The chairs of the academic departments and programs met yesterday to discuss revisions to the academic honor principle and to consider recommendations made last term by the Committee on Diversity and Community at Dartmouth.
College President James Freedman asked department heads how they felt about the CDCD report's two major recommendations: the creation of a senior-level administrator to coordinate efforts to manage diversity and the formation of a committee to evaluate the Greek system's effect on diversity and community.
Before the discussion, Freedman said he did not think creating another senior-level position would help the College manage diversity.
"The breadth of that responsibility is just so wide that I think you're almost dooming that person to failure," Freedman said. Instead, he said he thinks additional responsibility should be given to an existing administrator.
Many of the department heads agreed, saying the additional money necessary for a new position could be put to better use, like funding other faculty positions.
Freedman said he will send a letter to the community this week addressing some of the CDCD report's "smaller" recommendations.
Many faculty members also derided the CDCD's recommendation to form a Greek System evaluation committee, saying it has been done many times in the past.
Freedman said he did not think the Trustees would approve of a committee examining the Greek system while the College was in the middle of its $425 million Will to Excel capital campaign.
But Freedman said Trustee Stanley Roman, who chaired the CDCD, is "passionately committed to both recommendations."
Anthropology Chair Deborah Nichols said if a committee is formed to evaluate the Greek system, the College must follow through on its recommendations.
Yesterday's discussion, however, went beyond the CDCD's two major recommendations with some faculty members criticizing the report itself for sidestepping many important issues.
Music Professor Jon Appleton said Dartmouth does not adequately serve the needs of minorities, and that the CDCD report did not address this concern.
"The general feeling of my department is ... we don't serve minorities at this place, and the Trustees stand in the way of it," he said. "Until the Trustees have some guts, you're not going to solve your problems."
Each department will submit a one-page report to Freedman about its feelings regarding the CDCD report.
A recent increase in the number of violations of the honor principle prompted many faculty members to ask for greater clarification of the policy and its application.
Discussion about the College's honor principle came as a follow-up to questions sent to the department heads about the effectiveness of the honor principle and how abuses are handled.
Department heads said students and faculty members need to have a better understanding of what constitutes a violation of the academic honor principle.
A report by the Committee on Standards, the College's undergraduate judicial system, questioning the honor principle prompted the faculty's Committee on Organization and Policy to send out the questions, said Religion Professor Hans Penner, who chairs the committee.
Dean of the College Lee Pelton, who chairs the COS, said there has been a "fairly large increase" in academic honor principle cases before the Committee on Standards over the last year.
Classics Chair Jeremy Rutter said there is a large amount of student and faculty disregard for the honor principle, and suggested requiring students to sign "every piece of work they do" attesting they have observed the honor principle.
Many faculty members suggested that new technology will make it easier to violate the honor principle.
Penner said the Committee on Procedures will decide what happens next with the honor principle. He said the committee will examine how faculty members and undergraduates can become more aware of both what the honor principle is and how it applies to them.
He said the divisional councils will also probably look into "special situations" that are not expressly covered in the honor principle -- like laboratories or take home exams.
