Vice Chair for Community Relations A-J Aronstein said. "We wanted to look at the data and say how the Honor Committee could respond."
According to the response, there is a significant lack of understanding of the honor system among faculty members.
Though the Committee hosts a reception about Honor for new faculty members every fall, some of the information "may be lost after a couple of years," Committee Chair Alison Tramba said. She added that many faculty members feel more comfortable going to their department chairs with questions about Honor rather than the Committee.
The Committee's response states, "the strong majority of faculty members supporting the honor system ensures that, as long as issues of concern are addressed by the Committee, faculty will continue to take interest in the system."
The survey organized a "classroom acknowledgement index" based on how faculty members address Honor in the classroom. Methods for doing this included explaining the honor code on a syllabus, discussing Honor with their classes, stating expectations about honor and asking students to sign Honor pledges. Faculty members earned a point for each of these methods they used. The mean score was 1.89.
According to the response, the Committee plans to provide suggested Honor policies to faculty members online.
Faculty members, when surveyed last year, reported low rates of observed cheating, according to the Committee's response, suggesting "that the honor system has an impact on student behavior in the classroom."
When faculty and teaching assistants were certain cheating had taken place, 16.4 percent reported the case to the Committee. Of teaching staff who suspected cheating, one percent reported the case to the Committee.
Regarding reasons for not reporting, "the biggest factor that was cited was lack of evidence," Tramba said. "We would encourage faculty members to allow us to evaluate at the i-panel stage the merits of the evidence."
Of those faculty members who had dealt with the Committee in the past two years, 88.2 percent of those surveyed reported that they were dissatisfied because Honor was "too lenient."
"A negative experience one faculty member has can have an impact on other faculty members," Tramba said.
In terms of the treatment that students received, 81.5 percent of faculty members who worked with Honor thought the accused student was treated fairly.
The Honor Committee response stated, "This key finding reflects the basic soundness of Honor processes."
According to the survey, very few teaching staff members know their Honor representatives. Sixteen percent of faculty and 10 percent of teaching assistants know their representatives.
According to the response, "it is the Committee's goal that, at a minimum, the Chair for the department has an established relationship with their Honor Committee representative."
Overall, the Committee viewed the survey results positively.
"The Honor Committee is pleased to learn that faculty members and TAs support Honor in general," the response stated. "The Committee recognizes its responsibility to reach out directly to the faculty and will continue to investigate new avenues of accomplishing this task."
Outgoing Faculty Senate Chair Kenneth Schwartz said the Faculty Senate has yet to study the Committee's response.
"Once we read the Honor Committee's analysis we'll be prepared to add our own ideas to the discussion," Schwartz said.
-- Maggie Thornton contributed to this article
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