PROPOSED CHANGES TO The HONOR CODE AND HONOR COURT CONSTITUTION
5/3/10
Clarifications
c MOVED that the Honor Code and Constitution language be changed as follows. Added/changed text underlined, removed text has strikethrough. All of the wording changes that expand or clarify are listed together below. They are to be voted on as a whole.
HONOR CODE
Academic Dishonesty, Section II.1
1. Plagiarism: Failure to acknowledge ideas, phrases, data, music, or images used in any paper, examination, quiz, report, presentation, exercise or project submitted in a course but gained from another person. Guidelines for proper documentation are available from many sources, including the Hamilton College Style Sheet, which is provided to all first-year students and may be obtained at the Library or at the Writing Center. Similar guidelines for using sources in oral presentations are available from the Communication Department and the Oral Communication Center.
Rationale: This expands the examples of submitted work in which plagiarism might occur and can be helpful for the court, faculty, and students. For example, unattributed ideas in a take-home exam or lab report could be a plagiarism violation.
6. Cheating on examinations or tests: to give or receive assistance from written material, another person, his or her paper, or any other source including electronic sources, or to attempt to do so, during an examination or test. The only exceptions will be at the explicit instruction of the teacher of the course.
Rationale: Including a reference to electronic sources helps in delineating that using web sources or text/voice files on handhelds, laptops, and phones also constitute cheating.
HONOR COURT CONSITUTION
B. Composition
If there is a vacancy on the Court during the academic year the Court will publish notice of the vacancy in three two all-campus email messages and one issue of the Spectator and will elect by a majority vote a substitute Court member from among the names of interested and qualified persons responding to the notice. Only members of the group represented by the vacated position will be eligible for election.
Rationale: ITS mass mailing guidelines state, “An event or service announcement will be limited to two posts to the mass mailing lists.” This change puts the Honor Code in agreement with College Policy.
D. Sanctions
1. In the case of a first violation of the Honor Code, the Honor Court will assign a sanction sanctions commensurate with the nature of the violation. In all cases of a first violation, the student will be required to complete a tutorial on academic integrity. If a student does not complete the tutorial on academic integrity within a thirty day period following notification of the Honor Court sanction decision, the student will not be allowed to register for subsequent semesters, or graduate, until he or she has completed the tutorial. In addition, the Court may assign one or more of the following sanctions:
Rationale: Current use of the singular “sanction” could be read to imply that only one sanction will be applied. In reality, the sanctions are usually multiple, for example, a first violation could result in and XF, a letter placed in the file, completion of the tutorial.
Rationale: The student is notified of the finding of responsibility and sanctions in the same letter so the word “decision” here is more appropriate.
Rationale: Current reading of the sentence in this paragraph has caused confusion in an appeal about whether the sanctions listed can be combined or must be applied singularly. The Honor Court has regularly combined these sanctions for violations of the Honor Code.
a. In addition to any grade assigned by the faculty member for the particular academic work wherein the violation occurred, a record of the violation and all evidence pertaining to it will be kept in the student's a separate student file in the Dean of Students' Office until one year after graduation. A copy of any letter to the student from the dean, and a report of the findings of the Honor Court, will be placed in this file, which will be open to the student's inspection. No record of the offense will appear on the student's transcript unless a second violation occurs.
Rationale: There is some confusion in this language as to where records are kept. The record of the violation and sanctions is not kept in the student’s permanent file but as a separate Honor Court file. The sole reason for the file is to have a record of the first violation in the event of a second violation.
Rationale: The last sentence is in error and should be removed. In the case of an XF or suspension a notation is made on the transcript although it may be later removed.
c. The student will be removed from the course and the notation "XF" placed on his or her transcript, which will record that XF means "Removed from the course for academic dishonesty." When the cumulative average is calculated, XF will carry the numerical value of FF F. After a period of two years or before graduation, whichever comes first, the student may request in writing that the XF be removed from the student's transcript and be replaced with a grade of F provided the student has completed all assigned tutorials and has not been found responsible for subsequent violations of the Honor Code. In addition, a record of the violation and all evidence and correspondence pertaining to it will remain a part of the student's permanent record, which will be open to the student's inspection.
Rationale: This language is repetitive of that in (a) and is not included as language in (d) and so is not needed here as the Court often assigns (a) along with other sanctions.
3. Other actions: In addition to or in place of the above actions, the Honor Court may modify the above sanctions or assign such other sanctions, including community service, as it deems appropriate. It is understood, however, that such other actions will not involve the assignment of grades by the Court.
Rationale: This language makes it very clear that the court is not bound by the sanctions above. Placing in the phrase “may modify” clearly leaves open to the court a sanction in which the Court may decide, for example, to allow for an XF or suspension designation on the transcript to be removable by the student before the two years or before graduation. The Court may feel that the designation should be removable, for example, for a senior looking for employment. The Court already has this ability to modify sanctions to fit the violation. The added language only makes that more clear.
ADDITIONS AND CHANGES TO THE CONSTITUTION
Each of these is to be voted on individually
c MOVED that the Honor Court Constitution be changed as follows to remove the FF grade and replace it with an F for the removable XF sanction and to revise the removable XF to be after two years or before graduation. Added text is underlined; removed text has strikethrough; bracketed text would be deleted if one of the proposed clarifications above is approved.
D. Sanctions
c. The student will be removed from the course and the notation "XF" placed on his or her transcript, which will record that XF means "Removed from the course for academic dishonesty." When the cumulative average is calculated, XF will carry the numerical value of FF F. After a period of two years or before graduation, whichever comes first, the student may request in writing that the XF be removed from the student's transcript and be replaced with a grade of F provided the student has completed all assigned tutorials and has not been found responsible for subsequent violations of the Honor Code. [In addition, a record of the violation and all evidence and correspondence pertaining to it will remain a part of the student's permanent record, which will be open to the student's inspection.]
Rationale: With the new grading scale, the faculty voted to remove the grade of FF and so the XF will carry the numerical value of the lowest grade on the scale (F) and likewise the XF designation may be changed to an F upon the student’s written request. On the grade point scale an F will be calculated in as 0 in a 0–4.3 (F to A+) scale.
Rationale: Because the transcript is a record of a student’s time during their enrollment, the transcript should not be changed after graduation. For removal of the transcript notation for XF the student will have to make his or her request either before graduation or after two years, whichever comes first.
c MOVED that the Honor Court Constitution be changed as follows to revise the removable suspension to be after two years or before graduation. Added text is underlined; removed text has strikethrough.
d. The student will be suspended from the College for a length of time to be determined by the Honor Court. The notation "Suspension for academic dishonesty" will appear on the transcript. After a period of two years from the end of the term of the suspension or before graduation, whichever comes first, the student may request in writing that the notation be removed from the transcript provided the student has completed all assigned tutorials and has not been found responsible for subsequent violations of the Honor Code. Students will not normally be allowed to transfer credits completed at other institutions while on suspension.
Rationale: Because the transcript is a record of a student’s time during their enrollment, the transcript should not be changed after graduation. For removal of the transcript notation for suspension the student will have to make his or her request either before graduation or after two years, whichever comes first.
c MOVED that the Honor Court Constitution be changed as follows to include an option for students who have committed a second violation to waive the right to an Honor Court hearing. Added text is underlined.
C. Procedures (under rights)
10. If the violation is the student’s second and the student admits a violation and waives the right to an appeal, the student may, but is not required to, request an administrative hearing and thereby waive the right to an Honor Court hearing with the understanding that the sanction is expulsion.
Rationale: Only through the action of an Honor Court hearing (not an administrative hearing) can a student be separated from the college. With this addition, the student who admits responsibility and understands the sanction to be expulsion would not have to go through a full Honor Court hearing. The decision to not go through the hearing is made entirely by the student and would be applicable only in the case of a second violation. In addition, this brings the Honor Court sanctions through administrative hearings in parallel with those for judicial hearings.
c MOVED that the Honor Court Constitution be changed as follows to add to the list of possible sanctions assigned by the Honor Court a permanent XF. Added text is underlined; removed text has strikethrough; bracketed text would be deleted if one of the proposed clarifications above is approved.
D. Sanctions
c. The student will be removed from the course and the notation "XF" placed on his or her transcript, which will record that XF means "Removed from the course for academic dishonesty." When the cumulative average is calculated, XF will carry the numerical value of F. After a period of two years or before graduation, whichever comes first, the student may request in writing that the XF be removed from the student's transcript and be replaced with a grade of F provided the student has completed all assigned tutorials and has not been found responsible for subsequent violations of the Honor Code. In extraordinary circumstances the Court after finding of responsibility in an Honor Court hearing may assign an XF to be recorded permanently on the student’s transcript for the course in which a first violation has occurred. [In addition, a record of the violation and all evidence and correspondence pertaining to it will remain a part of the student's permanent record, which will be open to the student's inspection.]
Rationale: As suspension and XF notations are removable, this phrasing provides the court with some flexibility (but under extraordinary circumstances such as egregious first violations of the Honor Code) for sanctions beyond the removable notations of XF and suspension.