OP-ED Our integrity, our responsibility

Author: David Peduto

With the pending student vote on the Honor Code Review Committee's recommendations for the Honor Code, I would like to express what I believe is necessary in order to achieve this endeavor.

I believe that we need to revitalize the spirit of the Honor Code. This doesn't just come in the wake of professors having the option to proctor exams (pending the student body vote). I believe that this revitalization must originate from us, the students.

Why? Professors want to try to limit the amount of cheating that goes on in the classroom, and I believe that they have the right to exercise whatever options they see necessary to ensure an honest testing zone. I have no problem with that. What bothers me is that the recent focus on academic integrity comes from the professors, when I believe that it should be coming from the students. To me, all of the things that we get tested on mean nothing if we, as a student body, don't maintain an atmosphere of integrity.

And that's what it comes down to: integrity. I believe that it is incumbent upon all of us to uphold the values inherent in any honor code on any campus anywhere. Period. An honor code by itself does nothing if it does not reflect the honest conduct of those that it is meant to represent. An honor code is just words if we don't translate them into our own actions. An honor code is weak if its stated values are not strong in practice.

However, when we give meaning to a phrase meant to reflect a contract of character, it serves as a symbol of what an institution and its members stand for. It serves as a model for others. And most importantly, it serves as a testament to one's own integrity. I believe that this is what we must aim for in our Honor Code.

Perhaps professors proctoring exams is a stepping stone to a higher level of academic integrity here at Middlebury College. And I believe that a high level of academic integrity translates into a high level of integrity in our endeavors after Middlebury. That, to me, is the real reason for an honor code: to strengthen our base of integrity into a solid foundation upon which we can weather any crisis, any calamity, with our virtue intact.

This, I believe.