The University continued its celebration of the centennial of Woodrow Wilson's presidency yesterday with a lecture by Edward Tenner '65, a visiting research collaborator with the English department.
Despite the title of the talk, "Wilson and the Honor Code," Tenner said Wilson actually had very little to do with the institution or development of the Honor Code.
Tenner emphasized the grassroots nature of the move to institute an Honor Code — a move that was initiated by a group of students in the fall of 1882. The Honor Code was officially installed in 1883.
Tenner said Wilson described the Honor Code as a "movement of the students themselves" rather than a bureaucratic structure imposed on the student body by college authorities, adding that it was the student-initiated nature of the Honor Code that lent it power and credence.
"Any movement for ethical behavior must be a grassroots movement because it is extremely difficult to impose ethics from above," Tenner said.
A group of University students decided to initiate an honor code at the end of the nineteenth century to counter the widespread use of crib notes and rampant plagiarism. However, Tenner said even after its implementation, the Honor Code was "not a code but a student declaration that cheating would not be tolerated." The Honor Code was based more on solidarity and comradeship than on a bureaucratic system of committees and punishments.
Tenner also briefly addressed the contemporary issues surrounding the role of technology and the Internet in current cheating trends. In particular, he discussed the current crackdown on student plagiarism through the use of programs that detect similar phrases in papers and Internet resources.
While such programs may seem initially to cut down on plagiarism, Tenner said, it may eventually "further divide the students from the teachers" and turn plagiarism into a "game in its own right against the faculty" just as the abundance of proctors in the 1800s made the use of crib notes a game for the students.
Tenner said Wilson's commitment to the Honor Code stemmed from its role in fostering community and solidarity.
"What excited Woodrow Wilson about the Honor Code was the bond of trust it created," Tenner said.
The lecture, the last in a series devoted to Wilson, was sponsored by Friends of the Princeton University Library.
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