How do you feel about honor councils at colleges?

[Steve]

I went to a college where all matriculees signed an honor code pledging to A) not cheat, and B) Report cheaters. The school had an honor council (composed of students) that would handle trials of accused students. IIRC a trial would only occur at a professor's request.

I saw a few trials during my college days, even got questioned in one (I didn't cheat, but my testimony was needed). I can't remember if I saw a student be found not guilty (sorry, I only remember the good stuff!) but I did see students end up with an F, or a suspension, or an expulsion.

Bear in mind, students are not expelling students. They don't have that power. At the end of a trial, they make a recommendation to the professor, who makes the final decision. S/He could act based on their suggestion or not.

I'm part of a listserv and this subject came up. One participant was very vocal against the idea, to the point where she got upset and left the list (well apparently she lurks but can no longer post) after some drama and vitriol. I did see though some diverse and interesting opinions about the whole idea.

Discuss. Do you think an enforced honor code is a good idea? Why or why not? Have you been to a school with one? Have you been in a trial or served on a council? Would you report a cheater if you caught one? Why or why not?

 

[CrazyLazy]

Forcing students to report other students or face punishment themselves is not only unenforceable but unethical. Imagine if in our society citizens where forced to report every single victimless crime, jaywalking, illegal parking, underage kids buying porn etc. and if they didn't they would face jail time. It's like in pre school when your teacher told told you not to tattle tale on other kids.

 

[Steve]

Not reporting isn't punishable, where did you get that idea? If I implied that in my writing, please show me where and I'll clarify it.

 

[CrazyLazy]

From your first sentence I assumed that both failing to A) not cheat and B) report cheaters would result in punishment. I also might have assumed some because at the schools I attended, not reporting someone carried the same consequences as cheating yourself.

 

[GenHoth]

Stupid, its against the rules. Just have the prof or higher take care of it, no need to waste someone's time.

 

[frostedflakes]

Coming from somebody who has gotten in trouble w/my school's honor and integrity system (I used a solutions manual in a class even though the professor prohibited them), I don't have a problem with honor systems. I think that most people who have a problem with it just don't want to take responsibility for their mistakes. You would not believe how many people make excuses or try to justify their actions in some way instead of just admitting they screwed up.

 

[Leros]

Student should be honorable with or without an honor code. That's just the nature of college and higher education.

 

[Steve]

frostedflakes, thanks for your input. I know what you mean about students trying to dodge responsibility, I saw some crazy stuff in the trials I watched.

 

[LtPage1]

I like the idea of students handling an extra step between someone falsely accused of cheating and expulsion. I'm all for expelling cheaters, however.

edit: I have a lot of problems with holding people responsible for not reporting it. Helping someone is one thing, but punishing someone because you think they observed another student cheating is something else entirely.

 

[Bill Brasky]

While the honor system is a great idea, I think it should be solely up to the administration to monitor cheating. In many classes at KU, students are required to sign a similar statement saying they didn't cheat and didn't help anyone else cheat, but nothing about reporting it. This seems more reasonable to me.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: frostedflakes
Coming from somebody who has gotten in trouble w/my school's honor and integrity system (I used a solutions manual in a class even though the professor prohibited them), I don't have a problem with honor systems. I think that most people who have a problem with it just don't want to take responsibility for their mistakes. You would not believe how many people make excuses or try to justify their actions in some way instead of just admitting they screwed up.

that will happen regardless of whether an honor council exists or not, and can be applied to any situation where there is competition or some sort of evaluation (ie, see professional soccer)

i suppose an honor council might recommend a more suitable punishment to the offender (assuming they are in fact guilty), but i wouldn't expect there to be any significant drop in the amount of cheating.

my HS started one, and personally, i thought it was for show more than anything else.

 

[Pegun]

My roommate last year was told me that he signed an agreement to report cheaters or face punishment himself as part of the honor agreement with the university. So, there are schools who require students to do it. I will agree that it is unenforceable and unethical though.

 

[Steve]

Originally posted by: LtPage1
edit: I have a lot of problems with holding people responsible for not reporting it. Helping someone is one thing, but punishing someone because you think they observed another student cheating is something else entirely.

Again, I don't know where people are getting this idea... There was no punishment for not reporting in the system I was in.

 

[LordMorpheus]

I went to Rice U in Houston, we had an Honor Code / Council, etc.

They had the power to give punishment up to a certain degree of severity, then it would be up to the dean or something.

You would not be informed that you were being investigated until the case went to trial, this process could take a year+, so students would find out that they were being charged with cheating on an assignment in a class they took a year ago.

I think that's kinda the negative extreme, and the only real downside. The Honor Code made it possible for takehome open book exams and the like, which made exam time much easier because you could make your own schedule.

A friend on the council told me that 90% of the cheaters at the school were pre-meds, and nobody likes them anyway.