Lots of Jud-issues Honor Violations On The Rise

By Evan Robert Smith ‘15

Published March 2015

Here at Randolph College we openly pride ourselves on our illustrious Honor Code.  Gold Key Guides rave about it to prospective students and parents, first years pledge to uphold it during the Honor Dinner over orientation, and students happily partake in un-proctored self-scheduled exams.  In short, the Honor Code is a social contract in which students agree to uphold themselves and one another to a high standard of integrity which applies both on and off campus.  However, it seems that this contract may not be as strong as it once was.  This year the Judiciary Committee is on track to have a record high number of violations.  So we must then ask ourselves what that says about the status of the Honor Code at Randolph.

While this year will be a record setting, Honor Code violations have been steadily increasing for some time now.  Current Judiciary Chair Sally Taylor ‘15 believes that the coed change in 2007 negatively impacted campus wide adherence to the Honor Code, and the Judiciary records show that since 2007 there has been a rise in violations.  She believes that the addition of men drastically changed the culture on campus, and it is that culture change which has led to an increase in violations (see Figure 1).

Former Judiciary Chair and alum Glenna Gray ‘14 shares Taylor’s sentiment that the culture change impacted adherence to the Honor Code.  Gray believes that the campus fractured into distinct groups when the school went coed, and, as a result, these groups did not speak to one another.  Gray thinks that the Honor Code is at its strongest when there is a good dialogue between students, and that dialogue is most necessary for first-years.  She believes that many first-year students are unprepared when they make the transition from high school to college, and it is this unpreparedness that leads to Honor Code violations (see Figure 2).

Dr. Holly Tatum is an Associate Professor of Psychology here at Randolph and has done research with Dr. Beth Schwartz on Honor Codes at different schools.  Dr. Tatum is an ardent supporter of the Honor Code that Randolph has and says she “wouldn’t want to work at a school without an Honor Code like ours.”  Dr. Tatum maintains that the Honor Code here is not necessarily broken just because this year will set a record for violations; this year could just be an anomaly.  However, in order to strengthen the Honor Code Dr. Tatum suggests that the faculty need to do a better job of talking about the Honor Code with students.  Dr. Tatum suggests that first-year seminars would be an ideal place to inform first-years about the importance of the Honor Code.  The evidence clearly shows that first-years are the class that commits the largest amount of violations, so instilling a stronger foundation of the Honor Code in first years would have swift and sustainable results.

No matter what programming results to improve the strength of the Honor Code, it will take a collective effort. Taylor puts it best: in order to create a more honorable community, “[e]very student needs to make the decision to wholeheartedly commit to our honor system.”