The Forester Pledge is the product of Student Government, which began to consider the possibility of a student honor code in 2007. By 2011, that effort resulted in the creation of the pledge below. The Ethics Center has supported Student Government’s efforts to develop the Forester Pledge as a statement of community values, but it remains a student-initiated project.
PREAMBLE
Members of the Lake Forest College community are expected to uphold the standards of honesty, mutual respect, self-discipline, and civility that represent the core values of the college in all aspects of social and academic interactions.
MEMBERS’ PLEDGE:As a Forester, I will act with honesty, valuing every member of the community, and holding myself and others accountable for our own actions. I accept responsibility to maintain this pledge at all times.
ARTICLE 1: COMMUNITY STANDARDS
Lake Forest College expects that members of the community will maintain the values of honesty, civility and respect as embodied by the school. These standards are to facilitate students’ ethical development, personal integrity and promote a positive living, learning, and physical environment. Each member of the community has the same basic rights and must take responsibility for respecting the rights of others.
ARTICLE 2: ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Academic dishonesty is any act in which a scholar fails to properly identify the sources of material used in his or her work. Students are expected to guarantee that all material submitted is the product of his or her honest intellectual effort and participation. As an affirmation of this pledge, all members of the community will be expected to resign the Members’ Pledge at the start of each new semester.
ARTICLE 3: ENCOURAGING RESPONSIBLE ACTION
All members of the Lake Forest College community are expected to encourage, in others as well as themselves, the personal responsibility of being accountable for one’s own actions. Members of the Lake Forest College community are encouraged to have conversations with those that would violate aspects of the honor code to offer support, advice and recommend alternative actions.