The Honor Committee convened for its second official meeting of the new administration Sunday evening. The Committee outlined its primary goal for the upcoming term - making the honor code present and relevant to every University student - and discussed a few initiatives for the upcoming year. These proposals include a new online module that requires incoming students to pass a short quiz about honor and a new policy intended to remove bias from the Committee's pre-trial investigative panels.
Beginning with all students this fall and then exclusively incoming students in 2011, the Committee plans to require students take the online quiz before they matriculate. Similar to the Information Technology and Communication's quiz for new students, the online module will provide students with all of the material covered in the ensuing exam and then prompt students with questions like, "Which of these constitutes an honor offense?" or, "Would this situation be considered trivial?" The exam portion of the module is intended to confirm participation rather than drill students on their knowledge of the system, Committee Chair Charlie Harris said.
Harris also noted that the module would serve to bring students up to speed with the honor code before they even arrive on Grounds. By allowing students the opportunity to build a foundation of knowledge about the honor system before they matriculate, the Committee should be able to engage students in a constructive dialogue about the tenets of honor at the University. Affording students this basic knowledge beforehand could mean that dorm talks and other forums would transcend discussion of the more rudimentary aspects of the honor code in favor of more thoughtful conversation. Committee educators could begin a dialogue with questions, such as, "Why does the honor code even exist?"
Even better, use of the online module also gives the Committee a chance to gather student feedback about any confusion or misunderstanding that arises from the honor code. The exam would be a particularly effective tool for this purpose if the Committee included a student response section where participants would be able to write in their thoughts, questions or concerns. For example, the Committee could use this space to gauge whether students' interpretations of ideas like "plagiarism," "intent" or "triviality" match up with the Committee's working definitions of those terms.
In addition to discussing the new module, the Committee also put forth plans to implement a new policy regarding honor investigations. After an honor offense is reported, Committee members go out into the community to conduct interviews and collect evidence to compile an official report about the incident. This report then is reviewed by an investigation panel that decides "more likely than not, if an honor offense occurred," Harris said. The new policy would serve to insulate these investigation panels from conflicts of interest. Committee members would be shown a dummy list of names with the accused student's included. If the member found the accused name familiar, he then would abstain from the investigation.
Although this relatively straightforward measure undoubtedly would serve to make the process more fair, this initiative also is reminiscent of those of former Chair David Truetzel's administration, which focused on internal reforms to make its system more effective. Now that the structure of the organization has been strengthened, however, the Committee should focus more on its interaction with the community and begin a more engaging dialogue. This need is particularly relevant in light of Physics Prof. Blaine Norum recent accusations that 60 percent of the student body has cheated. Thus, the Committee should continue to look for new ways to involve the community rather than solely perfecting its own system. If Harris is serious about starting these conversations, the time is now.
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