The Honor Education Committee will launch a campaign stressing scholastic integrity to the Class of 2008 as it continues its efforts to increase awareness of the Academic Honor Principle.
Committee members met on April 6 with Leigh Remy, an associate dean of freshman, and resolved to send a letter to all members of the class of 2008 explaining the role of the honor principle in the Dartmouth community. The committee also decided to post a similar notice on the class of 2008 weblog.
In a meeting Wednesday with John Pfister, another associate dean of freshman, the committee also discussed ways of shifting some of the burden of understanding and interpreting the honor principle from students to faculty members.
The committee, chaired by Alison Kelley '04 and comprised of five student members, had sent a letter to all faculty members during the first week of classes urging them to clarify their expectations about the Academic Honor Principle for students in the first days of the term.
The letter was the first action the committee took urging the faculty to place a greater emphasis on the principle during class and to devote some time and a substantial portion of their syllabi to its discussion. Some faculty members responded to the e-mail, interested in the suggested methods of presenting the principle in class, Kelley said.
Pfister suggested that professors open up discussion of why the honor principle exists at all and of why students should take ownership of it. Pfister said he would like to see all professors encourage students to "consider it the greatest writing challenge to craft sources, to weave sources."
"The honor principle should come out as a mission in teaching rather than a mission in judicial affairs," Pfister added.
On April 20, the committee will host a community hour aimed at increasing understanding of exactly what constitutes an honor principle violation. A member of the Committee on Standards, a student previously found responsible for a violation, Pfister and representatives from the Composition Center will speak and answer questions at the event to clarify students' concerns.
Kelley, who is also a member of the Committee on Standards, highlighted the need to clarify issues such as how much help is too much help.
"There is a lot of gray area and those are the type of things that come to the committee all the time," Kelley said. Students found responsible for violating the honor principle are subject to a four-term suspension.
