Hello all,
I am writing to you all in my capacity as Co-Head of the Honor Board this year. Per section II. A. 2. C. vi. of the Honor Code the Head of the Honor Board, at the end of the semester, is to inform the student body of the cases that took place that semester. Sharing the number of cases and abstracts is incredibly important, both as a measure for students to hold the Honor Board accountable, and to inform us all of what life looks like under the Honor Code at any given time. Please note, I have organized these cases by type, and have anonymized cases to the best of my ability. As the Honor Board aims to be a restorative system, we do not have set resolutions for certain violation types, and rather take all the circumstances into consideration as we craft a resolution, circumstances we consider but are not limited to include extenuating circumstances, class year, history of appearances before the Honor Board, responsibility taken, etc. You will see there are many more cases this semester than last semester, a 122% increase, mostly due to unauthorized AI usage. I will be sending out further communication regarding this later in the week.
Cases adjudicated between December 10th, 2025 & Tuesday, April 28th: 20 cases
- Academic: 20 cases
- Alternative Resolutions meetings (which occur when confronted and confronting parties share an interpretation of events and the confronted party has taken accountability): 17 cases
- The majority of these cases, 10, resulted from students using AI when against course policies. Other cases, 7, included accessing class materials/notes on closed book exams. The typical outcome for Alternative Resolutions is often dependent on what the professor has written in the syllabus (such as if using AI results in an automatic zero, etc), but was usually a zero on either specific questions, the broader assignment/exam, or at times a chance to redo the assignment, etc. In a few specific incidents, a student received a zero in the course due to previous Honor Board appearances and because they falsified information. In Alternative Resolutions, the confronting and confronted party craft the resolution themselves, and the Honor Board presence is only to facilitate.
- Honor Board Hearings ( which occur when the confronted and confronting party do not share the same interpretation of events, and the Honor Board has additional questions): 3 cases
- All cases resulted from an allegation of unauthorized AI usage. In one case, the Honor Board found that the student did not commit a violation. In another case, the outcome was that the student received a zero for the exam. In yet another case, the outcome was the student was able to complete a redo assignment for a limited number of points.
- Alternative Resolutions meetings (which occur when confronted and confronting parties share an interpretation of events and the confronted party has taken accountability): 17 cases
Social cases adjudicated between 12/10/25-04/28/26: 0, including alternative resolutions, social hearings and deans panels