The Honor Committee passed two new bylaws regarding noncompliance and appeal policy at their second and final summer meeting over Zoom Aug. 4. The changes are intended to make the new noncompliance procedures fairer and standardize the appeal process to be more impartial.
The Committee implemented the process of noncompliance proceedings — which formally evaluate whether a student found guilty of an honor offense has properly followed the required sanctions — during its June 23 summer meeting. To adjudicate whether a student is guilty of noncompliance, the Committee holds a hearing wherein the student is represented by a support officer from within the Honor Committee.
After the hearing, five members of the executive committee vote to determine whether the student is guilty of failing to comply with their assigned sanctions. If a student is found guilty of being noncompliant, the blanket sanction is expulsion.
The first bylaw change passed during the Aug. 4 meeting revises this new trial system. It requires a four-fifths, instead of a three-fifths, majority vote by members of the executive committee to determine if a student has failed to comply with sanctions. The four-fifths requirement aligns with other existing Committee bylaws, which maintain that four votes are required for actions by the executive committee.
Seamus Oliver, vice chair for investigations and third-year College student, said that given the severity of expulsion as a sanction, it is appropriate to raise the votes required for the decision in order to make the system more fair and protective of an accused student.
“That's the sort of protection we should be offering a student anyways,” Oliver said.
Representatives voted 16 out of 20 in favor to change the voting threshold.
The other bylaw changes, proposed by Alexander Church, vice chair for hearings and third-year Engineering student, pertain to the Committee’s process for appealing its verdicts. The changes mandate that every appeal brought to the Committee be assigned an impartial investigator — a member of the Committee’s pool of support officers who is responsible for investigating reports of honor offenses — to review the case before it goes in front of an Appeal Review Panel.
Under the original appeal process, an Appeal Review Panel — a five person panel composed of Committee members previously uninvolved with the given case — reviewed any appeals to Committee rulings. The ARP would then determine whether an appeal was valid by examining if it brought a “substantial question” — new evidence or a valid reason to revise a judgment. Only after the ARP determined if there was a substantial question would they assign an impartial investigator to investigate the case’s details.
The new bylaw change maintains that every case will now automatically have an impartial investigator assigned. According to the new bylaws, the investigator will bring forth evidence and the ARP will take a single, majority vote on whether standards are met for an appeal, meaning that the ARP’s vote is now informed by the impartial investigator’s findings, rather than its own.
While previously the ARP conducted votes before determining if an appeal included a substantial question, the bylaw changes allow the ARP to have just one round of voting, streamlining the appeal process. The Committee also hopes assigning an impartial investigator to every appeals case at the outset of the appeals process will ensure fairer proceedings for students.
The new bylaws also recognize the possibility of a conflict of interest arising in the appeals process. According to the new bylaws, if the vice chair for hearings has a conflict of interest, or is otherwise unable to oversee an appeal, the chair of the Honor Committee will appoint a different Committee member who has not been affiliated with the case to manage the appeal. The member who has not been involved with the case will then serve as the ARP Chair to ensure an unbiased review.
The Committee voted unanimously in favor of the bylaw changes related to the appeals process.
The Committee has orientation events for new students — intended to introduce them to the Honor system and recruit new members — planned for the start of the Fall 2024 semester. Committee representatives will gather at the annual first-year convocation on the Lawn where students will have the opportunity to sign Honor Scrolls, signifying their pledge to the Honor Code Aug. 25, at 6:30 p.m.
The Committee will reconvene Sept. 1 at 7 p.m. for their first meeting of the Fall 2024 semester.
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