The Honor & Ethics Council

Function

The Honor and Ethics Council hears all cases involving academic misconduct, except those handled by the interim process. Its task is to find the truth and render fair judgments.

Composition

For any given hearing, the Honor and Ethics Council is composed of five (5) persons: the Dean of the College (or the Dean’s designee), two (2) faculty members, and two (2) students. The faculty and student members that serve on a panel are drawn from larger pools of ten (10) student members and ten (10) faculty members.

Student Members

  1. The ten (10) students who serve on the Honor and Ethics Council will be appointed yearly by the President of Wake Forest University on the recommendation of the Vice President for Campus Life; the Vice President will consult with Student Government prior to making any recommendations.
  2. Appointment of student members will take place in the spring term for the following academic year. First-year students normally will not serve as members. In the event of vacancies, the President (on the recommendation of the Vice President) may make appointments at non-standard times.
  3. To be considered for membership, students must have a Wake Forest GPA of no less than 2.0 and have no Honor Code violations. Interested students must also disclose to the Vice President any conduct offenses on their records. Such offenses may be grounds for disqualification, at the discretion of the Vice President. In making recommendations, the Vice President will consider evidence of good character, good judgment, and commitment to the Honor Code.
  4. At any given time, a student may serve on only one of the following: the Honor and Ethics Council, the Board of Investigators and Advisors, and the Judicial Council.
  5. The term of service for student members is one (1) academic year. But students may serve any number of terms.

Faculty Members

The ten (10) faculty members who serve on the Honor and Ethics Council will be appointed by the President of Wake Forest University on the recommendation of the Dean of the College. The term of service is three (3) academic years. Faculty members may serve multiple terms.

Administrative Member

The Dean of the College is a permanent member of the Honor and Ethics Council and will serve as presiding officer in hearings. The Dean’s designee(s) may act for the Dean in discharging the responsibilities of this position. The Dean or the Dean’s designee has the same voting privilege as the other four (4) members of the panel but also serves as the presiding officer.

Assignment of Members to Cases

All members of the Honor and Ethics Council have equal standing and will in principle be competent to hear any case. Assignment of individuals to a particular hearing panel will generally be based on availability and equal distribution of the caseload. However, the need to avoid conflicts of interest will be proper grounds for the selection or elimination of a member in a particular case.

Judicial Liaison

The Dean will appoint one (1) person to serve as Judicial Liaison to the faculty. This person may be a member of the Dean’s Office or a member of the faculty. This person will advise faculty members on cases of potential student misconduct in the academic context; will receive academic cases submitted to the conduct system; and will be responsible for overseeing cases in their pre-hearing phase. The Judicial Liaison will not serve on the Honor and Ethics Council.