Q&A: How will Carolina’s honor system change?

UNC-Chapel Hill plans to adapt its student honor system policies to become more aligned with best practices at other higher education institutions in the UNC System and across the country.  

In an effort to make the student conduct process more straightforward and fair, UNC-Chapel Hill will shift to a hearing board model that is designed to better serve and provide more equity for students involved in cases.  

Carolina’s vice chancellor for student affairs, Amy Johnson, spoke with UNC.edu about the proposed changes and the impact on students. 

How are the honor system policies changing?

We want to provide clear policies and protocols for students and facilitate processes that are easier, more efficient and less demanding on students. One key change is we are moving from a student-led process to a professional staff-led process, with the support of students and faculty who will continue to be actively involved through hearing boards, serving as student advisors in the process and an advisory committee. 

When will these changes take place?

We’re announcing changes now to give the community time to offer feedback that we will consider when implementing these changes to the process. Then we will provide more information on the changes and how the transition will happen after that.  

How will these changes benefit students?

I think there will be several primary benefits: 

One, we plan to have a policy and protocols that will be easier to understand and navigate. Right now, we have an honor code, an alcohol and drug policy, community standards and amnesty rules, each with its own deadlines and rules. It can be very confusing for a student to navigate all of those policies, especially when cases cross over into another process. Aligning the processes will be easier to follow and clearer for students.  

Two, we must recognize that the student conduct universe has evolved significantly over the last 100 years—and it’s important that we evolve with it. Today’s student conduct environment has more complex cases, greater intersection with civil and criminal proceedings, more involvement by attorneys and outside advisors and more legal and regulatory requirements. This change keeps up with other universities’ best practices and allows us to respond to these environmental factors.   

Finally, the current system places extraordinary demands on our student leaders who run the Honor System and manage cases, which leads to the top complaint that we hear from those who go through the process: It takes too long and disrupts students’ academic progress. Right now, academic cases take more than 100 days to resolve, and non-academic cases take more than 130 days. 

We believe that having this process led by professional staff — who will be able to dedicate each day to guiding all of the conduct steps and procedures, managing the involvement of attorneys and outside advisors, and supporting the success and wellbeing of our students involved in these cases — will result in a process that better supports our students’ learning and leadership experience, as well as their wellbeing and success. 

How will students be involved with the new system?

We are very proud of the fact that we have such a robust tradition of student integrity and honor, as well as student governance. Having students give feedback to their peers when their behavior is or isn’t consistent with our University values and policy is a powerful learning experience and a developmental opportunity both for students who are involved in the adjudication and students who are going through the process. We absolutely want to maintain that.  

Through the new process, we are bringing our protocols more in line with what exists throughout the country. Hearing boards are considered a best practice and are probably the most common student conduct model across the country. Our peer institutions like UCLA, Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Georgia Tech, UMass, Duke, and NC State all have hearing boards.   

Also, the hearing board model maintains active student involvement and participation. Students would serve as advisers to their colleagues, participate in hearing panels, and serve as members of an advisory committee. The advisory committee we’re planning would guide Student Affairs about policies and procedures, and outcomes related to student success and equity. We hope that these updates will continue to foster a community of success for all of our students.  

How can students share feedback?

We’re currently meeting with leaders of various stakeholder groups, including student leaders, and seeking input from the Carolina community. We encourage faculty, staff, and students to keep tabs on our FAQ page, which we’ll update as we move forward, and to send any input to us based on experiences with the current process at studentconduct@unc.edu.