History of the Academic Honor Code
According to the late Howard D. Williams, former professor of History emeritus at Colgate, University Archivist and author of A History of Colgate University 1819-1969, Colgate University had an honor code as early as 1895 and as recently as 1922.¹  However, from 1922 through the end of the century, Colgate relied on a more conventional disciplinary model where forms of academic dishonesty were defined, and professors suspecting cheating, plagiarism or other forms of academic dishonesty reported these suspicions to a Dean who, in turn, resolved the complaint through a disciplinary hearing. While most believed that this system worked well, there were many who believed that the system overly emphasized rules and penalties and did not clearly articulate the value of academic integrity and why it was so important to cultivate this value in a community of scholars.

In the Fall of 1992, after a two year review of Colgate's disciplinary system, a new Code of Student Conduct was approved and implemented. While not an honor code per se, this new Code of Student Conduct was designed to replace a proliferation of rules and policies with a concise statement of behavioral expectations and was a clear step toward the idea of establishing an academic honor code. Key to the Code of Student Conduct was the following sentence modeled after the wording of several student honor codes at other colleges:

"... Colgate expects that its students will not lie, steal or cheat, engage in dishonest or unlawful behavior or any other behavior intended to inflict physical or emotional harm on another person." ²

The new Code of Student Conduct was well received, and in the 1992-93 school year, a group of students, faculty and staff serving on the Colgate Committee on Student Rights and Responsibilities began to look in earnest at the feasibility of formulating an new academic honor code for the University. During the next two years, this Committee drafted an academic honor code, and in the Spring of 1994, this draft went before the student body in the form of a non-binding student referendum. This draft code was not approved by a majority of the students who voted, and for the time being, the honor code proposal was tabled.

In the Spring semester, 1998, a group of students made a proposal to the Academic Affairs Board (AAB) of the University urging the Board to revisit the idea of drafting a new, simplified Academic Honor Code that would build on the Code of Student Conduct. The AAB was receptive to this student initiative, and over the 1998-99 school year, the AAB devoted the majority of its time and energy drafting a new Code. In Spring 1999, the proposed Academic Honor Code was approved in a student referendum and was subsequently approved by the Faculty (April 1999) and finally the Board of Trustees (May 1999) with implementation scheduled for the Fall term 2000.

The Philosophy of the Academic Honor Code
The first two sentences of the Academic Honor Code speak volumes about the philosophy that serves as the Code's foundation:

"At Colgate University, we believe honesty and integrity are fundamental in a community dedicated to learning, personal development, and a search for understanding. We revere these values and hold them essential in promoting personal responsibility, moral and intellectual leadership, and pride in ourselves and our University."

At some fundamental level, education is a search for truth, and an academic honor code articulates basic values that facilitate this search. Colgate's Academic Honor Code is remark-ably brief, 97 words to be exact, but this compact statement codifies the importance of honesty, integrity and trust that are so key to a successful educational experience.

The Center for Academic Integrity (a national organization which assisted Colgate University in the creation of the Academic Honor Code) believes that honesty, trust, respect, fairness, and responsibility comprise what is commonly referred to as academic integrity.³  Each of these five values is reflected in the Colgate University Academic Honor Code and the procedures that implement the Code. You are invited to read the Academic Honor Code in the next chapter and the following chapters that help define and frame Colgate University's commitment to academic integrity.

¹  H. D. Williams, A History of Colgate University 1819-1969 (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1969), pp. 226, 255 and 305. 

²  Refer to the current Colgate University Student Handbook under "University Code of Student Conduct."

³ The Fundamental Values of Academic Integrity, a booklet published by The Center for Academic Integrity, October 1999, The Center for Academic Integrity, Box 90434, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708. A copy is available in the Colgate University Office of the Dean of the College.