In advance of the Honor Committee’s transition of power in early April, current members approved an amendment Sunday meant to improve trial processing efficiency and also unveiled a new Web site meant to better communicate with students.
The amendment, which had been discussed for several weeks, alters sections IV.C.8. and IV.E.5 of the Committee’s bylaws so that students accused of an honor offense must now select a trial date from a list of choices within a set amount of time or forfeit the right to a trial. The amendment states that the Committee will provide a student accused of an honor offense with at least five proposed trial dates through both e-mail and certified mail.
According to the amendment, the student will be given a 10-day period — called the “Trial Request Period” — to respond following the “delivery of notice of accusation by the Investigation Panel.” During the 10-day period, the student must inform the Vice Chair of Trials, in writing, of his chosen trial date, counsel, composition of the trial’s jury panel and whether the trial will be open or closed.
If a student does not choose a trial date or provide “good cause” for not doing so — as determined by the Vice Chair for Trials or Committee Chair — then he will be “deemed to have waived the right to an Honor trial and to have admitted guilt (or ‘LAGGED’).”
Several members of the Committee expressed hope that the new amendment will help address some of the concerns the Committee has had in the past about trial expediency and efficiency. Third-year College student Alex Carroll, who is also the incoming vice chair for trials, said she believes the amendment is a positive step toward addressing the issue.
The amendment guarantees that resources are not allocated to a trial that will not occur, Carroll said. It also will centralize the process and allow the Committee to work with students more directly.
In addition to voting on the amendment Sunday night, Chair of the Technology ad-hoc Committee Thaddeus Darden, a fourth-year Engineering student, presented the new Honor Web site to the Committee.
“The Web site is something that we have been working on throughout the term behind the scenes,” Honor Chair Jess Huang said.
Darden said the Committee had to overcome “lots of hurdles” to get the Web site up and running, like making sure the site graphically fits in with the rest of the University’s site standards, is aesthetically appealing and is easy to use.
The old site was text heavy, Darden said, also noting that it was difficult to navigate. The new site has a “very specific hierarchy” of organization so that information can easily be found, Darden said.
Other important elements of the new site include easily accessible platforms to advertise and comment about honor-themed events, a more frequently used honor blog and a news section.
In addition, both Darden and Huang discussed future plans to hopefully add an anonymous two-way feedback system.
Currently, the Committee’s Web site provides an area for students to comment about issues anonymously, but there is no way for the Committee to “respond to [the comment] directly, only publicly,” Darden said. Huang said she hopes the Committee can create a system through which a committee member can directly respond to these anonymous statements without ever knowing the student’s name or e-mail.
“This is something that the new committee discussed during the retreat,” Darden said.
Although she “wouldn’t necessarily call them our last two projects” of the outgoing committee, Huang said the Committee has worked on the projects for some time.
The new Web site is currently unavailable to students but will become live during the upcoming week, Darden said.
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