Claims students can improve courage and leadership
Ramsey Kincannon
News Editor
Last Wednesday, Feb. 22, a collection of faculty, staff and students (mostly from Residence Life, Campus Council and the Student Government Association) gathered in the Lowry Pit in order to continue publicizing the Wooster Ethic. Written and published separately from the Student Code of Conduct and the Scot’s Key, the Wooster Ethic was formally introduced roughly six years ago. This year’s graduating class will be the first class to graduate having had the Wooster Ethic fully incorporated into the College’s philosophy.
At the presentation, President Grant Cornwell suggested that it would be an interesting project for students, faculty and staff to rewrite the Code of Academic Integrity and Social Responsibility and the Scot’s Key with the Wooster Ethic being the guiding principle in the reassessment.
When questioned about such an idea, Henry Kreuzman, dean of curriculum and academic engagement, suggested that while “it’s viable to go back and re-read and rearticulate” the social rules that are enforced on campus, the codes are “very strong … very good documents.” Both members of the administration and students feel that the Wooster Ethic, Scot’s Key, and the Code of Conduct speak to one another. However, the main difference between the documents is the fact that “the Code of Academic Responsibility and the Scot’s Key tell us what to do,” according to Kreuzman, but “the goal of the Wooster Ethic was to invite students to embrace the standards which the community should live by.”
An idea proposed at the Wooster Ethic discussion was that Wooster would eventually move towards a more student-run honor code system, like many other schools across the country, where academic dishonesty would be reported by fellow classmates. Sometimes deemed the “snitch rule,” that particular type of honor code has been practiced across the country at schools like Haverford College and the University of Virginia. While the system may not seem ideal, the rate of cheating and other forms of academic dishonesty are miniscule compared to other schools — making the proposal an ideal one. When asked if Wooster would eventually move to such a system, Kreuzman began optimistically, saying that the Wooster Ethic “is a step in moving towards that system,” but that there was a lack of courage and leadership among the student body in order to make such a transition happen.
Asked whether or not he agreed with that assessment, Kreuzman said, “Absolutely. Students need to have courage — that was Dean Kracker’s word — and they need to step up and take leadership so they’re responsible for the academic integrity and social responsibility on campus.” When questioned on how Wooster can improve on their community’s lack of courage and leadership, Kreuzman struggled to identify the main reason. “I don’t know why our community is not where we want it to be. [It could be] social phenomena, psychological phenomena, larger cultural phenomena. I know where I want us to go — this is where we should be going, why aren’t we there? I don’t know.” Kreuzman also pointed towards the College’s strategic initiatives (a recent list of goals for Wooster to push towards; the list includes Diversity and Global Engagement, Student Educational Planning and Advising, fostering a Community of Learners, Bringing Theory to Practice, and strengthening the Independent Study Program) as a way for the Wooster Ethic to evolve. Since the administration’s objective is for the Wooster Ethic to eventually become a significant part of the culture at The College of Wooster, faculty and staff have designs to include Wooster Ethic programs at ARCH and continue to stress the commitment to the culture at first-year orientation.
Although there are some who don’t believe in the Wooster Ethic, Kreuzman believes in the commitment to the philosophy. “Ethics isn’t about authority,” said Kreuzman, “it’s about embracing a culture that will follow you throughout your life. When you graduate … you should be a person of great integrity and character. We want to nurture that development of virtues on campus. It’s not something you get, you have to cultivate it.”