Rice University’s Student Newspaper — Since 1916

Thursday, May 01, 2025 — Houston, TX

Changes to Honor Council increase transparency

By Staff Editorial     11/12/09 6:00pm

As the saying goes, "No news is good news." Which is why students, when contacted by the Honor Council, have always been stricken with fear. The Honor Council has established itself as one of the most mysterious entities on campus, and little of the reasoning behind its decisions have previously been available to students.This year's revision of the Council's Consensus Penalty Structure, however, is far more elaborate than in recent years and may alleviate this problem (see story, page 1). The Council upheld its previous minimum and maximum penalties, but added much-needed clarification. The governing structure now makes public the available penalties between these extremes (see honor.rice.edu).

We maintain that students should refrain from cheating, but we're impressed that the Honor Council has kept student consideration in mind and given up a measure of its mystery.





More from The Rice Thresher

OPINION 4/26/25 5:14pm
This moment may be unprecedented — Rice falling short is not

In many ways, the current landscape of American higher education is unprecedented. Sweeping cuts to federal research funding, overt government efforts to control academic departments and censor campus protests and arbitrary arrests and visa revocations have rightly been criticized as ushering in the latest iteration of fascism.


Comments

Please note All comments are eligible for publication by The Rice Thresher.