Sex, booze and the Greek system can stay but, according to the Honor Education Committee, cheating at Dartmouth has to go. Earlier this week, the committee kicked off a campaign to promote greater awareness of the College's academic honor principle.
The group -- formed last fall and administered through the Judicial Affairs Office -- spent the last two terms studying the policy, which governs only scholastic work at Dartmouth. In coming terms, they aim to raise attentiveness to the honor principle and examine the language of the rule itself with an eye towards modification, according to committee member Todd Rabkin Golden '06.
By tomorrow, committee members expect to have posted signs advising undergraduates of the rudiments of the principle. The signs, which group members said will be on each floor of every College dormitory, are just the first step in committee's strategy to increase student awareness.
Members will push for the inclusion of honor-related literature in the materials given to first-year students at the beginning of Fall term. The group, which consists of around 12 students and a Parkhurst administrator, further intends to encourage Undergraduate Advisors to conduct question-and-answer sessions on the principle.
"We want to get the word out. Students need to be informed of what the rules and regulations are," Golden said.
In the future, group members also plan to distribute a letter to all Dartmouth professors urging expanded discussion of the principle in the classroom. The letter may suggest that instructors include coversheets that mention the honor principle in every test and exam.
Committee member Igor Fuks '03 called faculty attention to the principle "uneven by department" and "very inconsistent."
"Visiting and adjunct faculty may not be aware of the principle at all," Fuks explained.
Dartmouth's academic honor principle forbids "any instance of academic dishonesty," including plagiarism and unauthorized collaboration. In the last academic year, 29 students appeared before the Committee on Standards for breaches of the principle.
Honor violations have been on the rise for the past few years, according the annual reports of COS. Honor committee members credited the ubiquity of the Internet, which they said has made plagiarism much easier than ever before.
"There are a lot of cases of just plain copying and pasting," Fuks said.
Committee members said they believe enhanced familiarity with the rules will reduce violations. According to Golden, one-third of the students who are reprimanded for honor violations tell College administrators that they don't know why they got in trouble.
"I really feel like a lot of people who end up in honor hearings are ignorant of the honor principle, or at least ignorant of the part they violated," Fuks said. "If nothing else, greater awareness can't hurt."
Unlike many colleges with an honor principle, Dartmouth has not integrated its code into its social mindset, according to group officials.
However, members said, the principle of honesty is still critical to the success and happiness of students at the College.
"Academic honor is important at a school like ours where students take their work very seriously," Golden said.
