'U' students push for honor code

When Engineering junior Patrick Guffey returned from the Academic Integrity Conference on Nov. 8, he knew the University could defy the statistics.

The results of research conducted by Rutgers University Prof. Donald McCabe show that on most college campuses, more than 75 percent of students admit to cheating at some point - a finding Guffey said is most likely an accurate portrayal of our University.

Guffey's solution was to form the Academic Integrity Group - now consisting of four core members - whose goal is to develop a unified academic misconduct policy stressing the importance of academic integrity.

"We want to get some cooperation between the individual schools and colleges and set a uniform ideal," Guffey said.

"We want everyone subject to the same policies," he added.

While the University's Code of Student Conduct outlines rules and regulations of the student body, it does not include a universal honor code to curb cheating.

Guffey, who researched the formation of the universal policy, said all 19 colleges at the University currently have honor codes that are widely misunderstood by students and have only subtle differences from each other.

"All colleges prohibit the same behaviors, but they are completely different in how they view the behavior, how they handle it and how they implement punishments," Guffey said, adding that while an Engineering student caught cheating is subject to review by fellow students, an LSA student may only be confronted by the professor.

"It isn't the right thing to treat people more harshly depending on their major," he said. "This begs the necessity that we have one standard of the school."

Michigan Student Assembly Vice President Sarah Chopp, a member of the AIG, said the goal is to create a "cooperative system" at the University.

"Each system has a mini-system," Chopp said. "We don't want to get rid of these systems. We just want a centralized committee."

The proposed campuswide honor code that would govern all students would be similar to the one already enforced by Engineering, but would not do away with the current Engineering Honor Code - a document that has remained a testimony to the trust among Engineers.

"We do not see the point in creating a Universitywide system that would take over the Honor Code when the Honor Code works well now and is so well respected not just by engineers but by universities and businesses around the world," said Emily Ebert, the Engineering Honor Council president.

But Ebert did admit that a central system to stress integrity is important to the University.

"Rules and regulations have a time and a place, but are not the same thing as true honor," Ebert said. "And I think any code that emphasizes policies and consequences over the principles behind those policies is ultimately self-defeating."

The objectives of the AIG - presented to MSA and LSA-SG - include the formation of a task force of students, faculty and administrators to explore increasing integrity; the implementation of a uniform integrity policy; and the formation of a student group charged with increasing ethical awareness. MSA has approved all three objectives, but LSA-SG, because of existing precedents, did not approve the formation of the student group.

"Realistically, because of the decentralized nature of the University, it is detrimental if we were to scrap everything," said Srinivas Sridhara, a member of AIG. "We're just trying to coordinate schools."

Although Guffey, who was uncertain how attainable his goals are, said the project is still "in the beginning process," members of the AIG said the University is lagging behind peer institutions in its creation of a uniform policy.

Big Ten rival Michigan State University already has established policies similar to the proposed campuswide honor code.

MSU Student Assembly Chair Nate Smith-Tyge cited his college's Academic Freedom Report and the General Student Regulations as two documents that dictate university ethics, rules and integrity.

"These are two universal documents that are over everybody and then you have things specific to the divisions of colleges," Smith-Tyge said. "It works just like a hierarchy system. In general, it is very fair and treats us pretty well."

In meetings with Vice President for Student Affairs Maureen Hartford and Associate Provost for Academic and Multicultural Affairs Lester Monts, the AIG has stressed the need for fairness to all students.

"Overall, the important thing is what kind of message the University is sending its students," Sridhara said.

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