Students Must Do More for the Honor Code

The futility of attending Stevens has permeated my entire academic career since August 2004 and caused me, at times, to break down and stress out, as well as fight off serious bouts of insomnia that would leave me awake for sometimes a week at a time. That said, when I read Ms. Schloeder's opinion editorial last week, I felt that her views on the subject fell short of the situation Stevens currently finds itself in.
Ms. Schloeder only looked at how students conduct themselves academically and students rightly deserve blame in getting Stevens into its current morass. As a Greek-affiliated student, I have access to test materials dating back to the 1960s, many of which are completely useless and irrelevant to my current classes. More problematic are the recent exams, which provide an almost too-good insight into a professor's mind and what they will put on future exams. Plenty of study sessions involve groups of students who quietly follow along as their fellow students do the most difficult problems for the group. The worst, however, are the students who blatantly cheat on their exams, and the ever-present but never-spoken peer pressure to let the transgression go unreported. I am personally very interested in the results of the Honor Board's current survey of the undergraduates, specifically to see the number of students who have let an incident go unreported. These students that cheat are the worst, because they leave a bad taste in the mouth of any student who worked hard and poured hours into an exam, only to do as well or even worse.
Although the students don't do much to make the academic environment in Stevens the most enjoyable, the professors are also partially to blame. One of my professors this semester has publicly stated not just a distaste but a complete dislike for the Honor Code, as well as his intention to completely ignore it in our classes. While such an opinion may suit this professor, treating his students like this is demeaning and, in a way, violating.
The students have given the professors few to no reasons to trust them, and the professors have responded in turn. I call upon the student body to collectively get our act together and follow the standard set for us. Academic integrity requires you to learn what you must to be functional in a job after college, even though some of this knowledge may not be directly applicable. Slacking off, feeding off others and cheating never help in the real world and, if such activities become habits, could be criminal acts.
Students: Act with integrity and your professors will return the favor.