The Honor Code

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Recent unpleasant events on campus in Patterson Court and the open, forthright, and direct way in which they were handled got me to thinking about the Honor Code at Davidson. In the beginning formal enforcement of discipline was in the hands of the faculty. In the 1845-46 college catalogue, faculty members’ are given the responsibility to “watch over the morals of the students.” However even then, the Philanthropic and Eumenean Societies acted to enforce an informal code of conduct, with each society creating and enforcing its own internal system.

In the years immediately prior to the Civil War, a practice came into being requiring students to sign a pledge to follow all college rules. All decisions and finding regarding violations were still decided by the faculty, however, and students were not even granted the right to offer a defense of their conduct or to dispute alleged violations.

In the late 1800s to early 1900s, students gradually gained more control over the enforcement of college rules and the power to deal with violations. In the 1909-10 academic year, a Student Council was formed, and all students were honor bound to report violations to that council.

The first formal Honor Code, prohibited cheating, lying under oath, stealing, and failing to report the aforementioned violations, and the formation of the precursor to the present-day Honor System came into being in 1924. From 1924 to 1958, the Student Council addressed honor code violations, with that authority passing to the newly formed Honor Council in 1959.

The Code of Responsibility, which was said to be founded on “a new philosophy emphasizing individual responsibility and a partnership between faculty, administration and students,” was approved by the Board of Trustees in 1968. The Code of Responsibility and the Honor Cade are now required to be agreed to prior to admission by every student. Today, the Honor Council and Judicial Committee handle Honor violation cases, and all students are expected to embrace an ethos of individual responsibility and contribute actively to the perpetuation of a  community characterized by honesty and integrity.

Davidson College’s Statement of Purpose explains that “The primary purpose of Davidson College is to assist students in developing humane instincts and disciplined and creative minds for lives of leadership and service.” Davidson’s Student Run Honor Code is an integral part of achieving this goal.

To learn more about the history of the Honor Code at Davidson, read these excellent articles by Chris Knowles and Tammy Ivins:

Knowles, Chris “The Honor Code” and Tammy Ivins [“Faculty and the Modern Honor Code”]. Davidson College. 2005, 16 January 2009. http://davidsonarchivesandspecialcollections.org/archives/encyclopedia/honor