Watching the Ivies: 2/4
COLUMBIA: Columbia University’s Academic Integrity Task Force is proposing the adoption of an honor code to promote honesty in academic affairs, as the Columbia Spectator reported. The code would establish an honor pledge that students would take at convocations and sign at each academic exam, and the code’s supporters say it would encourage a culture of integrity on campus. Columbia and Harvard are currently the only two Ivy League schools that lack a formal honor code.
CORNELL: A student group at Cornell University, Students Against the Sexual Solicitation of Youth, is preparing to host a conference in April to raise awareness about commercial sexual exploitation of minors, according to the Cornell Daily Sun. The conference will focus on these issues in rural areas, where cases of such exploitation have less visibility than in urban regions. The day-long event will be co-hosted by the Girls Educational & Mentoring Service.
HARVARD: Harvard University announced Friday that about one percent of its undergraduate body was required to withdraw temporarily from the College mid-fall semester last year, according to The Crimson. The instances of disciplinary probation occurred as a result of the College’s cheating scandal last year, in which over 100 students were investigated for inappropriately collaborating on a take-home government exam. This was Harvard’s first formal announcement about the status of the investigation since its initial announcement last August.
PENN: The University of Pennsylvania’s summer International Internship Program will increase in both magnitude and diversity of internships this year, as The Daily Pennsylvanian reported. The program offers both undergraduate and graduate students unique opportunities to live and work in foreign countries such as Botswana. Currently, about 350 students have applied for 65 spots in the program this summer, a 45 percent increase in applicants from last year.
PRINCETON: The union representing Princeton University’s department of public safety is advocating for the permission of its officers to carry guns, according to The Daily Princetonian. Members of the department point to recent incidents where the armed local police had to be called for backup, although they describe Princeton’s campus as generally safe. DPS officers currently wear ballistic vests and carry pepper spray, handcuffs and a baton.
YALE: At Yale University, about 180 women participated in the sorority recruitment process last week, according to Yale Daily News. The recruitment process formerly occurred over a three-day period, but was extended to five days this year. The revamped process included introductory parties, philanthropy parties and preference parties, allowing for a day off between each event.