After spending a term focused on procedural issues, the Honor Committee's executive board members said they plan to hold more conversations that will encourage students to think actively about the system during the fall semester. In addition, the Committee hopes to do more to accommodate minority groups, while increasing the flexibility of Commerce students' exam schedules.
Committee Chair Charlie Harris said he believed all of the procedural changes were necessary and appropriately timed. Both those changes and the advantage of having several returning members will help the committee achieve its goals, he said.
"We're going to take advantage of the experience we have and use it to reach outside our realm and really talk to students," Harris said.
In particular, the executive board is emphasizing that different school representatives must have at least one engagement activity with their schools planned for the fall. Many plans will include forums, she said, similar to the one the Engineering School conducted this semester, Vice Chair for Community Relations Danielle MacGregor said. The Committee members, however, want to focus their message on what students think the honor system should be, rather than just discussing what the Committee wants the system to be, MacGregor said.
Vice Chair for Education Maggie Thornton added that the Committee is considering updating its definition of minority groups to include more than just students of color. A new definition could include students of different socioeconomic backgrounds, student-athletes and students who are not necessarily tied to central Grounds.
"Minority groups have felt, with merit, marginalized," Thornton said. "We're going to focus on making sure they're drawn in."
To ensure those minority groups are more educated about the honor system, members of the committee have been working on several different translations of their educational "green books," which explain the system's expectations of students.
These translations are just one of the Committee's efforts to show it is dedicated to reaching out to people from all across Grounds, Thornton said.
"Ownership in honor is one of the big things we want to emphasize," she said. "You can't own honor if you don't feel as if you aren't involved, or if you don't understand. We're here to represent you and facilitate the things you want to do."
Nevertheless, Thornton said it is important for the Committee to engage with groups that have constructive criticism to offer.
"The fact we're engaging with these groups is healthy for the Committee," she said.
Furthermore, the Committee is working to implement a flexible exam schedule for Commerce students. This change - which would be similar to the policy in place for the Law and Darden Schools - would enable Commerce students to choose what date and time they take their final exams.
"Because of [McIntire's] strong support of honor and its relatively small amount of students, it would be the best place to try to implement this," MacGregor said.
This proposal is waiting for approval, MacGregor said, but it could come into effect next spring. If all goes to plan, she said, a "flex-exam" schedule could possibly be established in the College, as well.
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