Honor Code

The Honor Code is a somewhat nebulous concept governing academic honesty at Oberlin College.

In a nutshell, it says:

don't cheat and don't let others cheat off of you;
don't plagiarize;
professors must leave during exams; and
students must write and sign the Honor Pledge on all assignments.

(In practice, few professors care about the last point except occasionally on tests.)

It also provides for the Student Honor Committee to oversee the Honor Code and how it's handled.

The Honor Code is available online as a PDF. (And, thanks to the boundless wonders of Google, you can see an HTMLized version.)

It most recently underwent extensive revision in 2008 by co-chairs Obed Garcia and Jessica Hodgkins; which was approved by the general faculty on May 21, 2008.

"Oberlin adopted its honor code in 1909 in response to the general sentiment on campus that faculty control of exams was not preventing cheating, but was creating harmful tensions between faculty members and students." [1]

Opinions

I love the fact that professors must leave the room while students are taking a test. It takes a lot of pressure off. In highschool the teacher would glare and say "eyes to your paper!" if you glanced up at the clock, and you couldn't get anything from your bag, such as erasers or pencils after the test started. With the professor gone, I just focus on the test, and don't worry about how every action, from a nose scratch to a stretch might be construed. --208.66.211.90 (20 Mar 2009)