™ HERALD
CN
Free Speech
Event
Jessica Feltner, co-assistant editor
On April i6, the Herald and Extra
Theater Company are hosting a Free
Speech Awareness event on Celebrat
ing Student Achievement Day. The
Herald staff will be set up in the Belk
Dining Hall Courtyard giving away
various prizes to participants willing
to engage in activities that will test
their knowledge of First Amendment
rights. The participants will challenged
to consider the importance of rights
such as sedition, slander and the free
exercise of religion. Where is the line
drawn in regards to free speech? The
event will help participants explore the
different avenues that the government
can restrict speech and expression.
The First Amendment states,
“Congress shall make no law respect
ing an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof;
or abridging the freedom of speech, or
of the press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition
the Government for a redress of griev
ances.” The Meredith community will
have the option of participating in four
different activities that test your
knowledge of how first amendment
rights are applicable in real life. The
completion of an activity will be re
warded with a prize. If all of the activi
ties are completed then the participant
may partake in the grand prize. The
Herald will give away pins, candy,
posters and other goods. During the
event. Extra Theater Company, headed
by Katy Koop, will dramatize the nega
tive aspects of not having first amend
ment rights.
The Herald is building on the
concept of former Florida Atlantic
University’s University Press advisor
Michael Koretzky’s First Amendment
Free Food Festival (FAFFF). The staff
of University Press provided free
lunch to students who were willing to
give up their First Amendment rights.
Koretzky began the FAFFF in order to
demonstrate the importance of the
First Amendment to the students of
FAU.
Celebrating Student Achievement
Day, an annual event at Meredith, is
comprised of dance performances, re
search presentations, art exhibits and
award ceremonies. It is a day for the
Meredith community to gather and
commemorate the many successes of
its students. The Herald, as a publica
tion written and edited by students,
will be using the opportunity to show
case the work of its contributors, staff
writers and editors.
If you would like to volunteer for
the event you can email herald@email.
meredith.edu.
Strict Gun Bill
in Conneticut
Emma Johnson, staff writer
According to The Washington
Times, there is a team of legislators
of both parties that composed new
gun laws for the state of Connecticut
that will potentially make an addi
tion of 100 weapons to the state’s list
of banned weapons. CBS reports that
the proposal would limit ammuni
tion magazines to lO rounds, prohibit
armor-piercing bullets and mandate
background checks for all potential
gun purchases. The prominent issue
of mental health in the gun control de
bate is addressed in the new proposal
as well. In terms of the school system,
the new proposal puts forward a train
ing plan in mental health for educators
and will enforce statewide safety and
security standards for schools. It offers
opportunities to enrich
Connecticut’s research concerning
mental health-related issues, CBS re
ports. The task force’s plan is sched
uled to be discussed at the General
Assembly session on April 3.
2013 NCAA
Tournament
Maitlyn Healy, staff writer
The 75th edition of the NCAA tour
nament is slowly coming to a close as
it rounds out with only four teams left.
The tournament began with 68 teams
and has gone through a single-elim
ination during what everyone knows
as “March Madness.” The tournament
began on March 19th and will conclude
in the championship game scheduled
on April 8th.
The Final Four will take place in
the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on April
6th. Louisville will play Wichita State
at 6:09pm, while Michigan will play
Syracuse at 8:49pm. The largest set
back any of these teams have experi
enced occurred in the Elite Eight game
of Louisville versus Duke. Kevin Ware,
Louisville’s sophomore guard, went
up to contest a shot against Duke’s
Tyler Thornton and fell awkwardly on
his right leg, breaking it in two places.
Louisville rallied against Duke to win
it 85-63. Will Louisville’s drive to win
for Ware get them to the champion
ship, or will Wichita State emerge as
the victorious underdog? Who will win
this year’s tournament? Tune in on
April 8th at 9:23pm to find out!
Harvard Cheating Scandal and the
Meredith Honor Code Hannah Thorton, staff writer
At Harvard University in February,
more than 60 students were sanctioned
for cheating on an ‘Introduction to Con
gress” final exam. The students were
originally accused by the teacher assis
tant. The final exam was an open-book,
take-home exam; however, many of the
accused students explained that it was
impossible to do without collaborating.
The rule, however, was that students
could not consult each other or discuss
the contents of the exam.
Many people have been linking:
If it could happen
at Harvard, it can
happen anywhere!
Could something of
this scale happen here
at Meredith? Most
students and faculty
say no.
The presence of a
college honor code
and honor system on
campus is a unique feature to Meredith
College, a feature that most campuses
either do not have or do not entirely
enforce. The Meredith College Honor
Code builds a sense of trust, high stan
dards and pride within the community.
However, it is not solely about matters
of plagiarism and substance abuse.
Instead, it embodies the unspoken as
well as the spoken issues of importance
on our campus.
Proponents of the honor system and
the Honor Code stress that not only
does Meredith have professors that of
fer reviews and suggestions for avoid
ing plagiarism, and security officers
that are truly happy that students have
made it safely back to campus. Students
live with a sense of trust, a privilege not
found on many campuses, but a privi
lege that they have to consciously work
hard to achieve.
Not many campus
es are secure and safe
enough for students to
leave personal items
such as laptops and
wallets unattended
without them being
stolen. Dean Gleason
reports that this re
spect that permeates
throughout the campus is what keeps
the honor system running, campus
crime down, and the Meredith reputa
tion above water as anything else.
Honor Council Chair Renu Kaur
explains that the honor code ceremony
at the beginning of every student’s col
lege generation serves as a binding of
people’s faith in each other; it is at this
point that the importance of the judicial
branch at Meredith is truly established.
The honor system at Meredith is
a branch of the Student Government
Association. This fact is not so because
of logistics that physically put it within
this area. Instead, the honor system
itself is made up of student initiative,
action, morals, and beliefs and so it is
student government. Renu Kaur states
that the greatest effect of the honor
system is when people hold themselves
accountable for their actions.
What makes the honor system a part
of Meredith is a sense of ethic, of what
The Meredith College is right and what is
^ wrong. The Honor
Honor Code builds
a sense of trust,
high standards
and pride within
the community
“The honor system
is here to help
support you and
not to judge you or
tear you down/’
Code, honor system,
and Honor Council
work to help guide
students to act on
the right things and
not the wrong. The
inclusion of Meredith
students on the Honor
Council helps make
the honor system more fair, just, and
reflective because as students, they are
able to directly relate to the student
experience.
The foundation of respect and ethical
decision-making that Meredith College
and the honor system reside on help
to better explain the role of the Honor
Council. Renu Kaur and Dean of Stu
dents Dean Gleason urge that going to
Honor Council is not as much a pun
ishment as it is a learning experience.
Meredith wants students to look in the
face of what they did in order to reflect
on the experience and to take what they
have learned from the experience in
order to move forward.
Now, Meredith College is certainly
not a place with absolutely no cheating,
lying, or stealing. Unfortunately, Honor
Council does see cases of plagiarism,
use of unauthorized aids (cell phones,
etc.), and substance
abuse.
The ultimate
message that Honor
Council wishes to por
tray: Mistakes are ex
pected; this just shows
that while Meredith
students are angels, it
is figurative and not
literal. But it is how students handle the
aftermath of these mistakes that sets
them apart and makes Meredith Col
lege a community worth the hard work
and extra effort. Honor Council Chair
says, “The honor system is here to help
support you and not to judge you or
tear you down.”
Honor Council, Student Govern
ment Executive Board, and the Dean
of Students ~ Continued on Page 4