An honor code is an agreement amongst students to reject dishonest behavior in pursuit of our degrees. While many types of honor codes exist at institutions all across the United States, I’m not going to propose any particular system for RPI but, rather, propose the idea of reviving an honor code—something RPI once had.

In general, implementing an honor code will offer recourse to the students on this campus whose grades are affected by the dishonesty of others and strengthen how RPI—essentially, each one of us—is seen by the world.

My motivation for this new initiative comes from a litany of sources. Initially, the idea was separately pursued by both the Student Senate’s Academic Affairs Committee and Professor Deena Thompson in the Biomedical Engineering department. I was approached by several students from a single academic department who informed me of how disheartened they were by the cheating taking place there and the lack of recourse available to students. Thompson expressed surprise that RPI lacked an honor code, and has worked tirelessly to change this since our first meeting last spring. Our efforts have since united, and we are receiving strong support from several RPI administrators, including Provost Robert Palazzo and Dean of Students Mark Smith.

We are expected to stand on our merits, and while the overwhelming majority of us adhere to this expectation, there are some of us who don’t. I have witnessed people who have violate this expectation, this unspoken covenant between us, and I’m sure a lot of you have as well. It’s not a good feeling knowing that a classmate has received a better grade in a class because they cheated on an exam or plagiarized part or all of a major paper. The fact that this occurs continuously does the hardworking majority of RPI students a grave injustice, altering grading curves established on the assumption that each person’s work is their own. RPI students have to manage full schedules, challenging professors, and complicated subject matter; you shouldn’t have to worry about people cheating their way ahead of you.

In addition, implementing an honor code has the potential to strengthen the image of RPI. As many alumni have already discovered, it is largely the image of a university that decides how much diplomas are worth. There is no finite arbitrary value; a diploma’s worth is a function of how we are seen by the world, and perhaps the best indication is the performance of RPI graduates. In speaking with one professor on this topic, I was introduced to the extreme of this component. Students coming from certain institutions would often apply to graduate school at RPI with transcripts saying they had a 4.0. RPI initially admitted them, only to discover that their credentials were not what they had claimed. RPI subsequently ceased admitting students presenting such credentials. By the same token, employers who inevitably have negative experiences with RPI students whose GPAs were “buffed up” by academic dishonesty will be less appreciative of the stellar credentials put forward by those of us who didn’t violate each other’s trust.

As always, I welcome and encourage student input on matters, and would appreciate hearing thoughts from any of you on this: gm@rpi.edu. If it’s going to happen at all, the development of any honor code must be spearheaded by the students in order for it to be successful; something of this magnitude would require a culture change, meaning it won’t happen overnight. I’m only making the argument that has resounded with students I’ve spoken with about this issue thus far, but I realize that there are as many opinions as there are honor code systems.