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Good morning!
In a retrospective on the Peer Representative program, Princeton Peer Representative Co-Chairs Alice McGuinness ’24 and Brian Li ’24 describe their work, which provides assistance to students being investigated by the Honor Committee and Committee on Discipline, and the positive impact that it has had on themselves and the larger university community. The program was established following a 2003 referendum to allow peer representation for accused students. Since then, Peer Reps have played a vital role in the disciplinary process. In 2021, The Daily Princetonian published an investigation chronicling, through first-hand student accounts, “a story of spiraling mental health, institutionalized alienation, and renewed hopes for reform” among those facing accusations from the Honor Committee and the Committee on Discipline.
Through this investigation, students highlighted the importance of Peer Representatives, stating that the Reps “felt like the only line of defense in helping them.”
Earlier this month, students enrolled in COS 126: Computer Science — An Interdisciplinary Approach got a Canvas announcement from Professor David August entitled “Important Collaboration Policy Information.” Students in this course are encouraged to turn themselves in, with the department promising a “less severe [penalty] than the typical University-level penalty.” Rumors have swirled in the aftermath, sparking renewed campus discourse on the Honor Code.
Li describes how in spite of any perception of being antagonistic towards the University, the goal of a Peer Rep in assisting accused Honor Code violators is to be a “point person ... who is there to explain things to them, to provide support, to help them gather their thoughts, and to be a voice of calm and reason.”
READ THE STORY→
Analysis by Olivia Chen
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