Present: Rachel Batsford, Jamie Biggam, Tim Dutcher, Kara Garcia, Daphne Heidkamp, Peter Ingebretson, Elizabeth Jackson (Secretary), Morgan Lloyd (Chair), Alex Lowry, Laura McTighe, Anthony Minko, Lea Monte, Emily Picon, Rob Tambyraja, Christina West, Dan Zibel
Special Guests: Margaret Gruen, Erin Herward, John Papay, Jan Richard
I. Moment Of Silence
II. Introductions - Because this was the first meeting of the newly elected Honor Council, we began by going around the room, introducing ourselves, and telling two truths and one lie. Dan lied about being a math major, Morgan told us that she hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, when in fact she did not, and to everyone's extreme disbelief, it turns out that Anthony is not from Alaska.
III. Minutes - One of the primary ways for the community to hold Honor Council accountable for their decisions is through minutes. There will be an extremely LOW tolerance for HC members who do not post their minutes . . . and Morgan has spies. Elizabeth will put minutes in Council members' mailboxes by 5 PM on Monday, and they should be posted by 5 PM Tuesday. If you have any comments/questions/complaints about the posting of your minutes, or about the minutes themselves, please feel free to contact Elizabeth.
IV. Meeting Time - Honor Council Meetings are held every SUNDAY at 5:30 PM in the SMITH ROOM (left side of the DC). These are OPEN MEETINGS, so please feel free to bring your dinner and hang out with Council (at least until the Confidential portion).
V. HCO Liaisons - Last semester, Rob set up an HCO-Honor Council liaison system, whereby each Honor Council member is linked to an HCO support group, or a set of HCOs. The Honor Council members give HCOs advance notice about abstract releases, and are available to answer any questions about the abstracts. Rob will continue with this project this semester.
VI. Academic Computing Issues - Jan Richard, the ACC Director, came to speak to Honor Council about ACC policy issues and education. There have been a number of cases recently where Haverford students have violated the Responsible Use Guidelines and Acceptable Use Policy. Most of these infractions have occurred because people are not aware of these policies or of the ramifications of their actions. Currently, when a violation is suspected, ACC disconnects the student's network connection, notifies the student's dean, and asks the student to come in to discuss the problem. There are various methods of resolution after this point. The main issues are how to educate the community on Haverford's computing policies, how to deal with these cases when they come up, and how to determine which, if any, of these violations fall under the Honor Code and hence Honor Council's jurisdiction.
Jan gave a few examples of the kinds of problems ACC has encountered over the past few years:
Students have installed software on public computers that records key-strokes, thus allowing them to gain access to passwords.
Password sharing has been a problem because ACC is responsible for all people who log onto the web from Haverford accounts. People from outside the community are not aware of ACC policies, so their actions under Haverford accounts may put the whole Haverford computing community (basically, everyone) in jeopardy.
Hacking is an issue. ACC gets email from outside sources who tell them that 'someone from your campus has been trying to hack into our computer.' This makes Haverford look bad, and also jeopardizes our whole network.
There have been several cases of software piracy. This is illegal, and if Microsoft or other companies find out about it, they WILL prosecute.
Students have been posting on newsgroups or sending harassing emails under a false name or someone else's name.
These are community issues, and not just computing issues, so there needs to be some way to address them as such. Some ideas that Jan and Morgan came up with over the summer are sending out a pseudo abstract for discussion among Customs Groups, putting signs up in bathrooms that address a different issue each month, or making this part of HCOs' jobs during Customs Week. The discussion aspect is essential, since so many of these problems occur because people just don't know that what they're doing is wrong and/or illegal.
Laura suggested that ACC's policies could follow the same format as the Alcohol Policy, so that a separate group would deal with education and infractions, but they would technically fall under the Honor Code. There was extensive discussion about whether the HCOs should be responsible for educating Freshmen about the ACC policies in addition to the Alcohol Policy and Honor Code. Erin and Margaret thought this was a feasible idea, but requested that Honor Council develop a specific plan of education before sending it to the HCOs. Christina pointed out that there is currently a ACC Committee with students on it who might be willing to help formulate or carry out community education and/or procedures related to violations of ACC policies. Emily said that the issue is not purely a technical one, but one that involves issues of respect, which would fall under the Honor Code. As Rachel pointed out, there are several infractions of the ACC policies that may not be Honor Code related, such as copyright infringements.
The general consensus was that Honor Council needs to spend some more time examining the issue before we make any decisions about what ACC policies or infractions are and are not governed by the Honor Code. Laura suggested that we work towards a Spring Plenary resolution, but handle any cases this semester on a case-by-case basis. Education, however, is something we can begin right away. As Morgan stated, our goal is PREVENTION, so that we don't have to deal with these things in the first place because people will know that what they are doing is wrong, and won't do it. Thank you to Jan Richard for giving up her Sunday evening to be with us.
VI. JSAAPP - Christina and Laura gave brief descriptions of what the job of Honor Council rep to JSAAPP entails. Congratulations to Emily and Tim, the new Honor Council Reps to JSAAPP.
VII. House of Interest - Morgan described HOI as 'Kevin Joseph's brainchild.' Basically, the House of Interest is made up of representatives from (hopefully) every community activity and/or group, including sports teams. It is an extremely diverse cross-section of Haverford, in a size that is appropriate for constructive discussions of important community issues. Thank you to Laura, Kara, and Lea who have agreed to be the Honor Council reps to the House of Interest.
VIII. FALL PLENARY is OCTOBER 5!!! - RESOLUTIONS ARE DUE on Thursday, September 26 by midnight to the door of the SC office (3rd floor of the Campus Center). They will be posted on the comment board so that everyone can read them and help with the required 75 signatures. There will be a RESOLUTION DISCUSSION on Thursday, October 2 at 6:30 PM in the Bryn Mawr Room of the DC. Friendly amendments are due by midnight on October 2. There will be no friendly amendments on the floor of Plenary. The doors to Marshall Auditorium open at 1:00 PM on Sunday, October 5.
IX. Mediation, Diversity & Awareness Training - Morgan is in the process of scheduling this semester's mandatory Honor Council training sessions.
X. Hopes and Dreams for the Semester - The following is a brief list of projects that Honor Council hopes to undertake/continue with this semester:
Survey - Last semester several HC members developed a survey to gather information about how the community feels about Honor Council and the Honor Code. Laura and Daphne will take over the survey project this semester, and hopefully the surveys will be out soon.
Web Project - Al, Christina and Peter will continue with Matt Andelman's work towards getting the Code on the Web. They will also work on getting an Honor Council Web page, which will feature weekly minutes, topics for discussion, and (maybe) abstracts.
Abstract Binder - The abstract binder is a collection of all Honor Council abstracts since . . . well, a long time ago. There are two of them on reserve in Magill for your enjoyment. Kara and Emily will be in charge of making sure they are kept up to date.
Bi-Co News - Jamie wants to get lots of Honor Council articles in the Bi-Co this semester.
Joint Panel Procedures - Dan, Rachel, Anthony, and Christina (with the help of Morgan and Elizabeth) will work on finalizing the Joint Panel Procedure revisions and getting them out to the community.
Ratification Card Issues - Morgan noted that there were at least 3 issues that people consistently addressed as concerns on last year's Ratification Cards. Honor Council will publicize extensively for meetings at which these issues will be discussed. We hope that MANY community members will come and let us know what you think.
Honor Council Sponsored Speaker - Morgan is interested in having Honor Council sponsor a speaker for Collection. She suggested the topic: different cultural notions of justice (and punishment?), but is open to suggestions from the community (that's you).
XI. Moment of Silence