At an all-school meeting on Tuesday, September 12, Josephine Mah ’18 addressed the Choate community as this year’s Chair of the Judicial Committee (JC), introducing the group and its function to the new students and faculty, as well as explaining its goals to the returners.
The JC is a resource that reinforces the school’s honor code, ensures that students always get a chance to explain themselves and, depending on the situation, receive a fair punishment.
“We are a committee of students and faculty advisers that review student cases of honor code infractions and recommend a course of disciplinary action to the Dean of Students,” Mah said in her speech. She explained that her job as chair includes “overseeing committee operations, attending caucuses with [Dean of Students] Mr. [James] Stanley and [Faculty Chair of the JC] Mr. [Todd] Currie to determine whether a case should be called for a hearing and running hearings.”
In her speech, Mah reminded the community that cheating is easy: “Cheating in itself isn’t hard. If cheating were harder than doing the actual work, I wouldn’t be standing here today. We all know how easy it is to lift a paper off the internet, use an unauthorized translator service, or tell a teacher a white lie. With a click of a button, or a slip of the tongue, you could find yourself in a sticky situation.”
However, Mah stressed the importance of prioritizing personal integrity over a better grade. Furthermore, she emphasized that the JC’s goal is not about catching students in the act of breaking the honor code. Instead, the committee aims to help students move past their mistakes.
Krystal McCook ’20 said, “The speech was well written and was good because she explained how she and the JC wanted to help us not get into trouble, as well as how the JC should be fair and is an opportunity to give people a chance.”
Ben Zhao ’18 commented, “I think the JC is a student-run organization that is really underappreciated. We don’t hear about exactly what the JC does due to confidential reasons, but they do so much behind the scenes and really create a necessary voice for the student body.”
George Trammell ’20 added, “The JC is one of the best components of our community. Having a primarily student-based committee not only strengthens our system for consequences but also ensures that the committee has the students’ best interests in mind.”
Students in their first years at Choate are now more educated about what the JC does in the community, and many returning students agree that the JC is a support system that always has the students’ best interests at heart. As Mah said, “The JC is not the police. They are here to simply support and help you.”
