The Sophian

Issue date: 10/29/09 Section: News

Midterm season is in full swing. As at all colleges, this time entails long hours of stress and studying. However, at Smith, students also enjoy the unique benefits of the Honor Code.

While most colleges have proctored and scheduled exams, Smith takes a more liberal approach, trusting that students are responsible enough to have unsupervised exams. Faculty leave the room entirely, while students are given an allotted amount of time to take their test. For many classes, students are allowed to take self-scheduled tests and midterms in the library, provided they bring the exam back in the allotted time.

Many would say this is an astounding amount of responsibility for students to handle. With completely unobserved exams, they might be expected to immediately rush to their laptops to consult class notes. However, most students respect their signed pledge not to cheat.

"I think the Honor Code is one of the most unique things about Smith," said Christianne Beasley '12. "It really shows the college's trust in students and our abilities as thinkers and adult women. I think that encourages and empowers us to do well, and not want to cheat. It's not worth it, and honestly, why bother when you can do the work and get the satisfaction of succeeding all by yourself?"

Natalie Sargent '12 agreed that students uphold the Honor Code very seriously. "As a Student Academic Advisor, I've definitely stressed its importance to the first years, and I think they really understand," Sargent said. "In addition, most realize that while tempting at times, cheating is not worth facing the consequences of breaking the Honor Code."

However, there are some who violate Honor Code policies each year. In that case, the Honor Board steps in. Comprised of six student members, three faculty members, the Dean of the College and the class dean of the offending student, the board oversees all academic violations, while also working to educate Smith's population on academic honesty.

"What we really want to stress is that our foremost mission is educating people about academic ethics," Honor Board Chair Elizabeth Tanner '10 said. "So many times, Honor Board is seen as bad, but we're definitely not there to ruin your life. There will be consequences for academic dishonesty; however, we also want to talk with students about what they could have done differently to avoid cheating or plagiarism."

So far, the board has seen about 20 cases this year, most of them holdovers from finals last semester. Tanner said there have been a variety of violations, including overtimes, improper citations and student collaborations on lab reports or take-home exams.

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