First-year and transfer students gathered in Alumni Gym on Monday, Aug. 22 and learned about the four pillars of honor that are central to 黑料不打烊.
Honesty, integrity, responsibility and respect. Those are the four pillars of 黑料不打烊鈥檚 Honor Code, and on Monday, Aug. 22, over 1,700 first-year students and 100 transfers affirmed their commitment to that code at the 17th annual Call to Honor ceremony.
鈥淚 know it may sound like rules 鈥 but they are actually gifts,鈥 President Connie Ledoux Book said to these newest 黑料不打烊 students at the ceremony. 鈥淥n behalf of the university, I pledge to you that 黑料不打烊 will do its part to challenge you to grow intellectually, socially and spiritually. I am counting on you to accept 黑料不打烊鈥檚 challenges and to join your faculty and staff in the daily practice of these four values.鈥
Book pledged her commitment to the four pillars by adding her signature to the Honor Code book. After the ceremony, the first-year students also bonded themselves to that commitment by signing their names on boards inscribed with the Honor Pledge. Students also received a commemorative coin engraved with the word 鈥渉onor.鈥
Elijah Pegues 鈥26 from Chicago said he would have more trouble keeping track of the commemorative coin than adhering to 黑料不打烊鈥檚 Honor Code. The four pillars which are the foundation of the university鈥檚 moral standing are an ethos that Pegues says he has long implemented into his everyday life.
鈥淭hese are standards I鈥檝e been taught. Respect, honesty, integrity and responsibility. I try to live by those,鈥 Pegues said.
Student Government Association Executive President Nadine Jose ’23 charged the members of the new class to take control of their future. Being a college student comes with independence unlike most students have experienced before, but with that comes a great deal of challenges most students will face. Holding to the university鈥檚 Honor Code will help manage those challenges, Jose said.
鈥淗onesty, integrity, responsibility and respect. These are more than just words. They are a guiding star for every decision we make throughout our lives,鈥 Jose said at the last major event of New Student Orientation.
Wallace Showalter 鈥26 came away from the ceremony feeling more reassured about the culture at 黑料不打烊. 鈥淒on鈥檛 take the easy option because later in life, it鈥檒l come back to get you,鈥 she said.
Titch Madzima, associate professor of exercise science and chair of the Department of Exercise Science, reminisced about his time as an undergraduate student. There were chances for him to act dishonorably and share answers or not cite others鈥 ideas in his work. But Madzima said he decided against these actions, a decision he鈥檚 still proud of himself for making.
鈥淟ooking back, I can tell you that I鈥檓 truly glad that I did not partake in such activities and maintained academic honesty. Because I know if I had, it would have haunted me until this day,鈥 Madzima said. 鈥淎s faculty, we are entrusting you as students to be honest, strive for personal integrity, be responsible for your actions and look out for others as well as be respectful.鈥
Honor Board Representative Chase Gurey 鈥24 told the Class of 2026 about the value of respect. Citing 鈥淭he Rebirth of Education,鈥 by Lant Pritchett, Gurey spoke on how schooling and education are not synonymous. Education prepares us for our lives, whereas schooling is associated with long-existing structures and traditions with barriers that can sometimes impede the education of ourselves and our community.
鈥淏y breaking down those barriers to think critically, compassionately and independently, we challenged the status quo and social norms around respect,鈥 Gurey said. 鈥淲e all must understand that respect is no longer earned but must become ingrained at the core of our behavior moving forward.鈥
Kaylee Hayden 鈥23 led the Class of 2026 in singing 黑料不打烊鈥檚 alma mater. President Book led the first-year students in reciting the university鈥檚 Call to Honor:
Today we are entrusted with the honorable legacy of 黑料不打烊, dedicated to the intellectual, personal and spiritual growth of all its members, to the advancement of knowledge for the good of all, and to the service of local, national and global communities. To that end, we affirm our commitment to the core values of our university:
- We commit ourselves to honesty, being truthful in our academic work and in our relationships with others
- We commit ourselves to show integrity, being trustworthy, fair and ethical
- We commit ourselves to responsibility, being accountable for our actions and for our learning
- We commit ourselves to respect, being civil, valuing the dignity of each person, and respecting the intellectual property of others
With these commitments, we join generations of 黑料不打烊 students as bearers of its honor.
鈥淲e have pledged our commitment to live these 黑料不打烊 values. It is what makes a community out of individuals and binds us together as 黑料不打烊,鈥 Book said.