🚀 go-pugleaf

One of the most important student elections in the 
history of CU is going on this week, whether or 
not to accept CU's proposed honor code.  The code reads as follows:
"In order to establish a community of mutual respect, trust, and high
ethical standards, a student at the University of Colorado at
Boulder will not lie, cheat, or steal."
I find it difficult to believe that all CU students are
willing to accept this proposal in all aspects of their
life both inside and outside of class, on and off campus,
with so little campus-wide discussion.


I am actually all for honor codes and lived under a very
strong one for my four years as an undergraduate.  
However, I also know accepting an honor code is almost
as significant as accepting a new religion;  life is not the same 
afterwards.  As a teaching assistant, I've seen and graded many questionable
homework assignments, and I've been confident that many of
these were just copied verbatim from another student.
Under the current system if the problem continued, I would
talk with the professor, and maybe talk to the student.  
I admit that normally nothing would happen.
Academic life would be radically different under an honor code.
Under the proposed code all students will have to write the following 
pledge across all their work:
"On my honor, as a University of Colorado at Boulder
student, I have neither given nor received
unauthorized assistance on this work." 
For the students reading this,  do you really want to write that across 
all of your assignment?  For the professors reading this, how often have
you tried to give a student an F for cheating, 
let alone an F for the entire semester class?  
Think of how much more paperwork
and bureaucracy there will be to send someone to some 
(as yet undefined) honor court for possible expulsion.

What more, the current honor proposal reaches far outside the classroom.
I regularly see or hear of CU students committing a number of minor crimes 
around campus or in Boulder, such as using a SUV to drive around a 
parking gate to avoid paying the $1.25 night fee, or using a fake id to 
get into a bar or to  buy a beer.  I don't personally condone such acts, 
but normally I just ignore them as I have better things to worry about.
Under honor codes these minor crimes now become serious infractions 
(stealing in the first example and lying in the second).
And although the details of our proposed system have not been determined,
under many existing codes, there is only one punishment for an honor
infraction:  expulsion.   

I'm not necessary against accepting an honor code as part of CU,
but I know that as a community, we need to have a much more thought out
discussion of this before trying to implement such a significant
change for the Fall of 2001.  
This discussion must include everyone:  undergraduates, 
graduate students, staff, faculty, non-traditional students, and foreign
students;  not just the handful (5-10% maybe) of people who happen 
to vote.   We should only have a vote  after everyone has at least been 
made aware of some of the ramifications of accepting an honor system.   
Unfortunately, that option is too late.  The vote is going on right now.
What more this is not your standard USCU vote.  Normally,
when you vote to increase funding for you favorite club, 
a quorum of students has to vote to make the election valid
(normally a pitifully small number around 10%).
Under this week's vote, if a majority of the students who happen
to vote are in favor of the honor system, you will now be forced to
accept the above pledge and code as a part of your life.


Please go to the the Honor Committee's web site
(http://www.Colorado.EDU/committees/honorcode), make an informed
decision and vote.  Don't let 5% of the campus make such an important
decision for the remaining 95%.


Matt Easley
Student, CU Boulder