“We all agree that collaboration is an increasingly important element of pedagogy in many disciplines. We want to enable and support collaboration among students when and where appropriate, as determined by the course instructors,” he wrote.

TOWARD AN HONOR CODE?

Some say the next step in this move toward policing collaboration is the implementation of Harvard’s first-ever honor code.

At the monthly meeting of the FAS in April, Harris presented such a proposal, drafted by the administrators, faculty, and students on the Committee on Academic Integrity. If approved and implemented, the honor code would establish a written commitment to academic integrity beyond individual faculty collaboration policies.

As written, the proposal would create a Student/Faculty Judiciary Board populated by both students and faculty exclusively to hear cases of academic dishonesty and would require students to sign a “declaration of integrity” on major assignments and exams.

Terah E. Lyons ’14, a member of the Committee on Academic Integrity, said collaboration is just one aspect of the broader conversation about academic integrity at Harvard.

“There’s been a large focus on [collaboration] because that was seemingly sort of the crux of the problem that occurred with the scandal in the fall,” Lyons said. “I think that the idea of being an honorable student or upholding honor or being someone who integrates integrity into their academic practices is a notion that includes collaboration amongst many other concepts.”

The Committee will seek more student feedback on the honor code in the fall, according to Lyons.

Light described the introduction of an honor code as a continuation of the trend towards explicitly defining collaboration policies that she and many members of the faculty followed this past year.

“It’s a public articulation of a set of standards that we hold in common,” Light said. “For me personally, since Harvard doesn’t have its own honor code, I guess that’s sort of what I’ve tried to do this year, is to keep calling students’ attention to the kinds of expectations that...people are going to conduct themselves as exemplary citizens in the classroom, that they’re going to make their best effort to adhere to our community standards for integrity.”

—Staff Writer Madeline R. Conway can be reached at mconway@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @MadelineRConway.

—Staff writer Zohra D. Yaqhubi can be reached at zyaqhubi@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter at @zohradyaqhubi.