Senate Bill 15-16-31
| Bill ID: | 15-16-31 |
| Name: | Clarification and Codification on Declining Honor Pledge |
| Proposed: | 03/24/2016 |
| Sponsor: | Chuck Englehart, Part-Time Graduate Student |
| Proposal: | The Honor Pledge is intended to be a requested but optional pledge that students write on different assignments. The Honor Council states: " If a handwritten Honor Pledge and Pledge signature do not appear on a paper or examination, faculty members should ask the student for an explanation. Doing so has the added value of encouraging teachers and students to discuss the importance of academic integrity and the best ways to promote it. Students remain free to decline to write or sign the Pledge and should not be penalized for exercising that right." However, if a student is penalized for not writing the pledge there is currently no recourse. I would like to see the "UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE" amended to add a section allowing students to seek recourse in the event they are punished for not writing or signing the pledge. This would show the campus community that the Honor Pledge is not compulsory and that it is a student's decision. This gives more weight to the pledge as it is not simply something that must be signed for course credit. This is a very simple change. A statement can be added under section B.I. of the "UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE" to reflect a student's right to recourse if they are punished for not signing the pledge. |
| Active? | No |
Status
| Status: | Completed |
| Completed On: | 02/09/2017 |
History
| Status: | Complete |
| Reviewer: | Senate |
| Received: | 2017-02-02 |
| Decision Date: | 2017-02-09 |
| Decision: | The Senate reviewed the report as an informational item. |
| Actions: | The Senate reviewed the report as an informational item at the February 9, 2017, meeting. |
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| Status: | Complete |
| Reviewer: | Senate Executive Committee (SEC) |
| Received: | 2017-01-23 |
| Decision Date: | 2017-01-30 |
| Decision: | The SEC voted to place the report on the February 9, 2017 Senate meeting agenda as an informational item. |
| Actions: | At the January 30, 2017 SEC meeting, the committee voted to send the report to the Senate as an informational item and forward the report with the Educational Affairs Committee's suggested language changes to the appropriate offices with a cover letter from the SEC. The recommendations from the Educational Affairs Committee will be reviewed by the Student Conduct Committee in regards to changes in the Code of Academic Integrity in the future. |
| Next Step: | Senate Review |
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| Status: | Complete |
| Reviewer: | Educational Affairs Committee |
| Received: | 2016-04-19 |
| Decision Date: | 2016-12-06 |
| Decision Due By: | 2017-02-15 |
| Decision: | The committee voted to forward its recommendations to the SEC for consideration. |
| Actions: | Educational Affairs discussed the charge at its first meeting on September 6, 2016. Chair Eichhorn met with the proposer and communicated his concerns to the full committee at its September 30 meeting. At that meeting, the Director of Student Conduct spoke to the committee about the Honor Pledge, its history, and her office's experience with students who decline to write or sign the Pledge. On October 6, 2016, the committee asked the Student Affairs Committee to survey the undergraduate and graduate student Senators regarding the Honor Pledge. The Student Affairs Committee reported their findings in a memo on November 11, 2016, and in a presentation to a meeting of the Educational Affairs Committee on November 16, 2016. Faculty members on the Educational Affairs Committee spoke with colleagues and circulated an informal poll. They reported their findings at the committee's November 16, 2016, meeting. Based on the committee's discussion, draft recommendations were reviewed and approved at the committee's December 6, 2016, meeting. The following offices and committees reviewed the recommendations and expressed no concerns: the Office of Student Conduct, the Student Conduct Committee, the Provost's Office, the Office of Faculty Affairs, the Graduate School, and the Office of Undergraduate Studies. |
| Next Step: | SEC Review |
| Related Files: |
| Status: | Complete |
| Reviewer: | Senate Executive Committee (SEC) |
| Received: | 2016-04-12 |
| Decision Date: | 2016-04-19 |
| Decision: | The SEC voted to send the proposal to the Educational Affairs Committee for review. |
| Next Step: | Educational Affairs Committee Review |
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