<p>Honors codes don’t always result in the expected outcomes:</p>
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<p>Middlebury and Haverford are both cited as having had issues in recent years with cheating during unproctored exams.</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/02/25/economics-department-proctor-exams-adherence-honor-code-wanes”>https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/02/25/economics-department-proctor-exams-adherence-honor-code-wanes</a></p>
<p>Christopher Newport University. People leave their wallets on tables at the dining halls as seat savers because the honor code says no stealing.</p>
<p>Sewanee, University of the South</p>
<p>Harvard. New this year, and controversial, I gather.</p>
<p>Williams has one. I think every school we recently visited - at least NESCAC and the Tri-Co in PA has an honor code. Sometimes it means unproctored exams, and always covers academic integrity very broadly.</p>
<p>Lots (if not all) of schools have honor codes. What really matters is how seriously it is taken by the school and students. I’ll mention UVA since someone else already brought it up. There is only one penalty - expulsion - for violating the honor code. It is also student run. <a href=“Honor Committee, UVA”>http://www.virginia.edu/honor/</a></p>
<p>How many other schools hold this high standard? I know my own school did not.</p>
<p>Duke. </p>
<p>One thing that I forgot to mention that I probably should have is that our school has an “honor council,” who are nominated completely by the student body (one cannot “run” for honor council but can be selected for it). This council is based off some of the people who have high standards of integrity and well… honor. These are the people who look at how the honor code is applied each year and all the students with violation of the honor code come before them. Compared to some of the other roles that you might see in a high school setting, it is a huge responsibility</p>
<p>Connecticut College.</p>
<p>It might be worthwhile to highlight that schools can have “comprehensive” (behavioral and academic) or “academic” (only) honor codes. The behavioral codes normally include all conduct, sometimes off-campus and even when the student is not in attendance. Whereas the academic honor codes are generally limited to scholastic/intellectual matters (frequently, directly related to the student’s course work).</p>
<p>In addition, some honor codes have a “toleration” requirement, which makes it an honor violation if a student fails to report a peer when he has reasonable cause to believe an infraction exists.</p>
<p>These are SIGNIFICANT elements that can greatly alter the basic “no academic dishonesty” honor code. </p>
<p>UVA’s honor code gets a lot of notice for two reasons. First, it is run entirely by students. Second, there’s only a single penalty – expulsion. There’s still only one penalty if you are found guilty after trial. But under a recent change, an accused student can now plead guilty and take a one year suspension from school. </p>
<p>The UVA honor code applies to lying, cheating and stealing, so it is not specifically limited to academic matters. But that’s pretty much its focus as a practical matter. Using a fake ID to buy booze, for example, is generally not considered a UVA honors offense.</p>
<p>There is a separate, broader conduct policy/system that is not run by the students. </p>
<p>Texas A&M: An Aggie does not lie, cheat or steal or tolerate those who do.</p>
<p>The article posted by @LucieTheLakie has interesting comments. I will quote one that stood out to me:
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<p>I agree. I also went to a college with a strong honor code and self-scheduled exams. We had a student-run judiciary where cheaters were held to account if necessary. Opportunistic cheating was (still is) considered stupid and low. Where there is incredulity and mockery of such a system, it is a sign that the college population there does not really understand the concept and is not ready for it. I am sorry to hear about Middlebury. I hope this is an aberration. </p>
<p>BACKGROUND: I believe this is an important subject, and it’s one that I’ve pondered for years principally due to my lengthy service as a Naval officer and then as a corporate ethics officer. I’d appreciate opinions and comments from CC participants regarding the following hypothetical situation, which could potentially occur at an institution with an “unlimited” (academics and all other behavior, at all times, in all venues, and under all circumstances) honor code – including a “zero tolerance clause” – such as A&M’s (cited above in post #31).</p>
<p>SITUATION: Rising-junior A is on summer vacation at his best friend’s/classmate’s home, thousands of miles from his “unlimited honor code” university. He has not been on campus, nor has he been involved in any university academics or activities, for months. He meets a young lady in a bar and “harmlessly” misleads her concerning his past, falsely indicating that he played on his high school’s football team. In all other ways, he has been entirely honest and honorable. His lie has no direct connection with his university, obviously other than it reflects adversely on one of the institution’s student’s character.</p>
<p>DISCUSSION: Based on the university’s clear “unlimited” honor code, a violation has occurred. However, under the foregoing circumstances:
<p>Thanks in advance for your comments and opinions. </p>
<p>@TopTier All’s fair in Love and War. There is no breach or the infraction is deminimus. </p>
<p>A better inquiry is the following:</p>
<p>A White student at University that holds the Honor Code true to heart is made aware that its Admission Department might be discriminating against URM’s. AdCom is accepting Whites at 35%, Blacks at 6%, Hispanics at 8%, Asians at 10%. The school has a White population of near 90%, Blacks at 2%, Hispanics at 3%, and Asians at 3%. </p>
<p>The student tells his classmate about the what he has discovered. His classmate advises him to report a possible breach of the Honor Code to faculty and staff. The student does nothing in fear of retaliation.</p>
<p>What should the classmate do? Does he report his friend to the Honor Board? If reported to the Honor Board, what does the Honor Board do? Or does the Honor Code only apply to lying, cheating and stealing and not to other morally bad behavior?</p>
<p>Or in your story, the student in your inquiry slipped an ecstasy pill to the girl and his friend saw it. What does the friend do?</p>
<p>Top Tier – In response to your hypo. First, UVA’s honor code specifically only applies in (i) Albermarle County VA and (ii) someplace else where the kid is holding himself out as a UVA student. Second, it has long been accepted that while a UVA gentleman does not lie cheat or steal, he may tell a woman that he loves her… </p>
<p>I know Grinnell College has a self-governance/honor code. It’s not for tests, though. Just governing yourself.</p>
<p>I know Grinnell College has a self-governance/honor code. It’s not for tests, though. Just governing yourself.</p>
<p>I don’t get it. Are we comparing honor/integrity codes that are general, like “don’t cheat” and “report cheaters”, or are we talking about schools that allow take home exams and require no help from anyone else, and therefore expect students to be unsupervised yet not cheat?</p>
<p>I would challenge anyone to find a college that does not have a “no cheating” honor or integrity code. It is odd to me for a college to have only take-home exams although my school has some classes with take-home exams and some classes with open book open notes exams.</p>
<p>There is a huge difference between “take-home” exams and self-scheduled exams. The latter have a proctor and they must be taken on-site.</p>
<p>Well-designed proctored exams, of course, are hard to cheat on because only poorly designed exams are susceptible to “copying.” Lazy formulaic exams are easy to cheat on, no matter what the context of delivery.</p>
<p>Open-book/open note exams are hard because ill-prepared students drown in the sea of possibility. If they don’t know the material and come in to the exam session without a focus, they don’t have time to formulate and articulate a meaningful response.</p>