UNC’s faculty is still working to implement honor code changes which would limit the work students could submit as well help them erase academic integrity violations on their transcripts.
Six reforms to the honor code were discussed Monday, and many of these were part of a reform discussion that has gone on two and a half years.
Sociology professor Andy Perrin said the council approved a set of reforms last spring which increased the severity of sanctions for honor code violations.“We’ve spent the last semester working through specifics of how this will work,” Perrin said.
Administrators and faculty have been revising the policy on self-plagiarism, or the re-submitting of one’s own work for a different class. Under the proposal, this would be a violation of the honor code unless one has permission from the teacher accepting the assignment.
They are also working to create a student-instructor alternative resolution process for honor code violations. This would involve discussion between faculty and students in reaching an agreement on the appropriate sanction.
Perrin said increasing the involvement of faculty members in the Honor Court has been controversial.
But he said a student who has had multiple honor code violations would be required to go through the normal honor court processes.
Also discussed at the meeting was the ability of a student to erase an “XF” grade from their transcripts. The mark denotes that the student has failed the course due to an academic integrity violation. Under the new reforms, if a student passes a full academic semester and takes a class about academic integrity issues, the mark can be removed from their transcript.
“We want to regain faculty buy-in to the process,” Perrin said.
