General Judiciary

The Honor Code, established in 1919, has a strong history at Wellesley. It is a system of mutual trust and respect upon which we base our community. If you cannot trust someone, respect is even more difficult to give. With an increasingly diverse and changing community, trust and respect are necessary for the most fundamental dialogue to begin. Wellesley has been a leader in academics since 1875. Academic integrity and honesty are indicative of the standards of excellence which Wellesley represents. The Honor Code does not require that all members of our community agree. Rather, it asks each member of our community to take responsibility to learn and follow the academic and non-academic rules of Wellesley College, and to uphold the philosophy behind the Honor Code.

1901	Faculty-student agreement establishes Student Government Association
1918	New faculty-student agreement changes Student Government Association to College Government
1919	Honor “System” established
1922	A separate judiciary under College Government established to adjudicate non-academic violations – academic violations continued to be handled by Academic Council's Committee on Discipline
1968	Structural Revision Committee established to review the governance systems of the College
1969	A new Judicial System approved – under it General Judiciary [with faculty and student members] was authorized to hear cases dealing with academic as well as non-academic violations
1970	New faculty-student agreement approved by the Trustees – students were given authority to manage conduct of students except academic matters within the jurisdiction of Academic Council’ under the constitution adopted only students are voting members of Senate; the judiciary system adopted in 1968 was an integral part of this constitution
2003	Honor Code Review Committee established to review the viability of Wellesley’s Honor Code, to assess the climate of academic integrity throughout the institution, and to examine means to invigorate both
2004	Changes to judicial procedure recommended by the Honor Code Review Committee are adopted and implemented
2005	Through General College Government Elections the student body adopt the revised Honor Code presented by the Honor Code Review Committee and endorsed by the Honor Code Review Convention