The Honor Code: A Brief History

As some of you might know, the tradition of academic honor codes traces itself back to the schools of the antebellum South. The College of William & Mary instituted the country's first honor code in 1779 and the University of Virginia adopted one in 1842. In those days, an honor code was simply an informal vow taken by the sons of plantation owners not to lie, cheat, or steal. Violators were publicly criticized and pressured to leave the school.

Today, schools have taken on very different interpretations of the honor code. Some colleges, like William & Mary, have retained certain elements of an honor system and removed others, such as the so-called "rat clause" requiring students to police each other. A few older Southern schools, such as Washington & Lee, have preserved the honor code in its most severe form: Cheaters are simply expelled. And at the U.S. Naval Academy, although violators are frequently expelled, an honor remediation program exists that retains some midshipmen convicted of lesser offences. The Midshipmen are place on a probationary status and have to complete specific requirements or face subsequent expulsion.

The student-managed Kellogg Honor Code was instituted in 1991 after the faculty determined a sanction that students later deemed to be too lenient. Its mission is to remind us to “regard honesty and integrity as qualities essential to the practice and profession of management.” Its strength lies in the fact that it is a living, evolving code which seeks to reflect the ethical standards of our Kellogg community.