Council tackles academic integrity

Group hopes to revise Honor Code Revisions to the University's code of academic integrity are nearing completion after nearly two years of work. With the creation of the University Honor Council, progress on a new code of academic honesty took a major step forward, according to College senior Ashley Magids, who chairs the new body. The Honor Council represents the first implementation of any new form of honor code at the University, Magids said. It was established in order to educate students about the current code of academic honesty. The Council is an offshoot of a committee formed two years ago by then-Interim Provost Martin Lazerson to revise both the disciplinary charter and the guidelines for academic integrity. The committee split its work to deal with the judicial charter and the code of academic honesty separately, Magids said. According to Provost Stanley Chodorow, a draft of a new judicial charter has been submitted to the committee for comment. Chodorow said he hopes the draft will be made public later this month. Currently, the code of academic integrity contains not only definitions of what constitutes dishonesty -- plagiarism, cheating and falsifying data, for example -- but also the procedures for disciplining violators. Magids said the committee, which consists of only three students and Chodorow, is now attempting to write a code that only details academic dishonesty and how to prevent it. The proposed code would not deal with violations at all, she said. The 13 undergraduates who serve on the Honor Council will be responsible for raising awareness across the University community of what constitutes academic dishonesty. Chodorow said he is committed to the Honor Council's educational mission. "The best approach to academic integrity is embodied by the Honor Council's dedication to education of the students," he said. "The approach needs to be a positive one, backed up by an enforcement system that is straightforward, fair and efficient." At its first meeting on Sunday, the Council planned an agenda of educational programs designed to make students and faculty think about honesty in their academic endeavors, according to Magids. "We're trying to target a number of diverse groups," she said. "Obviously we can't reach everybody, but we're trying to develop a trickle-down effect." The Council will make an especially concerted effort to reach freshmen with its message, Magids said. Members plan to visit freshman dormitories to speak about honesty and academic integrity. After fall break, the Council will attempt to garner faculty support for its work. "In order for the honor system to succeed, it is of utmost importance that we have faculty support," Magids said. "One of our focuses for faculty is to increase their awareness of the problems that exist at Penn." Eventually, Magids said, under a future code of academic integrity the Honor Council would be responsible for dealing with violators of the code. But until the Council of Undergraduate Deans approves a new honor code, the Honor Council will serve in a purely educational capacity.