Honor code
Encyclopedia
An honour code or honour system is a set of rules or principles governing a community
Community
The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...

 based on a set of rules or ideals
Ideal (ethics)
An ideal is a principle or value that one actively pursues as a goal. Ideals are particularly important in ethics, as the order in which one places them tends to determine the degree to which one reveals them as real and sincere. It is the application, in ethics, of a universal...

 that define what constitutes honorable
Honour
Honour or honor is an abstract concept entailing a perceived quality of worthiness and respectability that affects both the social standing and the self-evaluation of an individual or corporate body such as a family, school, regiment or nation...

 behavior within that community. The use of an honor code depends on the idea that people (at least within the community) can be trusted
Trust (sociology)
In a social context, trust has several connotations. Definitions of trust typically refer to a situation characterised by the following aspects: One party is willing to rely on the actions of another party ; the situation is directed to the future. In addition, the trustor abandons control over...

 to act honorably. Those who are in violation of the honor code can be subject to various sanctions
Sanctions (law)
Sanctions are penalties or other means of enforcement used to provide incentives for obedience with the law, or with rules and regulations. Criminal sanctions can take the form of serious punishment, such as corporal or capital punishment, incarceration, or severe fines...

, including expulsion
Expulsion (academia)
Expulsion or exclusion refers to the permanent removal of a student from a school system or university for violating that institution's rules. Laws and procedures regarding expulsion vary between countries and states.-State sector:...

 from the institution. Honor codes are most commonly used in the United States to deter academic dishonesty
Academic dishonesty
Academic dishonesty or academic misconduct is any type of cheating that occurs in relation to a formal academic exercise. It can include* Plagiarism: The adoption or reproduction of original creations of another author without due acknowledgment.* Fabrication: The...

.

Academic honor codes

In America, the first student-policed honor system was instituted in 1779 at The College of William & Mary at the behest of Virginia's then-Governor Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...

.

UVA's early years were marked by contentious relations between students and the faculty, which culminated on November 12, 1840, when John Davis, a professor, was shot to death in an attempt to quell a disturbance on The Lawn. Davis refused to identify his assailant, stating that an honorable man would step forward on his own. On July 4, 1842, College of William and Mary
College of William and Mary
The College of William & Mary in Virginia is a public research university located in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States...

 alumnus Henry St. George Tucker, who had replaced Davis on the faculty, proposed that in the future, students sign examinations in the form "I, A.B., do hereby certify on my honor that I have derived no assistance during the time of this examination from any source whatsoever." The idea succeeded with the students. The wording of the honor pledge has changed over time, and the definition of what constitutes an honor offense has evolved as well, at times including matters such as smoking, cheating at card games or insulting ladies. As of 2006 lying, cheating, or stealing, is always allowed. Despite the evolution of the system over the years, UVA's Honor System is rare in that it is administered entirely by the University's students. Princeton has also maintained an entirely student-run Honor Code since the beginning of their Code in 1893.

However, Jefferson's vision of a student self-governed system remains largely unrealized at other universities. Most schools adopting honor codes limit their application to the academic realm. More comprehensive systems—not unlike Haverford
Haverford
Haverford can mean several things:*Haverford College, a coeducational, undergraduate liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania*The Haverford School, a private, non-sectarian, all-boys collegiate preparatory day school, junior kindergarten through grade twelve, in Haverford,...

's and Davidson
Davidson College
Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina. The college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and is consistently ranked in the top ten liberal arts colleges in the country by U.S. News and World Report magazine, although it has recently dropped to 11th in U.S. News...

's—where students ratify and enforce social and academic codes, are rare.

Today, some of the most notable and most stringent honor codes exist at the U.S. federal military academies—the U.S. Naval Academy
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...

, the U.S. Military Academy
United States Military Academy
The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...

 (see Cadet Honor Code
Cadet Honor Code
Both the United States Military Academy and the United States Air Force Academy have adopted a Cadet Honor Code as a formalized statement of the minimum standard of ethics expected of cadets. Other military schools have similar codes with their own methods of administration...

), the U.S. Air Force Academy
United States Air Force Academy
The United States Air Force Academy is an accredited college for the undergraduate education of officer candidates for the United States Air Force. Its campus is located immediately north of Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Colorado, United States...

, the United States Merchant Marine Academy
United States Merchant Marine Academy
The United States Merchant Marine Academy is one of the five United States Service academies...

, and the United States Coast Guard Academy
United States Coast Guard Academy
Founded in 1876, the United States Coast Guard Academy is the military academy of the United States Coast Guard. Located in New London, Connecticut, it is the smallest of the five federal service academies...

. The military academy honor codes not only govern the cadets'
Officer Cadet
Officer cadet is a rank held by military and merchant navy cadets during their training to become commissioned officers and merchant navy officers, respectively. The term officer trainee is used interchangeably in some countries...

 and mid-shipmen's
Midshipman
A midshipman is an officer cadet, or a commissioned officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Kenya...

 lives at the academies, but are deemed essential to the development of military officers who are worthy of the public trust. As such, the codes are not limited merely to academic situations or to conduct on campus; cadets and midshipmen are expected to live by the codes' ethical standards at all times. Furthermore, they may not tolerate violations by other cadets-toleration itself being a violation of the code, with the exception of the Honor Concept of the Brigade of Midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy, which allows the observer of an honor violation to confront the accused without formally reporting. It was found that this method was more constructive at developing the honor of midshipmen as opposed to a non-toleration clause, which created enemies of classmates and ones true honor, if other than utmost, was not able to be formally remediated when hidden from public view. Under the academies' honor codes, violation of the code is generally dealt with by forwarding the offender for expulsion by the secretary, depending on the nature of the offense and how far along in their training at the academy the accused is.

Stringent honor codes, however, are not limited to military institutions. The all-male Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden–Sydney College is a liberal arts college for men located in Hampden Sydney, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1775, Hampden–Sydney is the oldest private charter college in the Southern U.S., the last college founded before the American Revolution, and one of only three four-year,...

 is reputed for an honor code system on a par with military systems; this code extends to all student activities both on and off campus (off-campus violations can be prosecuted) and, also like the military system, considers tolerance of a violation itself a violation. Like the Naval Academy, though, those who witness a violation are encouraged to confront the violator and convince them to turn themselves in before resorting to reporting the violation. Another school with a very strict honor code is Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...

. The university not only mandates honest behavior, but incorporates various aspects of virtuous living: drinking, smoking, drug use, and premarital sex are all banned. Also, the code includes standards for dress and grooming. Men must be clean shaven and men and women cannot wear short shorts or other revealing clothing.

Enforcement of honor codes differs from campus to campus as well. UVA opts for a system run by elected students and involving randomly chosen students. Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College is a women's liberal arts college located in Bryn Mawr, a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, ten miles west of Philadelphia. The name "Bryn Mawr" means "big hill" in Welsh....

 holds its students to a high degree of trust with their Honor Code which is revised yearly and ruled by the Honor Board. Haverford College
Haverford College
Haverford College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in Haverford, Pennsylvania, United States, a suburb of Philadelphia...

 holds an honor code which is ratified by students yearly and run by an elected body, Honor Council. This code is concerned with an academic as well as a social component, demanding equal respect among students, in contrast to the military academies' focus on hierarchy. Davidson College
Davidson College
Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina. The college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and is consistently ranked in the top ten liberal arts colleges in the country by U.S. News and World Report magazine, although it has recently dropped to 11th in U.S. News...

 also holds a dual honor code. According to a legend surrounding the Davidson code, a student was put on trial for not reporting an extra can of soda dispensed by a vending machine. Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

 has maintained a student-run Honor Code for over one hundred years, unique in that regard among Ivy League schools. Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...

 has also been governed by an Honor Code since its founding. Freshmen students attend an honor code ceremony to protect the traditions and academic integrity of the university. A plaque of the honor code is engraved in the student life center with a quote by once-Chancellor Madison Sarratt, "Today I give you two examinations, one in trigonometry
Trigonometry
Trigonometry is a branch of mathematics that studies triangles and the relationships between their sides and the angles between these sides. Trigonometry defines the trigonometric functions, which describe those relationships and have applicability to cyclical phenomena, such as waves...

 and one in honesty
Honesty
Honesty refers to a facet of moral character and denotes positive, virtuous attributes such as integrity, truthfulness, and straightforwardness along with the absence of lying, cheating, or theft....

. I hope you pass them both, but if you must fail one, let it be trigonometry for there are many good men in this world today who cannot pass an examination in trigonometry, but there are no good men in the world who cannot pass an examination in honesty." The University of Texas School of Law sets its Honor Code as a first step in the obligation of its students to the legal profession: "All law students are harmed by unethical behavior by any student. A student who deals dishonestly with fellow law students may be dishonest in the future and harm both future clients and the legal profession." In keeping with this approach to the honor code in the grand scheme of the legal profession, honor code violations are reported to the State Bar of Texas and the violator's home state bar, thus creating an impediment to licensure. UT Law School is unique in that regard. James Madison University
James Madison University
James Madison University is a public coeducational research university located in Harrisonburg, Virginia, U.S. Founded in 1908 as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Harrisonburg, the university has undergone four name changes before settling with James Madison University...

 holds its students to an Honor Code overseen by the Honor Council. The honor code at JMU is over a century old, founded in 1909 and the Honor Council at JMU is an organization run by students. A student who violates the code if found "responsible" may receive anywhere from a letter grade reduction to expulsion from the university for a first time offense, while second time offenders are either suspended from the university for a semester or expelled. "The Honor Council at James Madison University is committed to instilling, promoting, and upholding individual and collective academic integrity.".

Sample honor pledges

  • "Honor Above All"--Charlotte Latin School
    Charlotte Latin School
    Charlotte Latin School is an independent, coeducational, non-sectarian, college-preparatory day school, founded in 1970, serving 1,391 students in transitional kindergarten through twelfth grade and located in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States...

  • "On my honor as a student, I have neither given nor received aid on this assignment/exam." — University of Virginia
    University of Virginia
    The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...

  • "Pledge: No Aid; No Violations." — Wesleyan University
    Wesleyan University
    Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...

  • "A Cadet will not lie, cheat, or steal, nor tolerate those who do." — Virginia Military Institute
    Virginia Military Institute
    The Virginia Military Institute , located in Lexington, Virginia, is the oldest state-supported military college and one of six senior military colleges in the United States. Unlike any other military college in the United States—and in keeping with its founding principles—all VMI students are...

  • "A cadet will not lie, cheat and steal and not tolerate those who do." — United States Military Academy
    United States Military Academy
    The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...

  • "We will not lie, steal or cheat, nor tolerate among us anyone who does." — United States Air Force Academy
    United States Air Force Academy
    The United States Air Force Academy is an accredited college for the undergraduate education of officer candidates for the United States Air Force. Its campus is located immediately north of Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Colorado, United States...

     and Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps
  • "A Midshipman will not lie, cheat, or steal." — United States Naval Academy
    United States Naval Academy
    The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...

     and United States Merchant Marine Academy
    United States Merchant Marine Academy
    The United States Merchant Marine Academy is one of the five United States Service academies...

  • "Who lives here reveres honor, honors duty; we neither lie, cheat, steal nor attempt to deceive." — United States Coast Guard Academy
    United States Coast Guard Academy
    Founded in 1876, the United States Coast Guard Academy is the military academy of the United States Coast Guard. Located in New London, Connecticut, it is the smallest of the five federal service academies...

  • "Aggies do not lie, cheat, or steal, nor do they tolerate those who do." — Texas A&M University
    Texas A&M University
    Texas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...

  • "On my honor I have neither given nor received any unauthorized aid on this (exam, test, paper)." — Rice University
    Rice University
    William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...

  • "Under code of honor, I certify when completing this work I did not give nor receive any type of help, outside the specified by the professor." — Tecnológico de Monterrey
  • "I pledge my honor that I have neither given or received aid on this test or paper." — Charlotte Catholic High School
    Charlotte Catholic High School
    Charlotte Catholic is a diocesan high school in Charlotte, North Carolina founded in 1955. The school is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte.-Athletics:...

  • "I pledge my honor that I have not violated the honor code during this examination." — Princeton University
    Princeton University
    Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

     http://www.princeton.edu/~honor
  • "I have neither given or received nor have I tolerated others' use of unauthorized aid." — Valparaiso University
    Valparaiso University
    Valparaiso University, known colloquially as Valpo, is a regionally accredited private university located in the city of Valparaiso in the U.S. state of Indiana. Founded in 1859, it consists of five undergraduate colleges, a graduate school, a nursing school and a law school...

     http://www.valpo.edu/student/honor/
  • "No member of the Caltech community shall take unfair advantage of any other member of the Caltech community." — California Institute of Technology
    California Institute of Technology
    The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...

  • "On my honor as a University of Colorado student, I have neither given nor received unauthorized assistance." — University of Colorado
    University of Colorado System
    The University of Colorado system is a system of public universities in Colorado consisting of three universities in four campuses: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, and University of Colorado Denver in downtown Denver and at the Anschutz Medical Campus in...

  • "I pledge that I have neither received nor given unauthorized assistance during the completion of this work." — University of Richmond
    University of Richmond
    The University of Richmond is a selective, private, nonsectarian, liberal arts university located on the border of the city of Richmond and Henrico County, Virginia. The University of Richmond is a primarily undergraduate, residential university with approximately 4,000 undergraduate and graduate...

  • "The Hampden-Sydney student will not lie, cheat, or steal, nor tolerate those who do." — Hampden-Sydney College
    Hampden-Sydney College
    Hampden–Sydney College is a liberal arts college for men located in Hampden Sydney, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1775, Hampden–Sydney is the oldest private charter college in the Southern U.S., the last college founded before the American Revolution, and one of only three four-year,...

  • "Sweet Briar women do not lie, cheat, steal or violate the rights of others. Therefore, I pledge to uphold all standards of honorable conduct. I will report myself and others for any infraction of this pledge." — Sweet Briar College
    Sweet Briar College
    Sweet Briar College is a liberal arts women's college in Sweet Briar, Virginia, about north of Lynchburg, Virginia. The school's Latin motto translates as: "She who has earned the rose may bear it."...

  • "I attest this is my own work and accept the consequences if it is not." — Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts
  • "On my honor, I have not given, nor received, nor witnessed any unauthorized assistance on this work." — Rollins College
    Rollins College
    Rollins College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in Winter Park, Florida , along the shores of Lake Virginia....

     http://rollins.edu
  • "I affirm that I will uphold the highest principles of honesty and integrity in all my endeavors at Gettysburg College and foster an atmosphere of mutual respect within and beyond the classroom." — Gettysburg College
    Gettysburg College
    Gettysburg College is a private four-year liberal arts college founded in 1832, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, United States, adjacent to the famous battlefield. Its athletic teams are nicknamed the Bullets. Gettysburg College has about 2,700 students, with roughly equal numbers of men and women...

  • "On all my work, my name affirms my Honor." — Harvard-Westlake School
    Harvard-Westlake School
    Harvard-Westlake School is an independent, co-educational university preparatory day school consisting of two campuses located in Los Angeles, California with approximately 1,600 students enrolled in grades 7 through 12....

  • "On my honor, as a student, I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this academic work." — Kansas State University
    Kansas State University
    Kansas State University, commonly shortened to K-State, is an institution of higher learning located in Manhattan, Kansas, in the United States...

  • "I pledge to uphold the principles of honesty and responsibility at our University." — Texas State University
    Texas State University–San Marcos
    Texas State University–San Marcos is a doctoral-granting university located in San Marcos, Texas...

  • "A cadet does not lie, cheat, steal, nor tolerate those who do." — The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina
  • "We have but one rule here, and it is that every student must be a gentleman."-Washington and Lee University
    Washington and Lee University
    Washington and Lee University is a private liberal arts college in Lexington, Virginia, United States.The classical school from which Washington and Lee descended was established in 1749 as Augusta Academy, about north of its present location. In 1776 it was renamed Liberty Hall in a burst of...

  • "I pledge on my honour that during this examination I have neither given nor received unauthorized assistance, nor have I seen any violations of the Exam Code of Conduct." — Ashesi University
    Ashesi University
    Ashesi University is a private, secular, liberal arts college located in Berekuso, a town near Aburi, an hour’s drive from Ghana's capital, Accra. The university opened in March 2002, founded by Patrick Awuah, a graduate of Swarthmore College and Haas School of Business...

     (Ghana)
  • "The members of the METU community are reliable, responsible and honourable people who embrace only the success and recognition they deserve, and act with integrity in their use, evaluation and presentation of facts, data and documents." — Middle East Technical University
    Middle East Technical University
    Middle East Technical University is a public technical university located in Ankara, Turkey...

  • "I have neither given nor received aid in this examination nor have I concealed any violation of the University Honour Code." — Middle East Technical University
    Middle East Technical University
    Middle East Technical University is a public technical university located in Ankara, Turkey...

  • "On my honor as a St. Andrew's student, I pledge that I will neither lie, cheat, nor steal." — St. Andrew's Episcopal School (Mississippi)
  • "I have abided by the Wheaton College Honor Code in this work." — Wheaton College, MA
  • "I have been honest and observed no dishonesty." — Guilford College
    Guilford College
    Guilford College, founded in 1837 by members of the Religious Society of Friends , is an independent college whose stated mission is to: provide a transformative, practical and excellent liberal arts education that produces critical thinkers in an inclusive, diverse environment, guided by Quaker...

  • "On my honor as a Pace Academy student, I have neither given nor received help on this test/exam/paper, nor will I." — Pace Academy
    Pace Academy
    Pace Academy is a K-12 college preparatory private school, located at 966 West Paces Ferry Road in the Buckhead area of Atlanta, Georgia. Pace has approximately 1040 students.-History:...

  • "On my honor I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid." — Choate Rosemary Hall
    Choate Rosemary Hall
    Choate Rosemary Hall is a private, college-preparatory, coeducational boarding school located in Wallingford, Connecticut...

  • "Each member of the Association of Students of Harvey Mudd College is responsible for maintaining his or her integrity and the integrity of the college community in all academic matters and in all affairs concerning the community." - Harvey Mudd College
    Harvey Mudd College
    Harvey Mudd College is a private residential liberal arts college of science, engineering, and mathematics, located in Claremont, California. It is one of the institutions of the contiguous Claremont Colleges, which share adjoining campus grounds....

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