The Honor Committee discussed the creation of proactive guidelines for student Artificial Intelligence usage as well as logistics for hosting a popular assembly with the student body at the meeting Sunday. With 19 out of 27 members present, the Committee met quorum and was able to vote on matters concerning the constitution and bylaws.
The Committee expanded past discussions — including the formation of a task force to investigate best practices are regulating student AI use — to include proactive measures for student AI usage at this week’s meeting.
Support officers — students who help counsel and support students going through trials — told the Committee they need more input on AI usage according to Nishita Ghanate, vice chair for investigations and fourth-year College student. Support officers were informally surveyed at a meeting earlier in the day Sunday.
“A lot of [support officers] were concerned about what the guidelines are on what use of AI would be considered an Honor offense,” Ghanate said. “They thought that was something that the Committee should do a better job of defining.”
There are currently no guidelines in the Committee’s bylaws for what use of AI would constitute an Honor offense — the Committee has explored what official guidelines might look like in ongoing conversations around generative AI in higher education.
The use of AI in classrooms is also sparsely defined across the University. According to a recent student survey conducted by the Generative AI In Learning Task Force, only 23 percent of professors included a section on AI usage in their syllabus.
Lukas Lehman, vice chair for the treasury and third-year Engineering student, said Honor could focus on reducing the gray area between what is and is not permissible AI usage.
“There's the possibility for us to show ways to use AI that are still honorable,” Lehman said. “[The Committee should] show more of how you can use [AI] productively.”
After conversation with support officers, Ghanate echoed some of Lehman’s points, noting that the ways students use AI are not always unethical — students may use AI to summarize readings or to check academic papers for grammatical errors. She also mentioned that academic assignments are often too complex for AI use to be an option.
Rachel Liesegang, vice chair for the undergraduate community and fourth-year College student, said there can not be a standard guideline on AI usage when the University’s class offerings are so wide and diverse.
“In my [computer science] classes, [AI] is something that the professor is more cognizant of,” Liesegang said. “Whereas in my politics classes, AI is not even mentioned in the syllabus.”
Hamza Aziz, chair of the Committee and fourth-year College student, said representatives should discuss this topic more with faculty and students of their school, with Aziz hoping to continue discussion in a future meeting.
Also at the meeting, the Committee considered the logistics of hosting a popular assembly with the student body. Popular assemblies are meetings to facilitate discussion on and answer questions about Honor, now held on an annual basis.
The Committee considered two possible ranges of dates for the event — early November or late January to early February — and took an informal poll. Nine members voted for early November and five voted for late January to early February, so the Committee is currently planning for earlier in November. .
The Committee also heard executive and representative updates. There are currently six active investigations. There are two hearings scheduled for Oct. 15 and Oct. 21. Support officer interviews will begin Monday and continue through the end of the week.
The Committee adjourned the meeting at 7:53 p.m. The next Honor Committee meeting will be held Sunday at 7 p.m. in the Trial Room of Newcomb Hall.
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