About a year ago, the student body voted to put a sunset clause on the Honor Code, largely because a lot of people felt disconnected from the code. So this year, we elected an Honor Code Revew/Rewrite Committee (HCRC). They held a lot of meetings throughout the year, starting with ideation and comments on the old Honor Code, and then they went through a lot of drafts and got comments on those drafts. At one point the committee taped copies of the old Honor Code and the proposed Honor Code to the door of every single room in both dorms -- and then sent a meeting request to the entire school to discuss the draft.
Last night's Town Hall Meeting was the result of all of that work. In order to vote, we needed quorum -- at least half of the student body. We ended up with about 205 of the 325-ish students living on campus. After two hours of presentations, discussions, and voting, we approved the new Core Values and removed the sunset clause.
The new Core Values are below the fold:
3 Core Values
3.1 Integrity
I will represent myself accurately and completely in my work, my words, and my actions in academic and in non-academic affairs.
3.2 Respect for Others
I will be patient with and understanding of fellow community members, and considerate of their inherent dignity and personal property. I will care for community resources and facilities so others may effectively use them.
3.3 Passion for the Welfare of Olin College
I will be a steward for the welfare of Olin College through a spirit of cooperation, concern for others, and responsibility for the reputation of Olin College.
3.4 Openness to Change
I will be receptive to change, supportive of innovation, and willing to take risks for the benefit of the community.
3.5 Do Something
I will strive to better myself and my community and take responsibility for my own behavior. When I become aware of a violation of the Honor Code or an issue within the community, I will take action towards resolution of the situation. I expect others to do the same.
The biggest overall change is to the language of the Core Values. They used to be more formally worded, and said that "Each member will..." instead of "I will..." This change was made to encourage more ownership of the Honor Code.
There were also some changes to the values themselves. "Patience and Understanding" was removed as a Core Value and was integrated into "Respect for Others." Integrity was extended to explicitly include non-academic affairs. "Openness to Change" was modified so that it's clear that we don't want change for the sake of change. Innovation isn't always an improvement, and what we actually want to strive for is improvement, not just innovation for innovation's sake.
And finally, "Do Something." The old "Do Something," if you actually read the Honor Code, was mostly about taking action in response to violations of the Honor Code, and it had details about dealing with academic violations. (Those details have been moved to somewhere else in the code.) But that wasn't how Oliners treated "Do Something." We all have Honor Code t-shirts, and it's the value written in the largest font. Lots of people have "Do Something" laptop stickers. Oliners tend to see "Do Something" as a call to be involved, to be awesome, and to improve. So the "Do Something" clause was rewritten to include that interpretation.
The old Honor Code wasn't working the way we thought it should -- so we did something.
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