History of the Campus Judicial Board

At UC Davis, the involvement of students in upholding academic integrity can be traced back to 1911, when the first student government was formed and "the beginnings of the campus 'honor system' emphasized student honesty in taking exams as well as in other matters." A.F. Scheuring, Abundant Harvest: The History of the University of California, Davis (c) 2001, page 35.

In the early 1970s, UC Davis grew rapidly. There was dissatisfaction with the Honor Code among both students and faculty. There were also concerns that with larger classes (causing some students to feel alienated and anonymous) there had been a corresponding sharp increase in the amount of cheating. These concerns triggered campus-wide debate and a proposal to do away with the Code, instead creating a faculty-run process giving faculty primary authority for dealing with cheating. "The Honor Code: a Tradition on the Skids?" The California Aggie, Feb. 8, 1974.

UC Davis faculty and students acted together to address these concerns and preserve the honor code tradition. Following a student vote in favor of retaining student involvement in the disciplinary system, faculty endorsement, and approval by the Chancellor, UC Davis adopted the Code of Academic Conduct in 1976. Our Code is a "modified" honor code which places shared responsibility for academic integrity on all members of our community — students, faculty and administration.

As part of the changes enacted with the adoption of the Code of Academic Conduct, both the Office of Student Support & Judicial Affairs (then called the Office of Student Conduct) and the Campus Judicial Board (CJB) were created. In her book Abundant Harvest, Scheuring describes the disciplinary system formed by the Code:

"most referrals (made by either instructors or students) were handled by counseling rather than punishment, though more thorny cases might go through 'due process' by the Campus Judicial Board, composed of five students and two faculty members. In 1982-83, out of about 200 referrals for academic misconduct, ... perhaps a dozen cases [went] to formal hearing." Scheuring at page 169.

In that same year, the Campus Judicial Board actively pursued its educational outreach projects, and published an anti-cheating poster with the slogan "No, Everyone Does NOT Do It." This poster was put up widely in classrooms across the campus over the next several years.

Today, after more than 30 years, the CJB is more active and effective than ever, and its student members continue to contribute to the academic integrity of UC Davis.