By Charles Pan ’18, Feature Editor

Of all the councils at Newark Academy, the Honor Council is perhaps the most secretive, yet most important. But, many students still do not know about the importance or the workings of this essential group.

A committee of two faculty members, three seniors, and four juniors, the Honor Council has the responsibility of, as described by the Newark Academy student handbook, “holding before the student body and faculty the importance of the Honor Code” and “adjudicating any alleged breaches of the Honor Code and recommend disciplinary action.” Honor code infractions appear before the honor council to be reviewed, and from there the council asks witnesses to testify in order to determine guilt or innocence. Much like an actual trial, the “accused” student or faculty member may also call his/her own witnesses in order to prove one’s innocence, and the council must reach a unanimous decision beyond reasonable doubt that an offense against the honor code has been committed. Objectivity is very important for the council; if it is determined that a member has a personal connection towards a specific case, then the member will be excused from decision making. Once a decision has been reached, the council will recommend a penalty to the Head of School, who will make a final action based on the recommendation. If the council does not reach unanimity on the case, the “accused” will be cleared of charges and no penalty will be given. If the “accused” wishes to appeal the case, the discipline committee will hear such appeal and will make a decision with its own procedures. In many fashions, the Newark Academy Honor Council functions the same way as the United States Judiciary System.

But how important, really, is the Honor Council? I spoke to Maddy Mudrick ’18, a first-year member of the Honor Council. She said, “One of the most important roles that the Honor Council plays at Newark Academy is embodying and upholding the Honor Code in our community. I think that the Honor Code is the foundation for the sense of trust that we have at our school, and having students serve on the Honor Council acts as a reminder that it’s our communal responsibility to respect the Honor Code in order to strengthen our sense of community, rather than leave that job to the faculty, administration, and teachers.” Cole Fitzsimmons ’17, a second-year member, voiced a similar sentiment: “I think that Newark Academy is an incredible community as it is vibrant, accepting, and supportive. I believe that upholding the values of honesty, integrity, respect, and responsibility (HIRR) are vital to making it this way. The Honor Council works to maintain these values as fundamental parts of the community. Furthermore, when people make mistakes, we help them come to an understanding of what they did wrong and how they could avoid making a similar mistake in the future. Learning from and improving based on your previous mistakes creates a stronger community.”

Confidentiality is also a very important aspect in Honor Council procedure, which was evident in talking with these members. When asked what types of cases appear before the Honor Council most frequently, Maddy said, “Well, I definitely can’t tell you the types of cases we see, but I can say that many of the cases we see reflect desperation due to time pressure or grade pressure. Even if you think that you haven’t done your best, it’s not worth compromising your own integrity and that of the school community by cheating.”

I also talked to Ms. Mahoney, one of the faculty advisors for the Honor Council for the 2016-2017 school year. She had some valuable insight on her take of the Honor Council. “For me, [the Honor Council] does not feel like a horrific judicial punishment; it feels really like moments where kids are learning something important. As an English teacher especially, the biggest challenge is convincing kids that the vast amount of resources at their fingertips are not necessary for them to learn how to think critically.”

“The way that the council is constructed – with six students and two teachers – is excellent. The moral compass grounding force are the students, and it is a silent core strength of our community. Many people don’t appreciate this because the work that we do is confidential.”

What would Newark Academy be like without an Honor Council? Probably very different; in a survey of 24,000 students at 70 high schools, Donald McCabe, a student at Rutgers University, found that 64 percent of students admitted to cheating on a test, 58 percent admitted to plagiarism and 95 percent said they participated in some form of cheating, whether on a test or copying homework.[1] Maddy describes, “To me, not having the Honor Council means a lack of trust and respect for one another, and so although maybe NA could still function, it wouldn’t be the same safe environment that is one of the defining qualities of our school.”

[1]Statistic taken from http://www.plagiarism.org/resources/facts-and-stats/.