The Honor Committee held its weekly meeting Sunday to welcome the newly-elected representatives for the upcoming 185th term. The Committee also reflected on the previous term, reviewed results from a student survey on artificial intelligence conducted by the data and research subcommittee and discussed efforts to expand co-sponsorship opportunities with Contracted Independent Organizations.
The meeting marked the last of the 184th term where Thomas Ackleson, former Committee chair and fourth-year Engineering student, introduced the newly-elected representatives and Executive Committee members for the upcoming term. Students elected Committee representatives in a student-body-wide election held Feb 24-26, while the Committee members elected the Executive Committee during its annual Graves Mountain Lodge retreat. Third-year College student Genny Freed was elected as the new Committee chair at the retreat.
Freed previously served as the vice chair for sanctions, a role that is now assumed by Jessica Drennan, former senior investigator/counsel and third-year Batten student. Freed expressed appreciation for her time on the Committee and Ackleson’s mentorship.
“I’ve learned so much in [the Honor Committee], but especially this past term as the vice chair for sanctions,” Freed said. “Thomas, thank you for always being my first call after a difficult case, for constantly teaching me and being such an inspiring person.”
Following the introductions of the newly-elected representatives, the Committee concluded its review of matters from the previous term and began by discussing an AI survey conducted by the data and research subcommittee — a subcommittee that aims to advance the collection of input and feedback about the honor system.
The survey was sent to a random selection of 5,000 enrolled students through email March 18 and featured student input regarding AI implementation at the University. The survey received 990 responses and 750 submissions were accepted as input, while the remaining responses were excluded due to insufficient data. The survey responses were used to determine who participants believe should be involved in developing potential AI policies at the University.
Kayla Kim, chair of the data and research subcommittee and third-year Data Science representative, discussed the top responses from the survey. Out of the 750 claims accepted, the most frequently cited groups as decision-makers for an AI policy were faculty, administrators and the Honor Committee.
The student survey followed the efforts of the Student Technology Council — a project between the Sloane Lab and the Digital Technology for Democracy Lab that aims to empower students to participate in decisions about technology that affect their education — which has contributed to the discussions about AI and technology at the University.
Following the data and research subcommittee update, Cody Scarce, vice chair for the undergraduate community, former chair for the Community Relations and Diversity Advisory Committee and third-year College student, briefly outlined his plans to combine his newly-assumed executive role with his previous experience in CRDAC to implement Honor in engagement classrooms and expand outreach.
“Hopefully this year, I can build a bond between the VCUC role and CRDAC to combine our efforts in outreach,” Scarce said. “Making sure that the goals of CRDAC and the goals of the VCUC are aligned in what we do and the programs that we try to put on for the University.”
Additionally, Alexander Church, former Engineering representative and fourth-year Engineering student, outlined different goals from members of the Committee for the incoming term. The first goal focused on providing new representatives with clarity on previous initiatives within the Committee and preparing them for their role within their respective schools. The second goal involved offering Committee-wide guidance from outgoing leadership to incoming representatives. The third goal focused on providing advice to the incoming executive leadership, specifically regarding the onboarding of members to assist the vice chair for the undergraduate community and planning for Honor Week.
Church also highlighted plans to increase general exposure of subcommittees and encourage Committee members to join them, amend the bylaws to make the Committee’s system more transparent and assist with graduate and transfer student transitions into the University community. He also highlighted the use of co-sponsorships to strengthen relations between organizations in each of the various schools at the University.
“I think that [utilizing co-sponsorships was] something that we did pretty well in the [School of Engineering and Applied Science],” Church said. “I think that’s something [where you] sort of begin to network and figure out who the different student leaders are.”
The meeting concluded with general reflections from the outgoing Executive Committee. Ackleson shared remarks on his time as chair and expressed gratitude for the contributions of all the Committee members.
“Really there’s too much to say, but it’s best summed up in just gratitude for everyone who contributes to everything that we do,” Ackleson said. “Everybody is making the wheel spin, and if any one of those pieces broke, then things went awry.”
The Committee will hold an internal election April 19 to fill the currently vacant vice chair for the graduate community position, while other representative roles remain unfilled as the Committee has begun its new term. These roles include two Engineering representative positions, one Graduate Arts & Sciences representative position, one Data Science representative position and one School of Nursing representative position.
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