The Honor Committee met Sunday for its second meeting of the spring semester, during which it discussed Honor Week plans and approved two bylaw proposals one of which is designed to increase case efficiency and the second of which works to establish an attendance policy for Representatives and support officers.
The approved bylaw for increasing case efficiency combines two previous proposals to decrease case processing times — which currently average around 79 days.
Addressing concerns over extended case processing times, the new system introduces the IR intent form, which must be submitted within 4 days and lets the Committee know that a student intends to submit an IR, enabling quicker distinction between cases moving to investigation and those resolved through an IR.
The proposal also extends the timeline for students to submit an IR intent form after receiving an IR letter from an Honor Advisor, which outlines alleged offenses and procedures, according to Laura Howard, Committee chair and fourth-year College student. Students will have up to four days to decide whether to file an IR intent form, after which a 10-day deadline would begin to complete the actual IR form.
“The part that's kind of substantially different is that when the student submits their waiver forms, and if they're not taking the IR, they're also picking their hearing days,” Howard said. “This is a little bit earlier, and it allows for some efficiency gain, because we're doing two things at the same time, rather than having sort of this waiting period.”
The former system allows students to delay their decision on submitting an IR for up to seven days, preventing the Committee from starting on the cases earlier. This extends case times further and leaves students worried about their verdict for long periods of time, according to Howard.
Other changes include adjustments to hearing and investigation timeliness, and allowing investigators to conduct asynchronous interviews with reporting witnesses if they feel it is appropriate, in order to speed up the process of collecting evidence.
The second introduced and approved bylaw proposal establishes an attendance policy for Committee representatives and support officers who are chronically absent.
This issue was brought to light in the fall 2024 semester by Cassidy Dufour, Committee representative and Law student, and Penelope Molitz, Committee representative and third-year College student. They said that although they understand members are busy with other commitments, it is important for representatives to attend meetings regularly.
“There are fundamental issues associated with chronic absenteeism and fairness within the Honor process” Dufour and Molitz said in their proposal. “There are also implications [absenteeism or tardiness] that may place unaware or unsuspecting Committee members and support officers in violation of the Code of Ethics.”
The bylaw states that Committee representatives are required to make all reasonable efforts to attend Committee meetings and notify the Committee Chair if they are unable to attend meetings. Representatives who fail to make reasonable efforts to attend Committee meetings or miss four consecutive meetings will be placed on suspension status. Members who miss Committee trainings without making up the training and receiving permission from the Chair will also face suspension.
Similarly, support officers who assist the Committee in its management and operations, which includes supporting reported students as advisors, counselors and educators, must attend pool meetings or inform their respective Senior Support Officers if unable. Missing two consecutive meetings without permission triggers suspension for them. Suspended representatives and support officers cannot vote, serve as panelists or staff any cases, except if specifically chosen by an accused student.
At the meeting, Howard and Will Hancock, vice chair for the undergraduate community and third-year College student, alsonintroduced the plans for Honor Week 2025 — set to take place from Feb. 9 to 14. This week-long series of events is aimed at boosting student engagement with and discussion about the honor system. The week was held for the first time last year where it included a catered dinner, an art competition and a raffle.
The Committee discussed this year’s plans for hosting a Bingo Night in Alumni Hall, a Run with President Jim Ryan, a Fireside Chat with previous Honor Chairs, a Student Roundtable Dinner for leaders of prominent organizations at the University and numerous other honor related events featured on their website.
The Committee will reconvene Sunday at 7 p.m.
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