Display on Skiles walkway promotes Honor Code awareness

How should cheaters in the classroom be handled? How likely are you to pass on personal information disclosed by a friend? Offering freshly baked pumpkin cookies and Halloween candy, members of the Honor Advisory Council asked these and other difficult questions to students and faculty passing through the Skiles walkway as part of Honor Awareness Week.

"We're out here to increase awareness, to have people realize that they have signed their name to [the honor code] probably multiple times before," said Eli Riddle, a fourth-year Biomedical Engineering student and chairman of the council.

Students who stopped by were attracted by the sweet treats, but also by the neon-colored Post-It notes that filled a large board leaning on the table. On the bright pieces of paper, students wrote their thoughts on each of the two ethical questions posed daily.

"We get some funny responses, like some people wanted to see cheaters...impaled on the campanile. But some people actually do come up with interesting answers or things that we may not have thought of before. It's a good way to gauge what people are thinking on campus," Riddle said.

Those who stopped to talk to the group were encouraged to sign the Honor Code in addition to posting their thoughts on the board.

"We do see a lot of people who don't stop and talk, or post something, at least stop and read what's on the board. They see the question and it puts something in their mind, it gets them thinking about honor and integrity and I think that's a valuable thing," said Mitch Keller, a fourth-year Mathematics doctoral student and member of the council.

Organizers reported that by the end of each day they were taking down an average of 40 responses before posting the following day's questions. Each day, even more students agreed to sign the Honor Code.

"This year we went with a different approach, just trying to be out here and visible...and trying to get a chance to get some feedback," Riddle said.

Although Honor Awareness Week has taken place every year since the honor code was instituted in the early 1990s, this year members of the Honor Advisory Council tried to expand the theme. Each day's questions focused on a different area where ethics and integrity come into play, including academics, the workplace and sports.

For the first time ever, the council planned to distribute small footballs with a message on sportsmanship to fans leaving the stadium after Thursday's football game as part of Honor Awareness Week.

The Honor Advisory Council's efforts go beyond the events for Honor Awareness Week. Members are available year-round as a resource to students and faculty, typically advising one to two students each week who have been accused of academic misconduct.

"We're always available for advising for students who are in the judicial process for academic violations. We have an office in the Flag building and whenever someone gets an e-mail that says they've been accused of an academic violation, it has our contact information so they can come by. We don't do any judicial work but we can advise them on what the process is, their options for appeals and who they need to talk to and what the timeline for that looks like," Riddle said.

The Council does presentations during FASET and other orientation sessions for international students, teaching assistants and new faculty, and sends a speaker every year to the Freshman Convocation. Next week it is also set to start offering a new ethics seminar which will be a supplementary requirement for those students found guilty of a violation.

As Honor Awareness Week wound down, organizers were pleased with the feedback they received.

"I think most people's ethics are pretty well in line with what we would think. People obviously don't agree with cheating but they are willing to say that and take a stand. People realize that there are unethical things going on that they don't support. It's good to see that is the general atmosphere on campus," Riddle said.