2008 Woodie Awards
Facebook group grabs attention of Academic Honor Council
Forum held for dissenting community
Zack Farmer
Issue date: 3/27/07 Section: News
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Last Thursday, the Academic Honor Council (AHC) had an open forum to discuss problems and questions that the community had. The AHC invited a Facebook group as the main guest.
Allie Busche '09 created a group on Facebook called "Students for Reform of the Academic Honor Code." But unlike most Facebook groups that are for trivial interests, this group has a mission.
One of the main points of the group is that "as the Honor Code currently stands, it allows students in violation to be punished without any question as to whether or not they intentionally violated the code."
"I created the group because of an incident concerning one of my close friends and the Honor Council. By the end of the process they felt frustrated and taken advantage of," said Busche. "I knew this wasn't the intended purpose of the Honor Code and it made me think about what could improve the existing Honor Code."
Some of the penalties for infractions include academic or extracurricular probation, failure of the course, immediate suspension from the College, expulsion from the College, denial of a degree, even in cases where all College requirements have been met, and revocation of a degree already received.
Part of the description of the group is, "while academic honesty is important and should be maintained, it is not effective to seek out and punish students for a 'crime' which they never intended to commit."
Further description of the group reads, "The primary goal of this group is to draw attention to the fact that there is a distinct difference between intentionally and unintentionally violating the Code. Students who have been reported to the Academic Honor Council for violations that were clearly committed unknowingly should not be subject to punishments that isolate them from involvement in campus activities. Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the school and of the Honor Council to recognize that using punishments that alienate students is ineffective and detrimental to our student body."
Allie Busche '09 created a group on Facebook called "Students for Reform of the Academic Honor Code." But unlike most Facebook groups that are for trivial interests, this group has a mission.
One of the main points of the group is that "as the Honor Code currently stands, it allows students in violation to be punished without any question as to whether or not they intentionally violated the code."
"I created the group because of an incident concerning one of my close friends and the Honor Council. By the end of the process they felt frustrated and taken advantage of," said Busche. "I knew this wasn't the intended purpose of the Honor Code and it made me think about what could improve the existing Honor Code."
Some of the penalties for infractions include academic or extracurricular probation, failure of the course, immediate suspension from the College, expulsion from the College, denial of a degree, even in cases where all College requirements have been met, and revocation of a degree already received.
Part of the description of the group is, "while academic honesty is important and should be maintained, it is not effective to seek out and punish students for a 'crime' which they never intended to commit."
Further description of the group reads, "The primary goal of this group is to draw attention to the fact that there is a distinct difference between intentionally and unintentionally violating the Code. Students who have been reported to the Academic Honor Council for violations that were clearly committed unknowingly should not be subject to punishments that isolate them from involvement in campus activities. Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the school and of the Honor Council to recognize that using punishments that alienate students is ineffective and detrimental to our student body."