Resolution for the Columbia Undergraduate Councils Commitment to Academic Honor and Integrity Columbia College Student Council

Proposed: 21 April 2013 Adopted: 21 April 2013 Student Government Association Proposed: 22 April 2013 Adopted: Engineering Student Council Proposed: 22 April 2013 Adopted: General Studies Student Council Proposed: 23 April 2013 Adopted: WHEREAS Columbia has seen a significant rise in reported cases of academic dishonesty in recent years; WHEREAS Columbia stands apart from most peer schools that have an honor code and is the only Ivy League school other than Harvard without an honor code; WHEREAS students strongly support increasing the prevalence of academic integrity and honor in Columbias culture, as evidenced by the 2012 Academic Honor Board proposal, subsequent Spectator op-eds from faculty and students, and a Spectator editorial board call for us to establish an honor code and recommit ourselves to academic honesty in February 2012; ACKNOWLEDGING the Faculty Statement on Academic Integrity that considers scholarship to be an iterative process of ideas that must be cited as they are built upon; ACKNOWLEDGING that in order to best promote learning and equity, educational communities should be governed by honesty and diligence and not by circumventing rules established to ensure these practices; ACKNOWLEDGING that academic dishonesty should not be an accepted or widespread student response to stress; WHEREAS agreeable rules of academic conduct and honesty already exist and must be promoted rather than reinvented; WHEREAS students must hold themselves and their peers accountable for academic integrity;

WHEREAS a culture of academic integrity cannot be fostered through isolated interventions but must be continuously reinforced throughout students collegiate experiences; WHEREAS honesty and integrity are values that should be instilled in students for life and accordingly must be a central part of their Columbia education; LET IT BE RESOLVED that an honor pledge be established for the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the School of General Studies, Columbia College, and Barnard College such that: 1. The text of the pledge read: We, the undergraduate students of Columbia University, hereby pledge to value the integrity of our ideas and the ideas of others through honestly presenting our work, respecting authorship, and striving not simply for answers but for understanding in the pursuit of our common scholastic goals. In this way, we seek to foster an academic community governed by our collective efforts, diligence, and Code of Honor. 2. The pledge be recited during convocation and an inter-school event during the New Student Orientation Program by all undergraduates in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the School of General Studies, Columbia College, and Barnard College, exempting students who have a religious or philosophical objection. 3. The pledge be discussed among new students, including transfer students, and current students in order to collectively discuss and pass on the pledges meaning and importance. These discussions should occur as a part of the New Student Orientation Program or mandatory programming in the first four weeks of the fall semester. 4. All new students, including transfer students and exempting those who have a religious or philosophical objection, should sign off on the pledge following these discussions in a series of books that will be stored and made publically available in the offices of the deans of academic affairs. 5. Those students who do not pledge because of religious or philosophical objections will face no punitive action. LET IT FURTHER BE RESOLVED that an honor code be established for the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the School of General Studies, and Columbia College such that: 1. The code read: I affirm that I will not plagiarize, use unauthorized materials, or give or receive illegitimate help on assignments, papers, and examinations. I will also uphold equity and honesty in the evaluation of my work and the work of others. I do so to sustain a community built around this Code of Honor.

2. The system of rules embodied by the code consist of The Columbia University Undergraduate Guide to Academic Integrity, most principally the section entitled Dishonesty in Academic Work. 3. The code be printed on the front of Columbia University blue books and be readily available for faculty to print on syllabi, examinations, and assignments. LET IT FURTHER BE RESOLVED that the Barnard honor code exists and will continue to serve the Barnard community, as it has since 1912. LET IT FURTHER BE RESOLVED that the ideas of the undergraduate councils commitment to academic honor and integrity be reinforced through: 1. The printing of the Columbia honor pledge and honor code on the academic affairs and judicial affairs sections of the Columbia Student Affairs website, as well as within The Columbia University Undergraduate Guide to Academic Integrity. 2. Encouraging collaboration amongst the various offices and departments in the conversation on academic integrity, including Columbia Student Advising, Columbia Psychological Services, Residential Programs, Parent and Family Programs, Academic Affairs, and Judicial Affairs. 3. The continued development of a timeline for coordinating with these departments, emphasizing communication of the message of academic integrity and resources available for coping with stress at the beginning of each semester, as well as during midterms and finals. 4. Encouraging faculty to print the honor code on syllabi, examinations, and assignments. 5. Encouraging faculty to require students to write that they have upheld the honor code and to sign their name on all examinations, papers, and other assessments. 6. Transparent dialogues among students, faculty, Judicial Affairs, and other relevant bodies on the nature and functioning of the judicial process at Columbia. 7. Remembering that the honor pledge is intended for discussing academic integrity as a collective enterprise and that the honor code is intended for discussing academic integrity as a set of values. LET IT FURTHER BE RESOLVED that this resolution stands, contingent upon: 1. Consecutive approval of this resolution by the Engineering Student Council, General Studies Student Council, Columbia College Student Council, and Student Government Association in the Spring of 2014 and Spring of 2015 after spring elections.

2. The administration of straw polls for student opinion on the honor code, which must be administered to the student populations of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the School of General Studies, and Columbia College, as a question during the spring elections of 2014 and 2015. LET IT FURTHER BE RESOLVED that approval of this resolution be contingent on the approval of the same resolution by the Engineering Student Council, the General Studies Student Council, the Columbia College Student Council, and the Student Government Association. Authors: Steven Castellano, Academic Affairs Representative, CCSC Bob Sun, Vice President of Policy Elect, CCSC Nicole Morgan, Vice President of Policy, GSSC Rachel Collens, Honor Board Co-Chair, BC Mehwish Ansari, Honor Board C0-Chair, BC Peter Nason, Policy Committee, GSSC Tanya Shah, Vice President of Policy Elect, ESC