Honor Code & Community Standards

"No member of the Caltech community shall take unfair advantage of any other member of the Caltech community."

One of the most important roles served by the Deans' Office is that of helping students to observe and implement Caltech's community standards. To that end, we play a supportive role to the Honor System, and are also responsible for the enforcement of Institute policies. There are several philosophical lynchpins that guide our work in this area. The first is the Honor Code, the second Caltech's statement of community, and the third our commitment to the safety and well-being of all of our students.

For undergraduates the Honor System is enforced by two bodies that are overseen by the Undergraduate Deans' Office: The Board of Control (BOC), which is comprised solely of students, and the Conduct Review Committee (CRC), comprised of students, faculty, and administrators. The BOC only hears cases of academic dishonesty, whereas the CRC hears cases of non-academic breaches of the Honor Code, as well as policy violations. The Routing Group decides to which of these bodies cases will be referred. A list of relevant policies can also be found on the Student Affairs website.