Reassessing the meaning of honor

This week's top story, "Honor standard inconsistent in academic, social settings," paints a grim picture of how honor currently operates on campus. The idea that academic honor is held to a higher standard than honor in social settings is problematic. A number of people interviewed for the article – students and faculty alike – noted that this was probably due to the fact that the primary mission of the College is academic. In fact, the Statement of Purpose actually says: "The primary purpose of Davidson College is to assist students in developing humane instincts and disciplined and creative minds for lives of leadership and service."

    Of course, academic excellence is a significant aspect of the College's mission, but overlooking lying and stealing in social settings is not consistent with the institution's values.

For example, many students, it seems, would consider lying about one's academic work as a more severe infraction than stealing beer from a fraternity or eating house. However, trust is implicated in both situations. Why do we suspend students for cheating on one test, yet don't bat an eyelash (or at most, we just hold a grudge) when we see a peer stealing a case of beer? Yes, beer is not that expensive and can be replaced, but restoring trust isn't that simple. To be clear, we are not arguing that cheating on a test is a small infraction or in any way unimportant. Rather, we assert that the standards to which we hold our academic work should be extended to the way we assess behavior in social settings.

The distinction between honor in academic versus social settings is troubling given that, beyond Davidson, most students won't be in academia for the long-term. If we focus only on upholding honor with regard to our academic work, what does that mean for the role honor will play in our future day-to-day lives? When character is tested not by the pressure of tests and papers but by pressure of ________*, how will we respond?

Ultimately, as Dean Jeffries eloquently stated, this problem is not something for the administration to handle. This is a problem that students ought to address among themselves. We need to collectively decide whether our community will continue to tolerate the double standard currently applied to academic versus social settings.

*Insert your moral temptation here.