The Class of 2020 gathered in Alumni Gym on Thursday, Sept. 15, to make a commitment to the values upon which the Elon Honor Code is based.
Elon University’s newest class of students gathered in Alumni Gym Thursday morning to commit to honesty, integrity, responsibility and respect — the four values that are the foundation of the Elon Honor Code.
Led by Student Government Association President Kyle Porro, with remarks by Class of 2020 President Livi Murray and Elon alumna Jasmine Turner ’15, the program highlighted the four pillars of the code. The speakers placed special emphasis on “honesty” — the value chosen to represent the Class of 2020.
“Honesty, integrity, responsibility and respect are more than the honor code of this university,” said Turner, now a multimedia journalist with WECT in Wilmington. “Those four values are the pillars. They are the foundation of what makes an Elon experience so much more meaningful.”
In their comments, the speakers demonstrated how the honor code is more than just four values to hold true to. It’s essential to creating a cohesive community on campus, and to positioning students for a meaningful and fulfilling life beyond college.
”We all have such great potential to make a meaningful impact on the world,” said Murray, the Class of 2020’s new president who is from Atlanta. “In the relationships that we make with our peers, faculty and staff, we will strive to keep our word and meet our obligations. If we stick to our commitments, others will come to trust us.”
That extends to your professional life, said Turner, who while at Elon was a reporter and anchor for Elon Local News and ELN Morning.
“I am faced with it every day — to walk in honesty as a journalist,” Turner said. “It is something I am committed to never compromising, and I encourage you all to never compromise your pursuit of honesty as well.”
Turner turned to the university’s historic motto — Numen Lumen — which means spiritual light and intellectual light. That motto is fitting when thinking about the importance of honesty, along with the other pillars of the Elon Honor Code, she said.
”There is a change maker, a world stopper, that is just sitting inside each of you, waiting to come forth,” Turner said. “Let your spiritual and intellectual lights be fueled with those values of honesty, integrity, responsibility and respect.”
Each class at Elon represents one of the four values instilled in the Elon Honor Code, with Porro walking through these other values that are key to the code. Integrity, which is represented by the Class of 2017, is based on being trustworthy, fair and ethical, with “internal core values” guiding your behavior, he said. Responsibility, represented by the Class of 2018, includes the realization that your actions impact others, and requires speaking up when you see something wrong.
The Class of 2019 represents respect, which Porro said “is an essential component of living in community, and is foundational to living an honest, ethical life in which we accept responsibility for the effects of our behavior on others.”
President Leo M. Lambert concluded the event by leading the class in reciting the “Call to Honor”:
Today we are entrusted with the honorable legacy of Elon University, dedicated to the intellectual, personal and spiritual growth of all its members, to the advancement of knowledge for the good of all, and to the service of local, national and global communities. To that end, we affirm our commitment to the core values of our university:
- We commit ourselves to honesty, being truthful in our academic work and in our relationship with others.
- We commit ourselves to show integrity, being trustworthy, fair and ethical.
- We commit ourselves to responsibility, being accountable for our actions and for our learning.
- We commit ourselves to respect, being civil, valuing the dignity of each person, and respecting the physical and intellectual property of others.
With these commitments we join generations of Elon students as bearers of its honor.