The Honor Committee heard the first-ever report from Public Policy School representatives during its weekly meeting last night.
Fourth-year Batten students Jeff Bashaw and Tom Olszewski are the first Public Policy representatives on the Committee, and both students aimed to address concerns and goals meant specifically for the University’s newest school.
“This is the first year we have representatives throughout the school,” Olszewkski said, “and we really want to make sure it’s given representation because it is new and not very well known.”
Bashaw was not present during the meeting, so Olszewski presented goals and concerns on behalf of the Public Policy School before the Committee. One major area of concern Olszewski noted was the school’s small number of students in comparison to other schools on Grounds.
The Public Policy School “has different issues, especially because of its numbers,” which can affect issues of confidentiality, Olszewski said.
Currently, the Committee requires that at least three members from an accused student’s school must be present on his or her jury panel during a trial. But in a school as small as the Public Policy School, which has only 60 students, Olszewski said it would be difficult to find students unaware of the facts of the trial.
“We want to make sure confidentiality is always present,” Olszewski said.
To help ease this concern, Honor Chair David Truetzel said the Committee will consider a constitutional amendment in the fall semester that would no longer mandate that three students from an accused student’s school be on a student’s randomly selected jury. Olszewski said he would support such a proposal.
In addition, Olszewski said it is important to educate the Public Policy School and its constituents about the Committee and “how it functions in a graduate setting.”
“It is important that we enforce what [the Committee] stands for at the graduate level and to remind people that we still uphold the honor system,” Olszewski said.
Olszewski said because Public Policy courses involve a great deal of research, it is critical that students are aware of types of plagiarism and proper citation. Other overall issues of lying, cheating and stealing will be discussed with the Public Policy School community, including faculty members.
In addition, Olszewki said he hopes to meet with Harry Harding, who will become the first dean of the Public Policy School July 1. Truetzel also expressed an interest in meeting with Harding.
“[Harding will] obviously be very influential with setting that tone for everything, but [the Committee] especially,” Truetzel said. “It is important for the committee to make sure that [the Committee] is sort of a part of the foundational culture [as the school grows].”
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