“The institutions in which honor codes have worked best are ones in which the students actively engage in supporting the honor code and where the notion of communal responsibility emanates from the students,” says Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education Noel Bisson, who previously worked with the honor code at Colgate University.

“Students need to be integrated into the creation of the honor code in every step,” Bowman says. “[The UC] wrote a short paper advocating a number of years ago for an honor code, so it’s something that we have been behind for a while.”

Hysen offered a more cautious outlook on student opinion: “I think that once a lot of the benefits of the honor code are clear, I think that it’s something that the UC and hopefully the student body will get behind.”

HONOR CODE AND THE AD BOARD

If Harvard College were to adopt an honor code, it remains unclear what effect it would have on the Administrative Board, the College’s primary disciplinary body.

Most schools with honor codes include students as part of their disciplinary bodies. For example, Princeton’s Honor Committee investigates possible violations of the honor code and makes a recommendation of disciplinary action to their the Dean of Undergraduate Students.

Some administrators worry that faculty members might not be comfortable with trusting students to keep cases confidential.

“In the past, the concern with students was not at all couched in terms of ceding power, it was a matter of confidentiality,” says Kane, who also sits on the Ad Board.

Bisson says that an honor code would require an increase in faculty and administrators’ trust in students.

Currently, the College does have a Student Faculty Judiciary Board, though it has only heard one case since its inception in 1987.

The Committee to Review the Ad Board recommends altering the role of the Student Faculty Judicial Board and renaming it the Student-Faculty Administrative Board, which would be given a larger role in deciding cases of academic dishonesty. Students would have to opt to have their cases heard by this second academic board.

As of now, it remains unclear how an honor code would be integrated with some of the Ad Board Review Committee’s recommendations.

—Staff writer Melody Y. Hu can be reached at melodyhu@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Eric P. Newcomer can be reached at newcomer@fas.harvard.edu.