Meetings
While a semester is in session, the Honor Board must meet weekly. It is the responsibility of the Chair and Vice Chair to find a weekly meeting time that works for all the student members of the Honor Board, and the first meeting of each semester must occur at most two weeks after the beginning of the semester. The Honor Board Leadership, including the Advisor to the Honor Board, must also meet weekly.
Audits of Student Government
The Student Government holds an Audit Meeting at the beginning of the final month of each semester. Prior to this Audit Meeting, during the final full month of the semester, the Honor Board is responsible for conducting Audits on the other branches of the Student Government. At least two members of the Honor Board must meet with the leader(s) of each branch to both question their operations and budget usage and evaluate each organization’s compliance with the Governing Documents (Student Constitution, Student Government Bylaws, and Honor Code).
The Auditing Process will go as follows:
- The Honor Board Chair and Vice Chair will delegate assignments to the Honor Board members on which branch of Student Government they will be auditing. These assignments must be in pairs, and must be established at least two weeks prior to the Audit Meeting.
- Each pair of Honor Board members must reach out and set a meeting with the leader(s) of their assigned organization. This meeting must happen prior to the Audit Meeting.
- During the meeting, the Honor Board members will facilitate the meeting and make sure to achieve the following objectives and document their findings:
- Obtain a summary of the actions and operations of that branch over the duration of the semester, including both operations they have executed and operations they plan to execute during the final month,
- Obtain a summary of their Budget usage over the duration of the semester, including a report of how much money they have spent and how much they have left, and
- Examine the Student Government Bylaws and ensure that each organization has carried out the responsibilities listed in the Bylaws.
- After the meetings, each Auditing pair will send their notes to the Honor Board Chair, who will compile the findings and prepare them for presentation during the Audit Meeting.
At the Audit Meeting, the President of the Council of Olin Representatives (CORe) and the Honor Board Chair should discuss the findings of the Audits and ask for clarification if necessary. If there are discrepancies between the responsibilities of an organization and the findings of an Audit, they will be resolved through a Discrepancy Resolution.
The Audit of the Honor Board will be facilitated by the Dean of Student Affairs or their designee and will involve the Chair and Vice Chair of the Honor Board.
Discrepancy Resolution
If the Honor Board finds that any portion of the Governing Documents are not being followed by a particular organization, the Honor Board will request that the person(s) responsible resolve the issue before the next Student Government meeting. If the responsible individuals do not resolve the issue in time, the Honor Board may file a Report against those individuals and publish a statement to the community after investigation and resolution through the Honor Board process.
Impeachment
At any time, any student may request an Impeachment Hearing against a member of the Student Government or the Honor Board. An impeachable offense may include:
- Major violation of the Honor Code
- Abuse of power
- Gross neglect of duty
Any impeachment requests against a member of Student Government will be submitted to the Honor Board Chair and must include specific charges that reflect an offense listed above. The Chair of the Honor Board must convene a special Impeachment Hearing meeting of the Student Government no more than 5 business days after the report is received. It is the responsibility of the Chair to moderate Impeachment Hearings.
During an Impeachment Hearing, the Reporter and Reported are given chances to present their arguments. Each is responsible for their respective Witnesses.
At the end of the arguments, the Honor Board Chair will call for a vote, after which members of the quorum will vote on whether the Reported should be impeached from their Student Government position. A vote of ⅔ of the Student Government members present at the hearing who are not the Reported are required for a student to be removed from office.
If a request for impeachment is submitted against an Honor Board member, the Dean of Student Affairs will take the Chair’s position in receiving the report, organizing a hearing, and moderating an Impeachment Hearing. All members of the Honor Board excluding the Reported are considered quorum and will vote on whether the Reported should be removed from their Honor Board position. A vote of ⅔ of the Student Government members present at the hearing who are not the accused individual are required for a student to be removed from office. The Dean of Student Affairs does not have voting power, but the outcome of the Hearing is subject to approval by the Dean of Student Affairs.
Honor Code Amendments
Within a month of the start of every academic year, a town hall must be called to ratify and/or amend the Honor Code for that academic year. Any member of the Olin student body may submit a proposal for an amendment to the Honor Code to the Honor Board Chair or Vice Chair at any time. The proposal must include the reasons for the amendment and the proposed wording of the amendment, along with signatures of at least 10% of the student body.
Once the proposal has been brought to the Honor Board, a Town Hall Meeting must be called within the same semester to discuss and vote on the proposed amendment. If the proposal was brought to the Honor Board within the last two weeks of the semester, the Honor Board reserves the right to hold the Town Hall during the first month of the next semester. Multiple amendments may be considered at one Town Hall Meeting. The Town Hall Meeting is open to all of the Olin community, and all students are expected to make an effort to attend. Quorum (half of the student body) must be met to vote on any amendments.
At the close of the meeting, all students present in-person, present on zoom, or otherwise previously informed and adequately knowledgeable of the amendment(s) changes will vote by secret ballot, once per amendment, with the option to vote for each proposed amendment or the unchanged Honor Code. Each amendment that is approved by 50% of the student body will immediately go into effect. If no amendments are approved by 50% of the student body, the Honor Code remains unchanged.
After all proposed amendments are voted upon, all students present in-person, present on Zoom, or previously informed and adequately knowledgeable of the Honor Code will vote by secret ballot on whether or not to abolish the Honor Code. If less than 50% of the student body votes to abolish the Honor Code, the Honor Code remains in effect.
If the Honor Code is abolished, policies drafted by the Student Affairs and Resources Office will take effect immediately. In order to reinstate the Honor Code, a proposal must be submitted to the Student Affairs Office, which will put the issue to a student vote, as per the policies of the Student Affairs and Resources Office.