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Paul Anzel

NEWS 9/24/09 7:00pm

Honor Council flaws highlight need for further modifcation

By Paul Anzel

I was extremely pleased when I read about the recommendations of the Working Group on the Honor Council in The Rice Thresher two weeks ago ("Honor Council working group presents findings," Sept. 11). The council has had trouble keeping up with its caseload for a while, and the measures suggested could greatly alleviate the pressures on the council, allowing things to run much more smoothly.These changes, however, do not address some other major procedural problems with the Honor Council.

NEWS 11/6/08 6:00pm

Honor council processes require fixing

By Paul Anzel

Many years ago, back when I was a high school senior, I faced a choice between many excellent colleges and universities. In the end, I decided on Rice. There were a number of reasons why I made this decision: financial aid, my time as a prospective student and the knowledge that the Rice name would take me far. And there was one other thing that really struck me - the Honor Code. None of the other places mentioned anything like it, and I was really impressed that Rice trusted its students enough to give them a fair bit of flexibility with their papers and exams.As my Rice career draws to a close, I can say that the Honor Code has worked very well for me. I appreciate being able to do my math and physics in the Rice Memorial Center with a steady supply of coffee and to be able to take a test when it's most convenient for me. Though I've had some very long timed exams (those 5+ hour ones), the problems I've had to tackle are extremely interesting. And I like being able to consult my notes and books during a test; memorizing a bunch of formulas is a pain, and in real life I can generally look something up if I don't know it.

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