The Sandspur

Issue date: 10/9/06 Section: News

The Honor Code debate, hosted by the Philosophy Club, occurred recently.

The Honor Code, since its introduction to the Rollins environment, has caused polarization on campus. The upperclassman of Rollins have both fought and developed the Honor Code for three years. Fliers and emails were sent continually in its development stages; however, there was a lack of student participation.

During orientation for the freshmen class of 2010, Peer Mentors gave a presentation on the Honor Code. Freshmen debated and questioned the Honor Code, for when it was presented it was unclear as to what a student's responsibilities were. The problem though, was that the Peer Mentors didn't understand the Honor Code themselves, and shouldn't have had to make a presentation.

The Honor Council gave a presentation to the Peer Mentors on how they were supposed to teach their freshmen the Honor Code, but most of the Honor Council representatives didn't know the Honor Code well enough to answer specific questions. The Peer Mentors shouldn't have had to give that presentation. The Honor Society created this code, and therefore they know it the best. It would then make sense that they teach their code to the freshmen.

The Rollins College Philosophy/Debate team, for their first debate, wanted to take on the highly controversial Honor Code. A large crowd gathered for the debate; more than I think was expected. There were three teams. Pro Honor Code, Con Honor Code, and a Synthesis team.

The Pro team started off strong with opening statements stating that the Honor Code has been in the making for five years. This is the first year it has been in effect. It is a culture change for the campus, and people will eventually adjust to it. They made it clear that multiple chances were given for the Rollins community for input, but again there was little turn out. Lastly they pointed out that the top ten ACS schools had an Honor Code; therefore, since Rollins is number one, they should have one too. They also stated that all of the schools that had an Honor Code had less instances of cheating. This however, is not a valid argument. Schools that implemented an Honor Code may have already had lower counts of cheating - it is not a direct cause or effect of the Honor Code.

The Con team stated that the Honor Code, though its intentions were to build a trustworthy campus, does just the opposite and polarizes the campus. Also, it is redundant to be required to write "On my Honor…" on every quiz, test, and/or homework. Some might argue that by writing it on everything, it reminds students of what they pledged to by coming to Rollins. But the Con team argued that in actuality, it would begin to not matter to the students, and just become second nature to write this clause on papers. A large point made by the Con team was the Bare Witness Clause. This clause states that if a student witnesses two people collaborating on something that the student reports them. Two large problems exist. One is that each professor is different in what s/he allows collaboration on. Second, the Bare Witness Clause goes against most people's moral judgments. Their final point was that the students who propositioned the Honor Code are no longer in the Rollins community, therefore making the Honor Code in a sense erroneous and not fairly representative of the current student body.

The Synthesis team, though their arguments were weak, made very good points. The Honor Code should have a less severe punishment. They suggested that there be seminars or classes on Honor as a punishment for students who cheat. Also, there would be a council consisting of three students and three teachers. Finally they said that the Honor Code should be more of a philosophy rather than a code.

When the floor was opened to questions, people seemed anxious to let their voice be heard. Points made by the audience were almost as compelling and interesting as those presented by the three teams. Results from the debate were presented, and the Con team placed first, followed by the Pro team and Synthesis team.

The Honor Code is here to stay; however a strong enough resistance could change the Honor Code for the better. All that is needed is participation by the Rollins community.

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