Dear Connecticut College Community,
We are writing, in light of recent events and conversations, to stress and defend the importance of what we hold to be a most crucial component of Connecticut College – our community’s Honor Code. This letter is meant to address the wide issues that plague our college community and threaten the Honor Code, rather than specific events in particular.
As entering students, each of us signed a pledge of matriculation, which stated:
“I accept membership into Connecticut College, a community committed to cultural and intellectual diversity. I understand my obligation to this community under the Honor Code and pledge to uphold standards of behavior governed by honor. I pledge to take responsibility for my beliefs, and to conduct myself with integrity, civility, and the utmost respect for the dignity of all human beings. I pledge that my actions will be thoughtful and ethical and that I will do my best to instill a sense of responsibility in those among us who falter. ” The pledge contains three central tenets – Community, Integrity, and Civility. These tenets are meant to govern how we behave, each to the other, as well as each to the larger Connecticut College community. The principles engendered by these tenets form a chain, and when any link is severed it severs the entirety.
The second sentence of the Matriculation Pledge establishes the first tenet of the Honor Code – our obligation to our collective college community. Our community is fractured. Each and every one of us is obligated to protect it, and to nurse it back to health. With this in mind, we encourage everyone to look toward the broader community within which each of us resides. Get involved in the dialogues, forums, and discussions. Speak, to be sure, but please, also exercise the equally important obligation to listen and learn.
Integrity is our Honor Code’s second tenet. Integrity involves honesty, morality, and virtue. Racism is devoid of morality, virtue, and integrity. Integrity also has a second meaning, which is to say, whole and undivided. Our community is currently divided. And, in this regard, our community currently lacks integrity. We, as its constituent members, are mandated to push past this division and we must do so to reestablish a sense of cohesion within our community.
Civility is the final tenet. Civility entails respect. Respect is the natural evolution of the first two tenets and it does not, indeed cannot, exist in the absence of the first two. Under the Honor Code, we pledge to conduct ourselves with the utmost respect for the dignity of all human beings. Racist words and sentiments lay in direct, flagrant, opposition to this idea. Racism is uncivil. As our community embarks on its efforts to heal, improve, and push forward, we must all keep the principle of civility in the front of our minds. We must conduct ourselves with the utmost respect for the dignity of all human beings by listening to what others have to say, empathizing with their perspective, and exhibiting a care beyond oneself.
Sunday’s incident and those like it, cannot, should not, and will not be tolerated. But those who are behind these egregious acts can only be held responsible if they are identified. The Honor Code fosters freedom, but it also entails an impressive amount of responsibility. The 1924-1925 Connecticut College “C” Book, which marked the first formal iteration of the Honor Code and its practice stated:
“A student who is aware that a fellow-student has broken a College rule or established principle of conduct is honor bound to admonish that student to report herself. If the delinquent fails to respect this admonition, the student shall herself bring the case to the attention of the Student Council.”
We have the responsibility to hold each other accountable. This responsibility is central to the functioning of our Honor Code system. With this in mind, if you have any information concerning Sunday morning’s incident or any of the incidents listed on the bias incident log (available on CamelWeb) please bring it forward. You may report information to us at honorcouncil@conncoll.edu, Dean Cardwell, Campus Safety, or file a report using CamelWeb.
Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to endorse all efforts to bolster the Honor Code and the community that it creates. We view both as integral to Connecticut College, its identity, and the experience of its members. We believe that this pivotal moment is an opportunity to broaden and deepen the commitment to the Honor Code across our entire campus. As such, we whole-heartedly endorse the idea for Connecticut College Faculty and Staff to be invited to pledge themselves to the Honor Code and the values that it promotes. We will work with the SGA on the resolution they are putting forward to this effect, and pledge to encourage other ideas and efforts that will protect and strengthen our College’s Honor Code and the community that it fosters.
We implore each and every one of us to revisit the Honor Code pledge and to re-commit ourselves to all that it entails.
Sincerely,
The Connecticut College Honor Council
