Honor code proctoring pilot unanimously authorised by Undergraduate Senate

After the earlier Undergraduate Senate (USG) twice voted to reject the Committee of 12 (C12)’s proposed modifications to the Honor Code, the newly inaugurated twenty fifth UGS unanimously voted to approve their proposal, which incorporates modifications to the textual content of the Honor Code and a research into examination proctoring, in its assembly on Tuesday.

The vote got here after the College Senate bypassed the UGS’s earlier votes to be able to unilaterally suggest a movement on April 27 that may permit in-person proctoring for the primary time since 1921, beginning in September of the upcoming 2023–24 tutorial yr.

The UGS’s approval of the proposed Honor Code modifications supersedes the College Senate’s historic April 27 movement. As a substitute, the C12 proctoring proposal permits proctoring solely as a part of a research for researching examination conduct.

Senator Khandaker Aqib ’25, the only abstaining vote, mentioned that the UGS’s vote was for “the lesser of two evils,” between a small research into proctoring, as proposed by the C12, and the full-scale capability to proctor, as carried out by the College Senate movement.

“Our fingers have been tied in some ways,” Aqib mentioned. “We’ve been pushed right into a nook.”

For the reason that Honor Code was written by Stanford college students in 1921, it has been a mutual settlement between college students and college. Members of the earlier (twenty fourth) UGS had expressed opposition to the College Senate’s vote to unilaterally allow proctoring within the upcoming tutorial yr, citing breach of precedent and scholar belief.

Xavier Millan ’26, a scholar member of the C12, mentioned that the brand new C12 proposals are preliminary and “the door is open” to incorporating extra scholar suggestions. He additionally mentioned that the modifications scale back “snitch tradition,” which he mentioned was the accountability of scholars to report one another.

The C12, which consists of 5 college students, 5 school and two workers, researched tutorial integrity and self-discipline insurance policies at Stanford for over one yr earlier than publishing its proposals and presenting them to Stanford’s governing our bodies. The proposals embrace a pilot research into proctoring and a tiered judicial system.

UGS Parliamentarian Ivy Chen ’26 mentioned that the vote would “kill two birds with one stone” by each restoring the UGS’s relationship with the College Senate and by taking extra scholar voices into consideration.

After Tuesday’s UGS vote, the C12’s proposals have been authorised by 4 of the 5 mandatory governing our bodies: the Board on Judicial Affairs (BJA), the College Senate, the UGS and the Graduate Scholar Council (GSC). The College Senate’s bypassing movement specified that it will be outdated within the occasion that the C12’s proposals are authorised by the governing our bodies. Due to this fact, if College President Marc Tessier-Lavigne (whose workplace is the fifth governing physique) supplies his mandatory approval, the College Senate’s movement can be outdated by the C12’s revised Honor Code and related proctoring research.

Some senators mentioned that they appeared ahead to seeing the outcomes of the proctoring research, which may assist to tell future insurance policies.

“There isn’t numerous knowledge and tangible understanding of the results of proctoring,” senator Dilan Desir ’26 mentioned. “I don’t suppose it’s about mistrust of scholars or the tradition on campus, and if it’s perceived that method, I feel that’s a communication factor we’d like to consider.”

Nominations Committee appointments

Nominations Committee chair Matthew Jacquez ’23 mentioned when contemplating nominations for College Committees, he wished to “be certain that… college students actualize change,” are “engaged” and present confidence in management “even when challenged.”

The next college students have been unanimously authorised by the UGS to be appointed to normal College Committees for a time period of 1 tutorial yr.

The UGS additionally unanimously agreed to nominate the next college students to the Judicial Panel Pool, which oversees honor code violations.

Different enterprise

Within the first laws ever handed by the brand new Senate, the UGS unanimously authorised a decision authored by Kagurabadza to congratulate the outgoing ASSU executives, Darryl Thompson ’23 and Christian Sanchez ’24.

The UGS unanimously authorised $80,000 of membership funding for the previous two weeks, proposed by UGS treasurer Ishaan Singh ’24.