An honorable culture

Academic integrity and the enforcement of it are issues at any academic institution, the question of whether Tufts should have an honor code has been raised several times in recent years. However, cheating has always existed, and despite wishes otherwise, is not likely to ever be fully eradicated. A more important issue, then, is how best to curb academic dishonesty, specifically whether implementation of such changes as an institutionalized honor code would be beneficial to Tufts.

An honor code, common at some universities in varying forms, would most likely involve a formal student honor council that oversees and upholds academic integrity. Students would be held on their own honor to turn in any peers they catch cheating, and those guilty of misconduct may either be tried by a student-run committee or be required to take an ethics class. Students would be entrusted with take-home exams and unsupervised classroom tests.

But a successful and true honor code requires more than a formalized system and uniform code posted in every classroom and lecture hall. It requires a culture deeply rooted in the values of having such a code. Students must genuinely believe that this code is an issue of pride to themselves and that it is a wholly better system than a policy of individualized disciplinary action based either on a professor's own guidelines or one that goes through the administration.

Students at Tufts, for the most part, already know that cheating is morally wrong. And though there are isolated incidents of cheating each year, the problem has never been shown to be rampant amongst students. This means that the University's current method of having administrators and professors enforce academic integrity policies is working. At a school where there is no tradition of an honor code and no rallying cry for one, such a measure would probably not work to its truly intended potential.

The lack of an honor code does not indicate that Tufts students are immoral. Ultimately, a sense of integrity and honor comes from the individual, and these values are rooted in that individual and will guide his or her conduct, lending validity to a true honor code, one that needs not be formalized because it already exists.