Dartmouth, Brown, and Yale Propose Exam Honor System

Dartmouth's Undergraduate Council advocated on Thursday night an honor system for the college examinations, based upon students reporting the violations of others rather than individual confessions of cheating. The Big Green's exam system, which is now proctored, has been under consideration for revision by the council during the past two months.

Meanwhile both Yale and Brown have also been involved in controversy over the merits of the honor system with much of the stimulus coming from the success of the Princeton honor code.

Dartmouth's Council has not yet determined how their system should be enforced. Neither the exact formation of a proposed Honor Council to try accused cheaters nor the disciplinary power of such a group has been decided upon. Council members have proposed numerous penalties, ranging from failure in the course to expulsion from college.

Try Accused

The stand taken for Thursday calls for an Honor Council which would try students accused by others of cheating. This plan defeated a rival proposal, whereby students would voluntarily confess cheating to the Honor Council, by the slim margin of three votes.

Dartmouth's vacation starts today, so further study on the mechanics of such a system has been postponed until after Christmas. When the Undergraduate Council completes the program it will be submitted to a student referendum and to the faculty for approval.

At Providence, Brown's Cammarian Club, a form of student council, has also been considering the possibility of adopting the honor code. The Cammarian Club takes the same stand as Dartmouth's Council on the matter and would have the already existing Student Court act as the enforcement agency.

The Club will make its full recommendation after Christmas; the proposal will then be debated in a series of student forums. Brown undergraduate sentiment is believed opposed to the scheme of each student policing the other.

Yale Campaign

Yale became involved in the controversy when earlier this fall the Yale Daily News opened a campaign for the honor system after several of its reporters had observed the Princeton arrangement.

Yale students generally support the code, because it would appeal to a "Yale man's morality". However, deans believe that the traditional code of honor, which forbids students from informing on others, would nullify such a plan.

The Princeton program is the general basis for all Ivy League discussions on honors systems. At Nassau a professor will even distribute an exam to be handed in the following week. The student is thus given full license to decide where and when he will take the test.

Advocates of the Princeton honor code insist that it does not cause outbreaks of cheating. The fact that the honor system can be enforced is evident from the frequent cryptic announcements in the Daily Princetonian that "Mister X has left the College for disciplinary reasons."