At the current Honor Committee's final meeting Sunday night, outgoing Chair David Truetzel announced the results of this weekend's elections for the new executive board, as well as looked back upon his year within the Committee.
Law student Charlie Harris was elected the new chair at the Committee's internal retreat. Accompanying him will be third-year Architecture student Danielle MacGregor as vice chair for community relations and Graduate Education student Maggie Thornton as the vice chair of education. Meanwhile, second-year Nursing student Page Dunbar will serve as vice chair for investigations, and third-year Commerce student Whitney Johnson will take the role of vice chair for trials.
The official transition will occur at midnight, April 5.
Truetzel said he hopes the new executive board will continue to build upon the Committee's successes from the past year, specifically pointing to passed amendments, transparency initiatives and educational issues.
For example, the Committee held an ethics forum last Thursday directed toward the Engineering School that was "outstanding," Truetzel said.
"I think it could be a great model for going forward in honor education and the ethics that underpin the honor system. I encourage the new Committee to think about it carefully," he added.
Rob Atkinson, outgoing vice chair for education, agreed that the outgoing Committee made impressive strides in terms of handling education, noting the issue of first-year education.
"We wanted to incorporate an online module for first-years, similar to the ones incoming students have to do before coming in the fall," Atkinson said.
First-year students now must complete online modules concerning University computing, as well as alcohol and substance abuse.
"I think the online honor module will go a long way in creating a baseline of an idea of honor, and it will get the factual parts of honor out of the way," Atkinson said. "Time on Grounds can be devoted more to discussion of honor and addressing more philosophical issues."
The public summaries amendment, which was passed during the University-wide elections in February, also may help to foster education efforts, said Alex Carroll, outgoing Vice Chair for Trials. The amendment, which will allow brief case summaries to be released after decisions are reached, was a tangible achievement to show for the Committee's goal to improve transparency, she said.
Carroll encouraged the incoming Committee to be more proactive about educating the University about the benefits of the honor system.
"So often our Committee is on the defensive, dealing with criticism," Carroll said. "I'd like to see the future Committee to be able to take a step forward without being prompted."
The outgoing Committee, Atkinson noted, was forced to cope with issues enduring from the previous term, as the controversial Semester at Sea case was left somewhat unresolved before the executive board transitioned, thus impeding the Committee's early progress.
"It was leftover from the term before us and we spent a lot of time on it," Atkinson said. "The new Committee won't have a lot of these lingering issues. They will be in a better position and won't be hampered by what we've left unfinished."
Harris remains confident in the future of the Committee and its work.
"We've got a Committee coming in that's very confident and enthusiastic about the goals that have already started to formulate," Harris said. "I hope we use these goals this year to move in an exciting direction"
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