At Monday’s Faculty Senate meeting, a report was released to attendants — and, subsequently, online — detailing how 2,102 faculty members responded to a series of questions. The senate’s Faculty Recruitment, Retention, Retirement and Welfare Committee had commissioned the study, working in cooperation with the president’s office. The result is a 200-plus page document that details faculty satisfaction on issues of work, pay and governance. Especially relevant to students should be the questions concerning the honor code. The faculty is ambivalent about the honor code, but should not be, considering the honor code may dismiss students whether we dismiss it or not. The survey thus endorses the belief of some Honor Committee members that the system isn’t working for faculty.
An extensive effort was summoned to contact about 3,000 faculty members. It is one of the most extensive surveys reporting on the University; the only regret may be that responses were sent before June. Surely opinions have changed.
In the drafting of questions, the Center for Survey Research that worked with the senate did students a service by including questions on honor. It is helpful for students to know what faculty think of the system considering professors are the group often responsible for filing charges on students. Although only five of the survey’s questions touched on the topic, the data is nevertheless useful for students considering the Committee’s last survey of faculty was done in 2006.
The first of the questions on honor polled faculty knowledge of the system. Fifty-two percent of faculty polled said they were very familiar with the honor system. 38.2 percent of faculty polled said they were somewhat familiar. This was a marked increased from the numbers in 2006. The senate’s survey — adjusting for the difference in faculty polled, as the Committee’s 2006 survey asked only the teaching faculty — displayed how familiarity with honor has grown among faculty. Only 19.8 percent of faculty polled in 2006 said they were very familiar with the honor system.
The last questions asked whether faculty supported the system. “Our data showed a divided faculty on this matter,” the report says. 37.9 percent of faculty strongly support the system and 35.1 percent supporting with some reservations. The remaining are neutral or outright opposed.
Most tellingly, support for the system largely hinges on whether the faculty in question had been exposed to it. Only 20.1 percent of faculty who have referred a case strongly support the system. Among those who have never refered a case, support is less than half that percentage. The faculty opinion about the system between now and 2006 has remained relatively constant.
Considering honor was ranked as an important issue or concern for only 5 percent of the faculty, perhaps they can live with ambivalence — some professors may like the system, and others oppose it. Students don’t have such a privilege. If the position on honor changes from classroom to classroom, students may end up confused as professors may have different standards. Given that it is often professors who serve as the prosecutors, in cases of honor offenses, their opinion on issues is crucial. And it’s the faculty, moreover, who admit that cheating occurs — 43.8 percent of respondents said cheating at the University was either very or somewhat common. Faculty members should thus have more invested in the honor system. They should work with the Committee, above and beyond the efforts of the Faculty Advisory Committee, to gauge what efforts — whether current proposals or elsewise — could guarantee more unified standards.
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