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Princeton Overhauls Honor Code - newguy - 05-13-2026
Princeton University has just made major changes to their honor code in response to the temptations created by artificial intelligence.
https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2026/05/princeton-news-adpol-proctoring-in-person-examinations-passed-faculty-133-years-precedent
RE: Princeton Overhauls Honor Code - fullmetal - 05-14-2026
I agree with the decision. Students these days have really dived into AI usage habits and are searching for any advantage, ethical or otherwise. The benefits are immense, and the likelihood of being caught is very low in a high-trust environment. Those who are honest work at a stark disadvantage to those who use AI.
RE: Princeton Overhauls Honor Code - 82lsju - 05-14-2026
and at Stanford last month
Quote:The Faculty Senate voted to allow proctoring of in-person exams following a pilot overseen by the Academic Integrity Working Group.
https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2026/04/faculty-senate-proctoring-open-access-policy?utm_id=97757_v0_s00_e230_tv2_tp1_a1dennhb5tblwe&fbclid=IwY2xjawRy9FJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeuoMch32kQ5hfYndwi-qtT6oMEfkCQducNlz0-Q67CVT68PXiCG3lLAqfx3A_aem_LGQHeBhGaw5yBtCWYmwWeA
RE: Princeton Overhauls Honor Code - pefloresjr - 05-14-2026
When I was a freshman in the early 80's I was surprised to learn about the ban on proctors in the exams. Signing the Honor Code seemed like a very serious matter to me since I had never seen such a thing before. I never saw any cheating in my exams but I majored in English and History so it was almost impossible to cheat on essay exams at the time. Phones, laptops, and easy access to AI have changed that pretty dramatically.
That year I was at dinner with a friend whose dad taught at a community college. I asked him if they had the same policy of unproctored exams. He just laughed and said that he had to be there for the exams because he taught in the real world.
Cheers,
Pete F.
RE: Princeton Overhauls Honor Code - cardcrimson - 05-14-2026
Back in the dark ages, our engineering tests were all open book, open note (I remember a couple of midterms where the means were still in the teens). Tough to do that now, unless you ban phones and laptops which might work.
RE: Princeton Overhauls Honor Code - 82lsju - 05-14-2026
(05-14-2026, 12:44 PM)cardcrimson Wrote: Back in the dark ages, our engineering tests were all open book, open note (I remember a couple of midterms where the means were still in the teens). Tough to do that now, unless you ban phones and laptops which might work.
as were most of mine, one story back in the day was from one of the 50 series physics classes where the prof said you could use whatever you could carry into the room for the exam, one fellow carried in his roommate....
RE: Princeton Overhauls Honor Code - newguy - 05-14-2026
(05-14-2026, 12:59 PM)82lsju Wrote:(05-14-2026, 12:44 PM)cardcrimson Wrote: Back in the dark ages, our engineering tests were all open book, open note (I remember a couple of midterms where the means were still in the teens). Tough to do that now, unless you ban phones and laptops which might work.
as were most of mine, one story back in the day was from one of the 50 series physics classes where the prof said you could use whatever you could carry into the room for the exam, one fellow carried in his roommate....
that must have been some sight to see.
RE: Princeton Overhauls Honor Code - Goose - 05-14-2026
(05-14-2026, 12:59 PM)82lsju Wrote:Interesting. In the 1968-1969 years none of our Physics 50 series tests were open anything. As I have noted before on this board the girl sitting behind me cried all the way through the Physics 55 final. A bit disconcerting because I thought it was a pretty easy final and was wondering if I was massively missing something :-). The Physics 57 final had problems on it that even the TA's couldn't solve. With Hofstadter that was almost de rigueur on problem sets but frankly I didn't expect that on a final :-). Somehow I got a B. No idea how or why. Lots of partial credit.(05-14-2026, 12:44 PM)cardcrimson Wrote: Back in the dark ages, our engineering tests were all open book, open note (I remember a couple of midterms where the means were still in the teens). Tough to do that now, unless you ban phones and laptops which might work.
as were most of mine, one story back in the day was from one of the 50 series physics classes where the prof said you could use whatever you could carry into the room for the exam, one fellow carried in his roommate....
RE: Princeton Overhauls Honor Code - Hurlburt88 - 05-14-2026
Physics 57 blew my mind . . . but I am so glad I took it!
In one of my Junior year engineering classes we had a mid-term in which we could bring in one page of notes. This one dude was sitting in the front row blatantly leafing through his textbook and notebook during the whole exam. I did not know him . . . he packed up, turned in test, and took off. I felt best choice under honor code was to inform a TA I knew as to what happened. IN the next class the professor announced at the end that someone had been seen using textbook, and requested that said person talk to the professor. Apparently this person totally thought it was an open book test, and since he was sitting the in the front row had no idea that no one else was using a textbook! I guess the only thing surprising is that 5 minutes in no one in the 2nd row said something to him directly.
RE: Princeton Overhauls Honor Code - BostonCard - 05-14-2026
I wonder if this debate was happening when calculators were new.
This is a fast-moving situation, obviously, but I think eventually the role of education is going to be in preparing students to use AI effectively in their field, and not in trying to teach (and test) in the world pre-AI.
But until we get there, I think it is going to be challenging.
RE: the Physics 50’s. My freshman year, the mean on the first midterm for Physics 53 (or whatever the E&M course was) was a 34. There were students who got a 0 (literally not even partial credit on any of the questions). So, when I took it as a sophomore, I don’t think I’ve ever studied as hard for a class. Unbenknownst to me, in response to the grading the year before, the test was made substantially more accessible, and so Physics 53 was my best grade at Stanford.
BC
RE: Princeton Overhauls Honor Code - 82lsju - 05-14-2026
(05-14-2026, 06:02 PM)BostonCard Wrote: I wonder if this debate was happening when calculators were new.
This is a fast-moving situation, obviously, but I think eventually the role of education is going to be in preparing students to use AI effectively in their field, and not in trying to teach (and test) in the world pre-AI.
But until we get there, I think it is going to be challenging.
RE: the Physics 50’s. My freshman year, the mean on the first midterm for Physics 53 (or whatever the E&M course was) was a 34. There were students who got a 0 (literally not even partial credit on any of the questions). So, when I took it as a sophomore, I don’t think I’ve ever studied as hard for a class. Unbenknownst to me, in response to the grading the year before, the test was made substantially more accessible, and so Physics 53 was my best grade at Stanford.
BC
re: calculators, it was, the discussion then (for me 1978-82 and before that in high school) was around affordability as they were not cheap and not all students had them so was it a competitive advantage to let some students use them, and yes in high school it was four function calculators......in my sophomore year our RA had interned at HP and got a bunch of us a deal on the HP34c which was a great deal at the time. The hard core EEs ponied up for the HP41c which had more capabilities
in one of my chemical engineering classes the mean for the midterm was 18 and the mode was zero.....and we all ended up passing, I got a C+ in the class which ended up being the 8th highest grade out of ~30 people and was grateful....a couple of years earlier that prof had failed ~33% of the class in a senior year required class, he was persuaded to regrade the exams or have to teach the class again the next quarter....
In Serra (now Sally Ride) my sophomore year one friend had a terminal in his room that he used for dial-in access to LOTS avoiding queuing up to get access to the terminals there. Of course it was also used for a space attack game (not sure of the name but it was like space invaders) and one of the issues would be you could be attacked and lose your weapons targeting capability, well one guy in the dorm (he of the physics 60 series and degree in physics) would bark out polar coordinates for aiming the weapons, and he was always correct....he was also the handstand pushup champion of the dorm....
in another interesting exam story in one of my physical chemistry classes the prof gave the exact same midterm as the year before, his reasoning was that our year the class sessions were longer (my vague recollection is our classes were 75 min twice per week vs 50 min three times per week the year before) and he wanted to see the impact of longer time on how well students did, well some (not me) had access to the previous exam and did really well giving a bimodal distribution to the test scores......he did not repeat this experiment (at least that year)....
RE: Princeton Overhauls Honor Code - BostonCard - 05-14-2026
I’m particularly interested in hearing how CS is being taught now.
BC
RE: Princeton Overhauls Honor Code - PVTree - 05-16-2026
One of my physics' tests was particularly difficult. The mean (out of 60) was ~19. I got a 17 but thought I should have gotten a point or two more on a particular question.
I submitted my test for review by the professor (TAs gave the original grades). I got it back with a note from the professor saying that the TA graded the problem I questioned fairly.
However, he reviews all questions when a student submits their result for review. He thought they gave me more points than they should have on another question and lowered my grade to 15.
I learned there to not submit my test scores for review because professors apparently frown on that and will lower your grade for giving them extra work. I accepted my grades as given from then on.
RE: Princeton Overhauls Honor Code - burger - 05-17-2026
(05-14-2026, 07:41 PM)BostonCard Wrote: I’m particularly interested in hearing how CS is being taught now.
BC
This op-ed from a graduating Stanford senior sort of answers that question: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/17/opinion/chatgpt-ai-college-school-graduation.html
(I find some of the stories he recounts less than credible. But I don't doubt the parts about how Stanford students are using ai)
RE: Princeton Overhauls Honor Code - Nobadeer - 05-20-2026
I may have mentioned this on the old Bootleg board - a roommate took a class and among the other students was an unnamed LSJU QB.
After finals and the quarter break, roommate went to pick up his blue book, lost somewhere in a pile in front of the TA's office. The QB's blue book was near the top and the prof had written, "D- . . . You deserved to fail the class but it wouldn't show up on your transcript so I am giving you the lowest grade possible that will be on the transcript" [remember when LSJU had that policy?]
RE: Princeton Overhauls Honor Code - Mick - 05-22-2026
(05-20-2026, 10:07 PM)Nobadeer Wrote: I may have mentioned this on the old Bootleg board - a roommate took a class and among the other students was an unnamed LSJU QB.
After finals and the quarter break, roommate went to pick up his blue book, lost somewhere in a pile in front of the TA's office. The QB's blue book was near the top and the prof had written, "D- . . . You deserved to fail the class but it wouldn't show up on your transcript so I am giving you the lowest grade possible that will be on the transcript" [remember when LSJU had that policy?]
Wonder what his Wunderlic score was...