New, Approved Honor Code Updates

The Steering Committee of the Faculty Board has recently met and approved several updates to the Honor Code process. Most of these pertain to faculty and instructors, but it is important for students to know and understand their rights. Here is a brief summary of the changes:

1. While submitting a Board of Control reporting form, instructors may optionally request to have a preliminary meeting with Board of Control leadership and the Director of Conduct and Community Standards to better present their case. This meeting would occur prior to the respondent’s preliminary meeting and relevant information from the meeting will be communicated to the respondent.

2. Instructors may approach and request to meet with students about possible academic violations of the Honor Code while reserving the right to file a formal complaint with the Board of Control. This meeting should be viewed as an opportunity for students to explain their situation to the professor and to potentially avoid the stress and hassle of the Board of Control process. Students are not obligated, for any reason, to participate in this meeting, and refusal to participate will not be considered in the event of a formal Board of Control process.

3. Instructors may explicitly specify their own penalties for Honor Code violations in class syllabi beyond those typically administered by the Board of Control, up to and including failure of the class. Students affected by such penalties who feel like the syllabus was vague or unclear in such regards may appeal the result to the Undergraduate Academic Standards and Honors Committee.

You may send questions or concerns to Board of Control leadership at boc@caltech.edu. A more formal review of the changes will be held by the Director of Conduct and Community at a later time.