Fall 2025: A Pre-Plenary Rundown

Haverford’s Fall 2025 Plenary, set for Sunday, November 9, will mark one of the most significant overhauls of the Honor Code in recent institutional memory. Since April of this year, the Committee for Student Community, Agency, and Responsibility (CSCAR), chaired by Sofie Quirk ’28 and Ben Perez-Flesler ’27, has worked to rewrite the Code, intending to restore legal clarity, coherence, and student authorship to a document that has faced increasing tension in recent years.

Plenary, held in the Douglas B. Gardner ’83 Integrated Athletic Center (GIAC), serves as Haverford’s biannual forum for debate, discussion, and institutional decision-making. This semester’s session will feature six resolutions, all authored by CSCAR. No resolutions were submitted by students outside the CSCAR process, and no resolutions address topics beyond the Code’s revision. Plenary will conclude with a vote to ratify the Alcohol Policy, and, if approved, implement the new Honor Code and its accompanying charter. The new Code includes a concise summary of the most critical responsibilities and regulations for all students, while the Charter contains the remaining, more detailed procedural information. Together, these proposals represent the culmination of a yearlong effort involving dozens of students, hours of debate, and one of the most comprehensive structural revisions in the Code’s 128-year history.

After several semesters of low student participation in Plenary, along with institutional policy changes and political uncertainty, the College adopted an interim revision in May 2025 to stay in compliance with federal law and campus policy. While legally necessary, this temporary version, never ratified by students, sparked widespread questions about ownership, authorship, and the balance of power between students and administrators.

In response, CSCAR was formed to restore the Code to a student-written, student-ratified document. Over the past two semesters, the committee has reviewed every section of the Code, consulted administrators and legal experts, and held open forums for student input. The resulting draft, produced jointly with Honor Council and Students’ Council, is designed to be legally sound yet distinctly Haverfordian, emphasizing transparency, collaboration, and self-governance.

RESOLUTION #1: Constitutional Updates

Presented by Ben Fligelman ’26, Ben Perez-Flesler ’27, Sofie Quirk ’28, and Jack Weinstein ’27 on behalf of CSCAR

The first resolution, “Constitutional Updates,” establishes the framework that enables the remaining five resolutions to function. It amends the Students’ Association Constitution to clarify and streamline Plenary voting and ratification, address procedural gridlock that often slows Students’ Council activities, as seen in both loss of quorum during Plenary sessions and slow election processes, and ensure that governance can continue even if quorum is not met.

Among its central provisions, the resolution eliminates a clause that delayed the implementation of any Honor Code changes passed in the fall until the following spring, allowing approved revisions to take effect immediately. It also seeks to formalize the Co-Heads of the Joint Student-Administration Alcohol Policy Panel (JSAAPP) as members of Students’ Council and to update the election procedures for the International Student Representative and the Officer of Multiculturalism to align with current federal frameworks.

Perhaps the most notable feature of this resolution is the introduction of an “extenuating circumstances” clause, which provides a contingency plan should Plenary fail to reach quorum for two subsequent sessions. In such a case, any student can propose limited amendments to governing documents outside Plenary, and such amendments “must include reasonable modifications with the intent of restoring continued function of student governance.”  This clause aims to preserve the functionality and integrity of Haverford’s student-run governance system by allowing students to address urgent issues even when the general student body disengages, preventing the Code from entering a state of crisis and ensuring continuity in student governance. These changes are made through consensus among the Students’ Council Co-Presidents, Honor Council Co-Chairs, and all appointed Librarians, followed by approval from 75% of the student body. 

The resolution introduces a new voting process that, if approved, will be used to ratify the new Code and Alcohol Policy at this Plenary and in all future Plenaries. After debate and voting on each resolution, Plenary will hold a final ratification vote on the new Code, the Charter, and the Alcohol Policy. Previously, the Students’ Council Constitution allowed only three voting options: “Yes,” indicating approval; “No,” indicating disapproval; and “No Vote,” indicating a conscious decision not to vote. Under the proposed change, voting would include four options: “Ratify,” “Ratify with Objections,” “Oppose,” and “Abstain.” Each option would also offer space for additional comments, a feature not available in the previous system.

RESOLUTIONS #2-#6: Rewriting the Honor Code

Presented by Ben Perez-Flesler ’27, Sofie Quirk ’28, and other community members on behalf of CSCAR 

The remaining five resolutions together comprise the proposed new Honor Code and Honor Council Charter, representing a complete replacement rather than a piecemeal revision. The rewrite organizes the Code into five sections: Preamble and Introduction (Article I); Confrontation (Article II); The Social Code (Article III); The Academic Code (Article IV); and Related Practices, Policies, and Procedures, including the Honor Council Charter (Article V).

Opening with words from President Isaac Sharpless’s 1888 Commencement address, the new Preamble reaffirms the Code as a living document rooted in the Haverfordian values of trust, concern, and respect. It frames student agency as both a privilege and a collective responsibility, urging students to “actively incorporate these values into daily life” and to view the Code as a guide for intellectual and social conduct rather than a set of rules. The accompanying introduction situates these principles within a broader commitment to mutual accountability, shared stewardship, and the ongoing evolution of self-governance.

Article II, “Confrontation,” redefines the concept as “initiation of a dialogue with a fellow community member about an issue, including any interpersonal tension or a potential violation of the spirit or letter of the Honor Code,” reframing the process as restorative rather than strictly disciplinary. The revised section encourages honesty, empathy, and care, positioning confrontation as an opportunity for conversation, reflection, and mutual understanding rather than accusation or punishment. It also explicitly clarifies that no student is ever required to engage in a confrontation that could compromise their safety or well-being.

Article III, “The Social Code,” broadens the community’s responsibilities to include respect for labor, the environment, and accessibility, linking personal conduct to the care of shared spaces and relationships with staff. The updated section underscores that values of trust, concern, and respect are not reasons for silence or inaction but calls to engage more deeply with one another. By extending the Social Code beyond interpersonal interactions to encompass environmental sustainability and community labor, the revision highlights how individual responsibility contributes to the dignity and well-being of the broader campus community.

Article IV, “The Academic Code,” reaffirms Haverford’s tradition of a trust-based education while clarifying expectations around collaboration, citation, and academic integrity. Defining honesty as “the lifeblood of the academic community,” the revised section emphasizes learning as a cooperative rather than competitive process. It preserves the long-standing practice of entrusting students to behave ethically while introducing more precise guidance for group work and digital collaboration. The new guidelines clarify how students are expected to use shared documents, online communication platforms, and AI tools responsibly, reflecting the growing role of technology in academic work.

The final section of the Code consolidates the procedural elements, responsibilities, and regulations of the Honor Council. A separate Honor Council Charter outlines the Honor Council’s threefold purpose: “to hold any individual who violated the Code accountable, to educate the individuals involved, and to restore individuals who violated the Code to the Haverford community.” By codifying restorative justice models such as “circle” and “panel” processes that emphasize education, accountability, and repair over punishment, the new charter clarifies how these established practices are applied in both social and academic contexts.

If at least two-thirds of students vote to ratify the new Code and 80% or more of those votes are affirmative without objection, the new Code will take effect immediately. It replaces the current version with a complete rewrite that updates confrontation and restorative justice processes, restructures the document, and renews the community’s commitment to trust, concern, and respect. Most importantly, it returns authorship and ownership of the Code to the student body. If fewer than 80% of ratifying students vote “yes,” or if objections exceed that threshold, a new review committee, composed primarily of students not elected to the Students’ or Honor Council, will convene to address concerns and propose revisions at a future Plenary. If the first resolution is passed, any revisions made to the Code, whether in part or in full, will take effect. However, if all six resolutions are passed under these conditions, the entire Code will be replaced with the new, fully revised version, which will take effect immediately.

Fall Plenary 2025 will begin at 2:00 PM on Sunday, November 9, in the GIAC, with doors opening at 1:00 PM. Satellite rooms will be available in Sharpless Auditorium and the GIAC conference room for a quieter, more relaxed experience. The event will also be accessible via Zoom by contacting the Students’ Council Officer of Access and Disability Inclusion.