Academic honor codes are a nice part of traditional college culture in the South. When I was at Rice U. in Houston, because we had an honor code, we had all sorts of flexible arrangements, such as take-home closed-book tests that you could take any time you wanted during finals weeks.

The Honor Code fosters a spirit of freedom, independence, honesty and mutual trust that exemplifies the academic enterprise at its best. In most courses, students are able to schedule final exams when they want them, rather than having two exams on the same day or three or four in a row. In many cases, exams may be taken in the library or in the students’ rooms. Exams for large classes are scheduled for specific times, but even those are not proctored.

You had to sign on the test bluebook:

“On my honor, I have neither given nor received any unauthorized aid on this (exam, quiz, paper).”

The basic idea behind this code created by Rice students in 1916 was that you were supposed to conduct yourself like an officer and gentleman of the Confederate Army: What Would Robert E. Lee Do?

I don’t recall that freedom at UCLA, although it does now have a Student Conduct Code. But my eyes glaze over reading just the first 4 paragraphs of an endless document:

In order to carry out the objectives of teaching, research, and public service, the University has an obligation to maintain conditions under which the work of the University can go forward freely, in accordance with the highest standards of quality, institutional integrity, and freedom of expression, with full recognition by all concerned of the rights and privileges, as well as the responsibilities, of those who comprise the University community. UCLA students assume these privileges and responsibilities upon admission and cannot use ignorance of these policies as a justification for violating community standards.

UCLA’s reputation for academic excellence and institutional integrity is among our most valued assets; as such, academic integrity is of paramount importance to our institution and it is vital that the institution do all within our power to maintain these standards.

As a leader in health and health care, as well as environmental research, policy, practice, and education, UCLA has implemented a Tobacco-Free policy to create a healthy environment for all those who learn, work, and spend much of their time at UCLA. See UCLA Policy 810 – Tobacco-Free Environment.

Guided by our UCLA Principles of Community, we strive to provide and maintain an inclusive excellence that encompasses our high academic standards and the recognition that diversity is essential to maintaining this standard of excellence.

There are a lot of good things about UCLA (e.g., the weather), but honor isn’t one that immediately springs to mind.

Honor systems are mostly self-enforcing. But honor systems require the occasional severe enforcement, which can lead to disparate impact, which as we all know is the worst thing in the world. Thus, at Stonewall Jackson’s old campus, the Virginia Military Institute, from the Washington Post:

VMI will change honor system that expels Black cadets at disproportionate rates

By Ian Shapira
Today at 7:00 a.m. EST

Virginia Military Institute will make changes to its student-run honor court to make the system fairer to cadets accused of lying, cheating, stealing or other transgressions that can lead to expulsion.

VMI detailed the reforms in a progress report Friday in response to a state-ordered investigation into racism and sexism at the nation’s oldest state-supported military college.

The 70-page report, which the college gave to General Assembly members and the Virginia secretary of education, describes initiatives approved, enacted or begun last year, including mandatory diversity, equity, and inclusion training for administrators and members of VMI’s Board of Visitors, and changes to the Lexington school’s one-strike-and-you’re-out honor court system.

Black students at VMI were expelled by the honor court at a disproportionately high rate, according to data obtained by The Washington Post for the three academic years between the fall of 2017 and the spring of 2020. Though Black cadets made up about 6 percent of the student body, they represented about 43 percent of those expelled for honor code violations. Twelve out of the 28 VMI students dismissed in those three academic years were Black.

Now, you might say, “Oh, wow, blacks need to up their game. Being only 6% of the students but 43% of the cheaters is embarrassing. If it were pointed out to them that they should behave better, I’m sure they would. What Would Al Sharpton Do?”

But virtually nobody thinks like that anymore, at least not out loud on their Permanent Record. Instead, poor performance by blacks is proof that whites are doing something evil. I mean, it couldn’t possibly be that blacks are also poorly performing elsewhere. I mean, of course that’s true, but the fact that it’s true just proves it’s a stereotype and therefore isn’t true. Or something. Anyway, race doesn’t exist. And race is also the most important thing in the world. In any case, I hate you because you are hateful. Or hate-filled, it doesn’t matter, the point is that some people are fated to be the Bad Guys and others the Good Guys, and knowing the difference is all that matters because I’m smart and you’re stupid.

[Comment at Unz.com]