According to Dean of Students Ben Lieber, the number of academic integrity offenses committed by first-year students has decreased in the past three years.
Although neither the class of 2006 nor the class of 2007 signed the code, the number of honor code violations committed by members of the class of 2007 during their first year was significantly lower than the number of violations committed by the class of 2006 during their own first year. The class of 2006, whose members had neither an honor code signing nor much discussion about honor during their freshman orientation, had seven cases of plagiarism and cheating during their first year at the College. In contrast, the class of 2007, whose members discussed the honor code at length during their orientation without signing, had only four violations.
The number of honor code infringements for first-year students dropped again between the classes of 2007 and 2008, with only three students in the class of 2008 found guilty of violating the honor code they were asked to sign during orientation.
Although the numbers are pleasing to administrators and faculty, Lieber admitted that is probably too soon to attribute the steady decline exclusively to the signing of the honor code. "It is encouraging because the numbers seems to be declining at least in the freshman year among students who have signed the honor code, but we will have to continue to monitor [the numbers] closely," he said.
Every four years, students and faculty are given the option to re-vote on the honor code. The College wants to make sure students understand that the code exists as a result of students' need and want for it. "Having the freshman class read and sign the honor code together gives us an opportunity to remind them that this was a student initiative," said Lieber.
By having each first-year class sign the code, the administration hopes to send a message about the College's stance on academic integrity. "Clearly the message the faculty and administration is trying to send is that we take these matters seriously and that the honor code is something each individual student subscribes to," said Lieber.
According to Marx, the College has been quite stern when dealing with honor code violations. "Last year we had two separate instances of infringement around forgery," said Marx. "One set was around a student's forging an advisor's signatures on multiple occasions, and another set occurred when a student forged a supervisor's signature on pay requests on multiple occasions." Marx added that in all of those instances the students were suspended, and that Marx himself did not accept their appeals against the suspensions. In some cases students did not graduate, and some students had to give up jobs that they already had.
Marx also reiterated that severe punishment was a good way to remind students that dishonesty is a serious offense. "Students need to understand that we are serious about this," he said. "You do not get to come to this privileged place and misbehave."