Architects of honor
A notochord is a primitive backbone in most low vertebrates. But at Princeton University it has played a much more significant role, igniting the most highly publicized court case involving the University's 107-year-old Honor System and perhaps initiating decades of future discussion and debate about the code.When Robert Clayton '82 answered question number 19 ? identifying the notochord on an amphioxus ? for a make-up lab practical exam, he says he never thought it would lead to questions of academic fraud or a controversial court battle that would last nearly six years."I was totally oblivious to anything else going on," he said in an interview earlier this week.Clayton's case ? the first time anyone challenged the Honor System in a court of law ? was not the first instance in which a student said he or she felt the Honor Committee's procedures were unfair.And it has not been the last."Ever since I became academics chair, students have come up to me who have been involved in different Honor Committee investigations and have spoken to me about what they thought could be fixed," said Jeff Gelfand '01, USG academics chair for the past two years.