Public Portion Minutes 2/24/13
Honor Council Minutes from 2/24
Members Present: William, Tamar, Janela, Brian, Jon Wm, Henrik, Andrew, Ryan, Damon, Erin, Emily, Ann, Allie, Austin, Jon Laks, Joost
Members Absent: Max
Public Portion Guests: Becky, Lake, Tye, Melissa, Alanna, Ananda, Cora, Alan, Josh, Daniel, Patrick, Jessica, Jeremy, Allison, Jenna
Moment of silence.
William: as i’m sure you all know, lots has happened over the last several days. We’ll begin with the ratification stuff: we reached quorum by 5 students. However, ratification happens with ⅔ of the student body voting A or B, and we did not have that number. Essentially, because we were so close to quorum, we’d have needed only 5 people to vote and not ratify.
Tamar: repeated William.
William: which is why quorum is the absolute minimum. So, the Honor Code failed. As the constitution mandates, we will have a Special plenary. The logistics are still being worked out, but an hc-all email will be sent out eventually. At this plenary, we will be doing whatever it takes to get the code ratified.
Jon Wm: no, we need to make a change.
William: okay, then.
Dan: i think if no modification is necessary, none needs to happen
William: the constitution does not specify what quorum is for this special plenary, but we do need ⅔ to ratify, so quorum will probably need to be significantly higher
Ryan: what about a plenary like regular plenary, when 50% is quorum, and we vote to open ratification on the new code?
William: that does not sound unreasonable, but I’d feel more comfortable doing something at special plenary
Tamar: part of the two-vote process is that the initial voting is basically like a pledge to vote on ratification as well
William: again, that hasn’t been figured out, and since it’s in the purview of student council, it’s not for us to decide. That said, there will be an hc-all email with as much info as we can give about this, and other than that we can’t say much because we don’t actually know
Allie: what number of votes was required for the code to pass?
William: 842
Brian: what’s the state of the code right now? do we have an interim code?
Tamar: i see this as suspension. we’ve all committed to live under the code at the beginning of the year, hence special plenary. so while we can’t take on new cases or anything, i think we all need to adhere to the spirit of the code
Jon Wm: the written document is not enforced right now, but as HC students, i think we all need to be decent to each other
Brian: i meant functionally, what is council right now?
WIlliam: council cannot deal with anything new that violates a code that does not exist. but, we can deal with things from before the moment that it failed
Tamar: we can continue to deal with anything we were dealing with
Brian: i agree with you, personally, but i don’t know that it’s for us to determine
Jon Wm: nothing happening right now is cut & dried. there’s a reason that there are no instructions for right now; it’s a crisis we’re trying to work through with the administration
William: it’s our job with the community to decide right now what’s fair. you can’t change the rules of the game after the fact
Tamar: it’s not their fact that time has passed
Pat: it’s like the opposite of ipso facto
William: any alternative opinions?
Tye: has the administration spoken about this?
Tamar: yes, they agree
Emily: i agree that we can all agree on that, but what about a violation right now?
WIlliam: i think you can still confront people, because confrontation is not specific to the code. strictly speaking, violations aren’t ‘violations,’ but problems and issues are still issues. nothing can come to us, and if something did, we would send it to the administration. just because there’s no code doesn’t mean we don’t need to act like decent people. this only changes the administration of the code
Tamar: also, just because there;s no code right now doesn’t mean there won’t soon be one. we’re not dropping the system, we’re in a limbo while we try to fix the system
Emily: so until special plenary, social confrontations can still happen, but other things would go to the administration
William: yes. more questions?
Melissa: in terms of procedure: is there a difference between the code failing with quorum vs. not reaching quorum at all?
Jon Wm: had we not reached quorum, we would still not have a code, but there also would not be a guaranteed plenary. we’d need people to pledge to attend a special plenary.
Jeremy: is the faculty aware that we don’t have a code?
Tamar: it’s all case by case. they’re going to know, but we all sign the code upon entering, so hopefully they understand that we still want the same kind of relationship, but it’s their right to not give take home tests etc
Jon Wm: i think it’s important to note that the pledge that we sign upon entering says we pledge to uphold the code ‘and the principles upon which it is based.’
William: the code also doesn’t take professors right to proctor exams, etc. cheating isn’t allowed now, even without a code
Tamar: also, don’t give professors a reason to not trust you
Allion: Brian was talking about how the Honor Code might need to change. Why did the Honor Code fail? Are there any changes we have in mind?
William: i think some people have already talked about things they’d like to see change, but it’s not up to us, it’s up to the community to bring changes forth as they see fit. i don’t know if i have any changed i’d personally like to see; this (people here) is great, and something i’d like to see
Jon Laks: because we did reach quorum, and the technical problem is that it didn’t pass even though enough people voted, the presumption there is that something needs to change. and maybe everyone who chose c would change their mind before special plenary, but that’s unlikely, and we need to be thinking of why they voted no
William: 400 people also didn’t vote, and we need their options, too
Dan: special plenary is also not a laid out process, so for those of us who have seen people try to make little changes in the code know that it’s difficult. so an entire overhaul of the code might become insanity, and we need to brainstorm ways for the process to work. it’s not like there was one key aspect that people didn’t like, it’s much more nuanced than that
Melissa: i know none of us have seen a special plenary before, but does anyone know if the resolution process is the same?
Dan: we don’t know. all we know is that it’s ‘special.’
William: these things will come in an hc-all email
Alanna: is there a way we can get the comments from ratification cards?
Tamar: yes
Jenna: i have those now, so i’ll send them to you soon
Patrick: is there a plan to spread the word about the importance about special plenary? because quorum will be difficult
William: there’s a plan, which may work. aside from little tricks to keeping quorum, but hopefully the fact that it’s the CODE will encourage people to say. And hopefully the fact that there aren’t tons of resolutions people don’t care about will help
Dan: people also rise to the expectations presented to them
Tamar: also, plenary is a time commitment, and the fact that some people don’t care about some resolutions is difficult
Emily: i read the bi-co articles about special plenary and they all happened in mid-april…
Dan: our plan is not that late
William: as soon as it’s fair and possible
Andrew: will there be resolutions, then resolutions, or…?
Dan: i think so, yes.
Jon Wm: there is no format yet.
Tamar: anything else? this is also not your last chance to raise them, email code@. and try to promote discussions amongst your friends, it can only help
William: also, remember that we are not the people with all the answers. this is a community issue, and the community needs to deal with it as a community. no one should feel like their opinion is not as valuable as everyone else on campus, because everyone on campus matters.
Tamar: moment of silence.
End private portion.
These minutes reflect the interpretations of Janela Harris and Brian Guggenheimer, Co-Secretaries. They are neither reviewed nor approved by the rest of Honor Council. Questions/comments? Email hccosecs@hc!