CALTECH STUDENT HISTORY NOTES
BOARD OF CONTROL
The Honor System at Caltech saw its beginnings early in the history of the Institute. Indeed even though the traditions of the Honor System and the Board of Control were still a number of years in the future, the very first catalog published for the second year of operation of Throop University, namely 1892-93, describes the discipline at the university in a way which presages those institutions. It states that
``The discipline of the institution will constantly keep in mind the development of self-governing citizens, self-respecting, law-abiding men and women. The helpfulness of the ever-watchful friend will take the place of the educational police officer.''
A similar statement is repeated in the catalogs of the Throop Polytechnic Institute through 1895-96. Then the description of discipline takes a less enlightened turn, the catalog for 1896-97 stating that
``It is taken for granted that students enter the Institute with serious purposes and that they will cheerfully conform to such regulations as may be made by the faculty''.
Try that one on for size today! This hardline statement is repeated until 1907 when the reorganization of the school and its anticipated move to a new location are also reflected in an important shift toward student self-government. The statement on discipline has been dropped from the catalog of June 1907 and has been replaced by a statement included in the brief description of the ``Associated Students'' mentioned here for the first time. This states that
``The Associated Students is an organization formed to deal with all matters of general concern to the student body. It collects and controls the expenditure of all moneys used in college activities, and deals with such matters of deportment and discipline as the Faculty may delegate to it. A Committee of the Faculty acts in an advisory capacity, the Faculty Council being the court of final appeal.''
What exactly motivated this change and who formulated the idea is lost in the mists of time. Like most such changes it did not appear suddenly fully formed but rather seems to have incubated for a number of years.Sometime during the 1912-13 year a Student Rules Committee was formed and reported its recommendations at the Associated Student Body (ASB) meeting on May 14, 1913. The first five recommendations which were approved by the meeting constituted the formal beginning of the Board of Control. They set up a body comprised of 3 seniors, 2 juniors, 2 sophomores and one freshman to be elected by their respective classes on the second Friday of the Fall term and to hold office for one school year. This body would be presided over by the President of the ASB and would have ``Complete jurisdiction over the conduct of all students according to the rules''. One of these rules applied to examinations and stated that ``The honor system is in vogue with all it implies''. However other rules were proposed governing social conduct so it is clear that right from the beginning the Board was viewed as having a role in both academic and social affairs. Frequently I have heard members of our community claim that the Board was originally concerned only with academic affairs and that its involvement in social affairs is relatively recent. This is simply not the case. The confusion may be due to the fact that the ``Honor System'' was originally envisaged as a system for the conduct of examinations. These words seemed to change their meaning shortly after 1913. The Catalog dated January 1918 already visualizes the use of an ``Honor System'' outside of examinations: `` ... the honor system prevails at examinations, as well as in the general conduct of students...''. Whatever the semantics, the Board was always concerned with both academic as well as social affairs and has therefore changed little in its fundamental purpose since its inception in 1913.
The first mention of the Honor Sytem and the Board of Control which I can find in student publications is in the annual of May 1917 (called then ``The Throop Tech''). This states that
``All student body affairs are handled by the Associated Student Body. The Board of Control has charge of all cases of discipline and makes its recommendations to the Faculty. The honor system exists in all examinations.''
By the very next year the explanation in the annual (called ``The Tech'') published in April 1918 is considerably more expansive:``The Student Board of Control is the student's court. It has been granted full power in dealing with all cases of discipline, and all cases involving the violation of the honor system which is used in all examinations given.
For the benefit of those who do not yet know, let us here explain the honor system. Under the honor system each man is placed on his own responsibility when it comes to discipline and to ``cribbing''. It puts every man on his honor not to ``crib'' in examinations or in any other way to act as befits a gentleman of honor and of education.
The system is an ideal one but occasionally someone upsets the Utopia, and for these we have the Student Board of Control. This board has power to expel a man from college if they think the offense committed warrants it. It has no regular sleuths, but relies on the whole student body for information on the defilers of the honor system.''The Annual goes on to describe the importance of this part of the student's education. During the first couple of years it appears that the president of the student body (``Associated Students'') also served as Chairman of the Board of Control; thus Donald D. Smith served in both positions during 1918-19 and Paul R. Ames also did so for 1919-20. Perhaps in order to distribute the work load more evenly, the role of Board of Control Chairman was assigned to the Vice-President of the ``Associated Students'' Jesse Burks, the following year, 1920-21, and this has remained the case up to the present day. The President of the ``Associated Students'' remained an ex officio member of the Board of Control for many years (this was the case in 1941-42); this was not altered until the restructuring of ??????. For many years the minutes of the Board of Control meetings were kept by the secretary of the ``Associated Students'' (this was the case in 1941-42) who was not, however, a member of the Board; during the reforms of ????? the Board acquired its own elected secretary who was also responsible for the preliminary investigations along with the Chairman.
The May 1917 Annual also tells us that the Board was comprised of four seniors, three juniors, two sophomores and one freshman. This structure remained unchanged for many years. One of the seniors was the ASCIT President while the Vice-President presided over the meetings as a non-voting member. The latter is still the case today. By 1941-42 only minor changes had occurred; in that year the board consisted of three seniors, three juniors, two sophomores and one freshman (also in 1944). By 1948-49 a more egalitarian mix of two representatives from each class had been installed.
By the mid-1920s the Honor System was a well-entrenched part of student life at the Institute. And, in the 1928 ``Big T'' we see, enunciated for the first time, the important part that the Honor System came to play in the educational mission of the Institute:
``The Honor System permeates all of Tech life; when necessary, examinations are permitted to be taken home; a candy counter is maintained and stickers are sold without an attendant. The system acts as a great character builder, and honesty, so essential to an engineer or scientist, predominates in the training of Tech men.''
COURT OF TRADITIONS
No institution evolves without some wrong turns and, in the case of the Honor Sytem, it would seem, in retrospect, that the Court of Traditions represented one such wrong turn for the Honor System.
The Court of Traditions was organized as a subcommittee of the Board of Control in December, 1922. Its ostensible purpose was to enforce traditions particularly ``those with reference to Freshmen''. More specifically, like some of the more capricious honor systems at other schools in the past, the first year students were subjected to a set of rather arbitrary rules or ``traditions''. The Court of Traditions meted out punishments for violations of these traditions most of which were designed to humiliate the transgressor. The Court was set up like a court of justice with a judge, prosecutor and clerk. The 1930 Big ``T'' states that there are four members, a senior judge, a junior judge, a sophomore prosecutor and a freshman representative.
The 1927 Big ``T'' describes the role of the Court in the following terms:
``Aside from the beneficial effects which enforcement of a few traditions exerts upon the freshmen, the punishments when carried out are often exceedingly entertaining to the student body. At other times, the offending freshmen are made to perform tasks around the campus that will improve its general appearance.''
The 1930 Big ``T'' adds another factor when it states that the Court was
``... organized ... as a way of eliminating hazing which is of no credit to any campus as well as enforcing traditions.''
Rather than eliminating hazing it would seem more to have institutionalized it.The 1924 Big ``T'' lists a number of individual convictions and punishments. One student was convicted of neglecting to shave and was required to shave in public on the steps of Throop Hall. Another refused to buy and wear ``the Frosh cap'' and was sentenced to the stocks for three hours.
Perhaps because of abuses like this or perhaps because the students began to recognize that these practices were not worthy of the honor system the Court of Traditions seems to have evaporated after 1930. Subsequent Big ``T''s make no mention of it.
OTHER NOTES
Note the apparently erroneous statement in the Little T of March 1944 (page 14--15) to the effect that
``In 1920 Herbert B. Hutt, then ASB President for the second time, initiated an institution which has since become Tech's most sacred tradition: the Honor System.''
Regarding the extension of the Honor System to non-academic circumstances the 1944 Little ``T'' states: ``Not only does it permit men to take examinations in rooms without faculty supervision but it also allows a person to leave belongings anywhere on campus with the knowledge that his fellows will not distub them.''
Regarding the method of investigation the 1944 Little ``T'' says: ``... board convenes as soon as possible to hear witnesses and to receive other evidence...''
During the Second World War the Honor System was extended to all those participating in the Navy V-12 training program. The Board made its recommendations to the commanding officer who ``takes such action as is commensurate with Navy policy'' (Little T, 1944).
Last updated 4/10/04.
Christopher E. Brennen