The Mississippi State University Academic Operating Policy 12.07-Honor Code has been rescinded following the June 27 meeting of the Executive Council, which serves as the planning council for MSU and acts as advisor to the president.
Jerry Gilbert, provost and executive vice president, said in an email he proposed the honor code be rescinded due to inconsistencies between the written policy and the current procedure.
“We were not making timely progress in revising the written policy, so I suggested we rescind the posted AOP so we could develop a policy that matched the process we implement. This will give everyone the opportunity to either fully agree with our current implementation or modify it to a point where we get wide support. My goal is to have our AOP match our process,” said Gilbert.
The discrepancies between the written AOP 12.07 and the procedure followed by faculty and staff are a result of the unusual formation of the Honor Code in 2007. Bill Kibler, vice president for student affairs, said in an email the honor code was not originally developed as an AOP and thus did not go through the normal process for formal approval which requires a full review by the faculty senate.
 
 
 
Kibler said the Honor Code  was developed by a committee of faculty, students and staff and endorsed by the student senate, the Graduate Council and the faculty senate executive committee. Ultimately, the Executive Council and the president approved replacing the existing AOP 12.07-Academic Misconduct with the Honor Code.
He said since the implementation of the honor code in 2007, changes have been made by the honor code Office and at the recommendation of faculty to improve its efficiency and effectiveness.
Changes were made primarily to the hearing procedures and academic sanctions but also included the formation of a new position of associate provost and dean of the Graduate School to handle graduate student cases and a name change to the Student Honor Code.
Difficulties arose when these changes to the honor code were reviewed for adoption by the faculty senate because they had not formally approved the AOP when it was implemented in 2007. The decision of the Executive Council to rescind AOP 12.07 was to approve the current procedures of the Student Honor Code and draft a policy that reflects the changes made to the honor code.
“In hindsight, it is probably correct that the honor code should not have been made an AOP in 2007 until formal review and adoption by the faculty senate,” said Kibler.
Gilbert and Kibler are forming a committee with the charge to draft an AOP that reflects the Student Honor Code and develop recommendations for the faculty senate’s consideration of the proposed policy. Kibler said the Committee on Academic Integrity is being formed now and will have members representing the faculty from each college, the library, undergraduate and graduate students and staff. The committee will also make any necessary revisions.
“The Student Honor Code will always be subject to review and improvement so that it will serve the faculty and students of MSU as effectively as possible,” said Kibler.
Randy Follett, chair of the academic affairs committee of the faculty senate, said once a policy has been drafted by the committee, it must undergo a series of approvals before it is implemented. The policy must pass through the Associate Deans Council and the Dean’s Council before it is passed to the academic affairs committee of the faculty senate who reviews it and proposes it to general senate for a vote. The final step is a signature from the provost and the university president.
“We need to make sure everything is in the spirit it is intended,” said Follett.
The date of implementation of a revised honor code is unsure but is expected within the year. Keenum urged the Executive Council to develop a revised policy for adoption. Gilbert said adoption this semester is still possible.