“I pledge my honor that I have abided by the Stevens Honor System.” These words are plastered upon every quiz, homework, and assignment given by Stevens. However, many of those who read these words don’t fully understand the true scope and magnitude of the Honor System behind this simple statement. `
To get an understanding of what the average Stevens student knew about the Honor System, The Stute interviewed Jessica Ibea and Shreya Roy, both Computer Science majors of the Class of 2027. When asked about the Honor System and her opinion of it, Ibea responded, “The Honor System. Oh God. What the duck [profanity excluded] am I supposed to say?” with Roy chiming in, “It’s stupid”. Another student said, “It’s like a knife to the throat. You have to maneuver around it.”
It’s clear that these students had an either uninformed view and as such, weren’t able to articulate their thoughts about the Honor Board, or a hostile view, and believed the Honor Board to be an aggressor, actively trying to get students in trouble. In this article, I want to explain the full extent of the Honor System and how it impacts every single student at Stevens. To get more information about the Honor System, I decided to email the Honor Board’s eBoard to get the insider scoop. I got a response from Maggie Jacobs-Byer ’26, the current chair of the Honor Board.
Jacobs-Byer stated that one of the key reasons that she joined the Honor Board is because she believes that the Honor Board aligns with her morals, and she wants to ensure that everyone at Stevens is provided a fair academic experience. She wants the students of Stevens to know that the Honor Board isn’t out to get students or to make the lives of students difficult. The Honor Board wasn’t established to dish out punishments but instead to ensure the fairness of Stevens and make sure that no one was given an unfair advantage.
When a violation is reported to the Honor Board, first it’s decided whether or not the violation is in the scope of the Honor Board or whether another department needs to handle the issue. (By the way, if you would like to report an Honor Board violation, you can just simply email honor@stevens.edu and get in contact with the Honor Board, or preferably submit an anonymous report.) If there is enough evidence to continue with the investigation, the student is then informed, and Honor Board representatives will speak with the student. They will decide on one of the following conclusions: a confession, a stipulated confession, or a hearing. The Honor Board is here to help out the members of Stevens and will always assume you are innocent. Furthermore, if you are convicted you may appeal two times to get your conviction overturned. The Honor Board is an integral part of Stevens, helping to ensure academic honesty and discipline.
While in other universities professors have the final say on what punishments can be delivered, at Stevens the Honor Board keeps professors in check. If the Honor Board finds that the professor has shown some kind of bias against a student the case will be dropped. The entire process ensures that penalties are fair and consistent, unlike at many other colleges where professors can administer grade drops and other punishments arbitrarily. Hopefully, this article convinced you of the good the Honor Board can do and how generous they are in giving Stevens students the benefit of the doubt.
