The proposal of a new honor code that would mandate students to sign a pledge of academic integrity for every assignment, paper or exam awaits the next Faculty Senate meeting.
Seniors Emily Callahan and Jaclyn Wood, both members of the Academic Integrity Board, are pushing the initiative to up the stakes for academic integrity on campus.
“An honor code goes beyond cases of plagiarism and cheating–it’s a change of lifestyle and culture for the school, and I think it’s something that can improve the university as a whole, not only reputation-wise but by creating a better environment for everybody,” Callahan said.
With the honor code, students would sign another pledge about integrity and their responsibilities on campus that states: “On my honor as a Quinnipiac University Student, I pledge to uphold the commitment of integrity and responsibility bestowed upon me through this academic community.”
In addition, students would sign a pledge with every assignment, paper or exam that states “On my Honor as a Quinnipiac University student, I pledge that I have neither given nor received unauthorized help on this assignment.”
As of Monday, the proposal is in the hands of Associate Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs Ed Kavanagh, who will present the proposal to the Faculty Senate for consideration in two weeks.
According to Callahan, who experienced a similar system during her semester at sea, an honor code would make the academic integrity system more student-driven, as students would be more involved in the process.
“Once it becomes part of the campus culture, I think it’ll just be something that is respected and recognized by all students that come here in the future,” Callahan said.
Learning Center Director Bernard Grindel is the faculty member of the Academic Integrity Board guiding Callahan and Wood through the process. He said the pledge would not replace the current academic integrity code. It would be a more visible sign of agreeing to it.
“We’re looking at this as a more educational opportunity so that people are able to understand the values of this university community that they’ve entered has started to embody those and uphold those, so that it’s easier for the next group to come along and do the same,” Grindel said. “I think that’s where the honor code policy is trying to get to – to instill a sense of ownership amongst the students about academic integrity.”
Dave H • Mar 10, 2011 at 6:44 pm
If a student is willing to cheat on an exam or plagiarize a paper will having to sign this really be a deterrent?
JE • Mar 9, 2011 at 7:21 pm
since you haven’t asked the questions before making these statements, perhaps i should clarify. there would no trees wasted. the pledge would be written on the bottom of a test or assignment and the initial item that the students would sign would be nothing different than what you already sign at orientation. additionally, the system wouldn’t be about professors catching more students but rather imbedding the system more into the campus community by making it a more paramount part of our daily lives.
Casey • Mar 9, 2011 at 3:30 pm
This is not worth killing that many trees over! And that is all this will do. Those that do not follow the academic integrity policy still won’t, they will just lie when they sign their name. Then there will be a wasted piece of paper. All those papers signed by students who already do adhere to the policy will also be wasted, because they were already doing it. I would have no problems with this if it is an electronic signature, because then we would not be hurting the environment in order to do something that has the potential to cause almost not change in adherance to the academic integrity policy.
Casey • Mar 9, 2011 at 3:25 pm
This screams waste of paper to me. Do we need to do something about the lack of academic integrity that happens here? Absolutely! Is the right way to do that to have the students sign a piece of paper saying the work is their own? Absolutely not! The students who are not upholding the integrity policy we have now are not going to have any more incentive to adhere to it now, they will simply lie when they sign their name on the paper. Professors will still catch the same amount of students they do now. So nothing will change there. And for a school that likes to claim that they’re going green as much as they can in the new things they do, this is a very bad way to go about it! This is not worth killing trees over. That being said, if we had to electronically sign something, I would have absolutely no complaints about this new system.
Caleb Gindl • Mar 9, 2011 at 10:42 am
As long as it’s not like BYU’s honor code, I guess this is OK.