MCC adopts honor policy

Mohave Community College students will soon be seeing a lot of a revamped honor code the college believes will increase students’ awareness of the consequences of cheating.

Chuck Spotts, vice chancellor for instruction and student services, presented the modified code to the college’s governing board at its monthly meeting Friday on the Lake Havasu City campus.

The honor code will eventually be combined with a student code of conduct and a student behavioral expectations document to form a comprehensive standard for student behavior, Spotts said.

The college plans to include the language in students materials such as course catalogs and syllabi, and students may be expected to sign the code when they register. The honor code will be printed on tests papers, and students will be required to sign it as part of taking the test, Spotts said.

“By having the honor code, students tend to be less apt to cheat,” he said.

The stronger code — which sets limits on cheating, fabrication, stealing, academic dishonesty, misrepresentation, collusion and “the abuse of resource materials” — was prompted by a desire to be consistent with the guidelines of the Higher Education Commission rather than an excessive number of honor code violations observed at the college, Spotts said. The need for the guidelines arose from the growth of non-traditional modes of instruction, such as on-line education, that leave schools challenged to “determine that students actually do their own work,” he said.

Also on Friday, the board approved contracting with Mohave State Bank for the investment of its monthly excess funds. The college had been using sweep accounts to invest the funds, said Lynn Cundiff, vice chancellor for administration.

“Interest rates got so low, the cost in fees exceeded interest income,” Cundiff said.

The funds will now be invested in laddered certificates of deposit with varying terms based on when the cash is needed, he said.

In other business:

Board President John T. Neal administered the oath of office to new members Judy Selberg, of Lake Havasu City, and Julie Bare. Jerry Ambrose, who has been serving on the board since filling a vacancy, was also sworn in.

The board voted that Neal should remain president, and Ambrose was named board secretary for 2009.

The board approved spending $220,805 to purchase a second interactive television system to be integrated with the college’s existing system. The purchase, which will be paid from a grant, will allow the college to expand its career and technical education and allied health program, Spotts said.

The board approved raising the base pay for work-study students to $7.25 an hour, in accordance with the new federal minimum wage, and to retain a variable pay plan approved in May.

You may contact the reporter at dparker@havasunews.com.

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