WPI needs an Honor Code

First off, this letter is about WPI having an Honor Code, and it is rather long. I ask you, however, to please take the time to read it, as having an Honor Code affects each and every one of us.

I agree that there are some flaws in the Honor Code proposed by the Academic Honesty Committee, but I ask you to put aside all knowledge and bias related to this code and ask yourself a question based on the very principle of the matter: Do you want WPI to have an Honor Code to which each and every member of our community-students, faculty, and administrators-must adhere?

Perhaps we should ask first, what is an honor code, anyway? It is a formal commitment by all of us to exemplify integrity; usually, university honor codes only encompass academic integrity. So what is academic integrity? The Center for Academic Integrity defines it as "a commitment, even in the face of adversity, to five fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility"(Fundamental Values of Integrity, CAI 2000 Conference). These five ideals look great on paper-but how realistic is it for me, or anyone else, to expect over three thousand WPI students, faculty, and staff to uphold these principles? Actually, I think it is very realistic-but only if these are ideals that each one of us wants to be a part of our campus culture.

For me, two of the most important facets of living in a community such as WPI are fairness and trust. They are deceivingly simple words with extremely complex roles in the multilateral relationships between students, faculty, and administrators at WPI. For example, professors trust the students to abide by the rules they establish in their classes, and they trust the students to represent themselves honestly on their assignments, projects, and tests.

We, as students, trust our professors to grade us fairly and to establish rules we respect. (Regarding student collaboration, I do not think it is fair, nor in the spirit of teaching at WPI, for professors to restrict out-of-class collaboration on homework. Whether it is a debate-oriented social science course or problem-solving engineering class, I tend to learn the most through interaction with my fellow students. It is by verbally examining the theme of the assigned book and by comparing methods of obtaining solutions to engineering problems that I truly grasp the course material. I think faculty should encourage collaboration-so long as they stress it should be true collaboration and not just copying another's work.) Whatever rules the professor wants to establish, as a student, I would appreciate it if at the very beginning of the course, the professor asked all of us if we thought those rules were fair. All of us-students-should feel responsible for voicing whether we do or do not agree. We should then feel obligated, whether we have an honor code or not, to be people of integrity and to abide by these rules.

One of the chief objections to the proposed Honor Code is the so-called "rat rule", which requires students to take a more active role in their community and report offenders of the Honor Code in and outside the classroom. Many of the students with whom I discussed the Honor Code expressed that they would be uncomfortable "turning in" fellow students and potentially friends. Indeed, I myself would feel uncomfortable reporting incidences of cheating to authorities. However, and this is a big however, I contend that for a community to successfully demand academic integrity from all its members, members of that community must be responsible for and to each other.

Could you stand silent, watching a member of the Gestapo murder an innocent Jew? (and I can't believe what The Revisionist at www.codoh.org has the gall to say on the issue) Certainly cheating is not murder…it is not a physical killing, but it is just as real when it destroys the bonds of trust between each of the students and the professor and scars our community's academic integrity. So, if I am not willing to report you, nor you I, what is the solution? I believe the answer lies not in a cop vs. criminal environment, but rather, in a WPI community working together as a community.

Whether or not an Honor Code is rewritten and passed, and I hope one will be, I make the pledge right now-and I invite all of you to do the same-to care for each of you, as your fellow student, and to take responsibility for each of you, as a fellow member of my community. The next time I observe a violation of academic integrity, I will take the initiative to communicate with him/her-remind him/her of the consequences (if the case is cheating on an assignment, consequences can range from failing the class to expulsion from the institution). I will make an effort to get to the heart of why he/she was cheating in the first place. Not enough time to study? Didn't understand the material? Felt the professor didn't care about the assignment and neither should we? I will make an effort to help him/her find an alternative to violating academic integrity. Why? Because I care about him/her, as a fellow member of my community, and violations of academic integrity hurt all of us-faculty, students, and administration. I hope one of you would be willing to do the same for me.

One question I have heard over and over was: "How would having an honor code at WPI change anything? We already make a relatively good effort to be honorable individuals, right?" I now respond with an analogy: picture two people terribly in love with each other. They decide to get married. Why? Does saying the vow aloud really accomplish anything when they already both know they love each other? Yes, of course it does-it means I commit. It means that I care enough to publicly commit to you.

Have you ever done the group activity where one person lies down on the floor while about twenty people encircle him/her. Each person places only one finger under the individual on the floor and together-with only one finger each-they lift the body into the air. Taking responsibility for each other sounds like a lot of work, but then lifting a body alone is a lot of work as well. Academic integrity is a body lying on the floor waiting for all of us to place one finger under it and lift it into the air.

Are you ready?

Will you join me?