In examining the code as it stands today, one central question arises: To what degree does the second part of the code — the obligation to report violations — contribute to upholding the “honor” in this system? Inherently, those who sign their honor and believe that this constitutes an inviolable contract will not cheat and will turn in those they believe to have cheated.
But for many other students, honor is a more personal, moral matter that relies on an individual conception or definition rather than a mandate or a pledge. For these students, reporting someone else’s academic dishonesty may not constitute honor. Particularly since the Honor Code is upheld and enforced by students, the disparity between the code’s conception of honor and that of students should be problematic.
A recent Daily Princetonian survey of 417 undergraduates found that, of the 85 students who said they had become aware of another student violating the Honor Code, only four said they reported the infraction. It is likely that the students who chose not to report these violations did not see their honor as inextricably connected to reporting their peers. It’s also possible that these students refused to report these violations because of draconian punishments that might await the alleged offenders. When honor is left up to individuals, if an individual doesn’t believe that the punishment fits the crime, that individual is unlikely to report the violation.
When students employ this reasoning and disregard the second obligation of the Honor Code, the power of the entire code is weakened. Students value and respect this system less when they fundamentally disagree with one of its key tenets: Essentially, the reporting clause cheapens the code. This obligation also departs from the original spirit of individual honor encapsulated by the Honor Code as it was established in 1893 — the obligation to report violations of the code was appended to it in 1980.
For all these reasons, the second responsibility of the Honor Code should be eliminated. While this action may seem drastic, the change is necessary to prevent the Honor Code as a whole from being trivialized by the large percentage of the student body that objects to reporting violations. We encourage students to continue to report violations, but we feel that codifying this as an obligation does more to undermine the code than to protect it.
Though this change would be a significant one, it is necessary to ensure that a spirit of honor can actually survive at Princeton. By freeing students from an obligation they are unwilling to uphold, this change would help validate and revive the spirit of the Honor Code.
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