THE COLLEGE

THE Dartmouth faculty rarely finds itself in unanimous agreement on a major educational or administrative proposal, but to everyone's surprise there was not a single dissenting vote when the faculty held a special meeting October 18 to act on its executive committee's recommendation that an Honor System be instituted for all academic work.

The formal resolution, proposed first by the Committee on Educational Policy and then by the Executive Committee of the Faculty, reads:

"The Faculty of Dartmouth College wishes to institute an Honor System for all academic work, to go into effect if possible by September 1962. This Honor System should be designed and enforced by the students of Dartmouth College. The Faculty calls upon the Undergraduate Council to present a plan in time for Faculty approval during the academic year 1961-62."

An Honor System at Dartmouth has been one of the liveliest topics of student debate in recent years, with most heat engendered over the question of whether mandatory reporting of cheating should be a part of the system. Mainly because of this stumbling block the predominant desire of students for some sort of Honor System never took concrete form.

Last month's faculty initiative, putting the issue squarely up to the Undergraduate Council and the student body, immediately kicked off a spate of letters to The Dartmouth about integrity, morality, responsibility, police power, and the old stumbling block of "ratting" on one's fellow students. The Dartmouth itself rather pettishly hailed the faculty's action as a step in the right direction but thought that upperclass cuts and dates in fraternity houses might better fall under the aegis of honor.

Palaeopitus felt obliged to issue a notice to the student body denouncing imaginary fears before anyone had even begun to devise an Honor System. "The one thing that can be stated unequivocally at this time," said Palaeopitus, "is that any implementation of methods to bring about intellectual responsibility will not include a mandatory 'reporting clause' of any kind. Within the next 24 hours every Dartmouth student will be asked to reply to the following question: Do you as an individual feel that you are capable of upholding the expressed faith of the faculty in the academic and intellectual integrity of the Dartmouth student body?"

One thing is certain. The coming months will be the livelier for the Honor System debate that has been unleashed by the faculty's action at the October 18 meeting.