Generally, these two bodies have sole authority to determine the consequences of cheating at Princeton. In this, the committees often choose to be uncompromising: Their job is to protect the University’s standards of academic integrity, and that often involves harsh punishments for those who violate those standards. The integrity of the community as a whole must come first.
But as the ‘University Justice’ series in this week’s Daily Princetonian has documented, the punishments handed down by these committees can be devastating to individual students’ lives. In particular, the frequency with which students are suspended for a first offense seems draconian at best. Protecting community standards is indeed important — but the severity and frequency of such punishment appears to go far beyond a reasonable standard.
Both students and faculty have listed significant concerns with the current system of punishment, in which a one-year suspension is the practical default for nearly all offenses. There are various levels of cheating, and it is absurd to consider a missing citation on a homework problem on the same level as malicious cheating on a test. True, plagiarism is still plagiarism, and it violates academic honor no matter the context; but the committees can still deter and punish cheating without unnecessarily harming lives. First-time offenders could be granted more leniency, and the Honor Committee and the COD should make greater use of other options for punishment, including probation, failing grades and required campus service. An emphasis on such tough but compassionate discretion should be the guiding principle for how the Princeton community administers justice.
It could be argued that making punishments less severe may remove some of the current disincentives to cheating, but it is more important to afford students fairness and a second chance. We don’t know to what extent the current penalties actually deter students from cheating; but regardless, the harm inflicted by suspending first-time offenders for minor violations is too great. There is a reason the code is based on honor, and part of that honor seems to be lost in its own enforcement.
An Honor Code, at heart, is more than just a penal code: It is designed to educate students in honor and to create a baseline of trust. It should be part of our education, not something we encounter only when we mess our education up. Despite the best efforts of the students, professors and administrators involved, the University’s current disciplinary system lacks fundamental qualities: understanding and mercy. Without them, we have a penal code. With them, we may yet have a disciplinary system we can be proud of.
—David Christie '10 recused himself from participating in this vote.
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