During Honor’s weekly meeting Feb. 23, the Committee discussed the successes of Honor Week, including a strong turnout and exposure to the University community. The Committee also finalized plans to get an advisor pool ready for summer case processing, the Citadel Honor Conference and the University hosting its own honor conference during the next Committee’s term.
A primary point of discussion at the Committee's meeting was a reflection on the events of Honor Week — a week-long series of programs devoted to increasing community engagement with the Committee — which took place from Feb. 16-20.
George Langhammer, Batten representative and graduate student, shared that the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy hosted two study sessions with free food provided during Honor Week. According to Langhammer, each session drew a large attendance of approximately 75-100 students. He added that the events increased the exposure of Batten Committee representatives to both graduate and undergraduate students in the school.
Langhammer said that in the future, he thinks it would be beneficial to partner with the Batten Career Services Center so that some of the Committee’s events in the future can include professional development opportunities.
Third-year College Rep. Jack Wallace discussed the AI panel entitled “Honor and AI: The Future of Academic Integrity” that took place at the Colonnade Club Feb. 20. He said that he appreciated the panel format and that it yielded productive conversations among the panelists on the issue of artificial intelligence in higher education.
Wallace said he was interested in boosting engagement at next year’s “Honor and AI” event by moving it from Friday afternoon to a more accessible time of day to encourage greater attendance. He also said that it would be interesting to invite the same faculty panelists to return and reflect on how developments in AI have evolved over the past year. These faculty members include Mona Sloane, assistant professor of Data Science and Media Studies and founder of Sloane Lab, Leo Lo, dean of libraries and advisor to the provost on AI Literacy and English and AI Prof. Matthew Kirschenbaum.
Fourth-year Architecture Rep. Liz Handte said that the School of Architecture's Honor Week event was an open discussion that created meaningful dialogue among Architecture students and increased awareness of the Committee’s role in supporting students beyond the Honor sanctioning process. The event also promoted discourse between Architecture students and Honor representatives about the honor system and provided catered food.
Following the reflection on Honor Week, the Committee discussed its recent trip to the annual Citadel Honor Conference, hosted by The Citadel — a public senior military college in Charleston, S.C. The conference brings together senior military colleges to compare their respective honor systems. The University was the only civilian school in attendance with a fully student-run honor system.
Committee members also discussed how the Committee’s sanctioning procedures and lack of toleration clauses differed from other schools at the conference. Caelin Rowell, vice chair for operations and fourth-year Commerce representative, said that many of the schools include toleration clauses within their honor systems — a component of the honor code that the University currently does not have.
Toleration clauses require students to report their peers for honor violations. Under these clauses, failure to report an alleged violation is also considered a breach of the honor code.
Additionally, Committee members said that learning how honor systems operate at other institutions highlighted how the University’s honor system is largely governed by students. Genny Freed, vice chair for sanctions and third-year College Rep., said it was interesting to compare faculty involvement at their institutions to the University, as faculty generally only serve in an advisory role at the University.
“I really got a sense of how much autonomy we really have,” Freed said. “It was interesting for them to talk about the different ways in which they have faculty oversight built into their processes, whether that's approving the final sanction or faculty members being more involved in the hearing process itself.”
According to Thomas Ackleson, Committee chair and fourth-year Engineering student, the Committee has been planning to host their own conference at the University and invite other institutions to discuss how their honor systems function and differ. Ackleson said the idea has been in development for some time and was further inspired by The Citadel’s Honor Conference. He added that both neighboring civilian schools and military institutions — such as the Virginia Military Institute — would be invited.
The Committee also continued discussing summer case processing, noting that 24 Support Officers will be interviewed following the initial application review. These officers will support students navigating the honor sanctioning process over the summer term.
The Committee has yet to confirm how they will run summer cases and amend the bylaws to reflect these procedures. Seamus Oliver, chair of the policies and procedures subcommittee and fourth-year College Rep., shared two possible procedural changes that will allow the Committee to carry through with summer case processing.
One option Oliver shared is to require accused students to participate in summer case processing. He said that because the University operates during the summer term, the Committee would also continue its work. Students would be expected to work on their cases synchronously with the Committee.
The alternative option is to notify students of their alleged violation and allow them to go through the initial Informed Retraction sanctimonious procedures. Students who opt for an IR would continue to work on their case over the summer. Students who decline an IR would have their cases paused until the fall semester.
An IR allows an accused student to accept responsibility for an honor violation and avoid permanent sanctions such as permanent transcript notation or expulsion. Students are entitled to one IR during their time as a student at the University.
The Committee did not officially decide how summer case processing will operate at the conclusion of the semester and plans to continue discussions at subsequent meetings.
The Committee will meet Sunday for its next weekly meeting. Meetings can be attended in person in Newcomb Hall, Room 480 or via Zoom. Zoom links and meeting minutes are provided on the Committee's website.
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