Committee Squashes Honor Code Referenda

Reporting will continue on the honor referenda following today's Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC) meeting

The Honor System Review Committee has released a summary of their report to the Committee on Examinations and Standing, recommending against all three of the referenda it considered.

The Honor System Review Committee rejected the two referenda that respectively decreases the standard punishment for violations of the honor code and gives professors the ultimate jurisdiction over whether an infraction occurred.

The committee also rejected another referendum requiring two pieces of evidence for an academic infraction allegation to progress – a long standing practice of the honor committee, although the committee has suggested a modification to the referendum to only apply in circumstances where the only evidence is a single student's testimony. This suggestion will be not be reviewed by the Committee on Examinations and Standing at this time.

Four referenda concerning the Honor Code were passed by the student body with a large amount of support last winter, before three were controversially put on hold by the administration.

A Times of Trenton editorial argued for Honor Code reforms last week.

Edit: This article was edited at 9:20pm to reflect the fact that the suggested change to a referendum would not be reviewed by the Committee on Examinations and Standing at this time and that the Times of Trenton editorial argued for, not against, the reforms.