Integrity questions invite council’s response

Assertions that students and faculty view JMU’s academic policies as "a joke" prompted a Faculty Senate committee to invite Honor Council members to discuss campus perceptions of the Honor Code, committee members said.

Details of whether members of the council accepted the invitation, as well as the meeting’s date and time, were not available. Committee members said plans are in the works for a discussion before the Senate’s next meeting Oct. 7.

The invitation developed during a meeting of the Student Concerns Committee, a division of the Faculty Senate, last week. The issue was referred to the committee following faculty concerns addressed at the Senate meeting a week prior.

The Honor Council, faculty said at the meeting, compromised the Honor Code’s integrity after declining to press charges against 300 members of two sororities in possession of test banks.

The committee also could survey faculty about their attitudes toward the code, and has suggested the policy be incorporated more into the student orientation process. An online program was suggested.
Nikitah Imani, a sociology professor and member of the Senate, brought the issue of the council’s integrity to the Senate two weeks ago.

"You can’t have a code which you enforce on a by-convenience basis," he told The Breeze last week.
Following a month-long investigation, members of Alpha Sigma Alpha and Zeta Tau Alpha were not charged due to a lack of evidence, council officials said. The tests were destroyed before the council ruled not to press charges.

More than 50 years of archived test files were discovered in mid-July in two Greek Row houses. The age of the tests was taken into consideration when deciding to not pursue an Honor Code violation, said Maggie Burkhart Evans, Honor Council coordinator.

Still, faculty said that the investigation was dropped due to the logistics of investigating so many students.

"With the Honor Code, difficulty isn’t really an excuse to disregard it," Imani said.

The Honor Code states obtaining prior knowledge of exam materials in an unauthorized manner is a violation. The council has maintained that only using, not possessing, tests is a violation. The current language was not in effect during the period the tests were reportedly collected.

Such a "relaxed interpretation" has damaged perceptions of the Honor Code, faculty said following the Senate meeting.