Seeking feedback from the Dartmouth community, the Committee on Organization and Policy released the results of its 1995 Winter term survey about the College's Academic Honor Principle along with a list of recommendations for how the College should improve the honor code.
The report compiled the results of questionnaires, completed by 310 randomly selected students and 220 members of the faculty, about the effectiveness of student-professor communications regarding the honor code.
According to the COP report, which was released on March 11, the survey's findings indicate that no major changes in the College's honor principle are necessary.
"The consensus was that the honor principle is a valued and important aspect of the Dartmouth experience, and is respected by the vast majority of both students and faculty," the report states. "Based on this and our own consideration of these matters, we find no need for deep structural change in the system."
But the report also suggests there is room for improvement within Dartmouth's honor code, and states ways in which "the system could be considerably strengthened."
The COP hopes that confusion surrounding such murky issues as "misuse of sources" can be eradicated through education and discussion.
Chair of the COP and History Professor Pamela Crossley said the fate of the honor principle is not in the hands of the committee.
"It wouldn't be part of the COP make any decisions about the fate of the honor principle -- that is up to the faculty," she said. "The COP's job is to coordinate information for the faculty and community."
She said the report was the College's response to a series of discussions that indicated it should look into the honor principle.
"It was the consensus of the COP and the administration to look into the academic honor principle"
The purpose of the survey was to inform the Dartmouth community of the COP's findings and the committee has not yet discussed responses to the survey, Crossley said.
"The report is just a gathering of information we issued to the community so we could get feedback from faculty and students," she said. "The results of the survey were released to the faculty and students and the committee is awaiting feedback."
The next steps the COP will take regarding the honor principle and in response to the survey are still uncertain, Crossley added, since the committee is still awaiting reactions to its report.
The report includes a list of recommendations to faculty, deans and students suggesting ways to clarify and strengthen the honor principle.
Faculty are urged to clearly explain the honor code on the class syllabus and how it pertains to class assignments, have students sign examinations and lab reports affirming them as their own work, and to discuss the Academic Honor Principle in Freshman Seminars and English 2, 3, and 5.
The report suggested that the Dean of the Faculty office include information on the honor code in faculty orientation, remind faculty of their responsibilities under the honor code, foster discussion regarding the honor principle in committee meetings, urge department and program chairs to educate those under them, and describe Committee on Standards procedures in the faculty handbook.
It also recommends that the College incorporate the Honor Principle into Freshman Orientation.
The COP recommended that students acquaint themselves with and follow the honor code as well as report any violations they may have witnessed.
Finally, the report urged the Dean of the College to distribute the annual COS report, which enumerates the number of violations and describes the number of cases heard by the COS and the penalties students received, to students.
The COP report said Dean of the College Lee Pelton requested the survey and was hoping the information compiled by the committee could provide answers to three specific questions: whether a new category called "misuse of sources" should be created in order to separate inadvertent and intended violations, whether there was uncertainty pertaining to the honor code's use on certain assignments such as take-home examinations and whether it is necessary for the College to take steps to more clearly explain the honor code to students.
Carol Folt, COP chair during the Winter term, was unavailable for comment.
