April 13, 2004

By Matt Kelly

The Faculty Senate’s Academic Affairs Committee has been examining, since last fall, the student-run Honor System, which requires students convicted of lying, stealing or cheating to be expelled from the University. In its report April 8, the committee recommended restoration of the nontoleration clause to the Honor System as “an essential step for students to assert their full control and responsibility for their Honor System.” The nontoleration clause, eliminated from the code in the 1970s, requires a student who is aware of an honors violation to report it, and failure to do so is itself an honor violation.

The committee also suggested continued dialogue on the system’s lone sanction of expulsion.

Kenneth A. Schwartz, a member of the Academic Affairs Committee, said elimination of the nontoleration clause had eroded student ownership of the system, to the point where up to 85 percent of the cases some years were initiated by the faculty. He also cited a recent Honor Committee survey that indicated only 36 percent of the students were willing to initiate cases. Seventy-four percent of the surveyed students said they had not committed an honor violation.

Some faculty members, including physics professor Louis A. Bloomfield, who initiated 158 cases in 2001 from his class “How Things Work,” have suggested faculty members stop initiating cases until students take more ownership of the system.

The committee recommended establishing a system of legal and administrative support for faculty initiators and witnesses in honor cases. Bloomfield has complained that there is little or no support for faculty members who initiate a case.

The report suggested the senate work with the administration, the Honor Committee and the Board of Visitors to promote the Honor System as a fundamental cornerstone of the University.

The committee also recommended continued discussion of the single sanction penalty of expulsion, saying that alternatives could strengthen the community of trust.

“ Discussion about the problems associated with the single sanction and the development of alternative approaches could strengthen the community of trust, while more firmly connecting the application of honor as part of a larger educational process,” the committee stated in its report.

Pamela A. Kulbok, co-chair of the committee, said while the Faculty Senate cannot make changes in the student-controlled system, the additional discussions about the system would help it.

The senators approved the committee’s recommendations with no dissent and two abstentions.

The senate also approved a committee recommendation, with a single “no” vote, that the School of Engineering and Applied Science close its bachelor’s degree program in applied mathematics as of May 2008, allowing those already in the program to complete their degrees. The master’s of applied mathematics and the Ph.D. programs will close this year. The programs are being dropped because of low enrollment.

Vice President and Provost Gene Block reported that the University was getting aggressive in recruiting and was making a renewed effort to hire women and minorities. He also noted that tenure discussions were murkier with people crossing disciplines, and he said teacher evaluations from students have dropped off sharply after being put online.

In other business, the senate’s nominating committee offered a slate of officers for the 2004-05 academic year, including Houston G. Wood III of the School of Engineering and Applied Science, as chairman-elect, and Deborah G. Johnson, from the School of Engineering and Applied Science, as secretary. Arlene W. Keeling, of the School of Nursing, and Kenneth A. Schwartz, of the School of Architecture, were nominated to vie for a lone vacancy on the executive council to replace Pamela A. Kulbok. The slate was accepted and unopposed. Senate members will vote via mailed ballots.

In his final act as chairman, Robert E. Davis turned the gavel over to chairwoman-elect Marcia D. Childress, who closed the meeting.