Princeton University will soon require exams to be supervised for the first time in 100 years — all thanks to students using artificial intelligence to cheat.
For 133 years, the Ivy League school’s honor code allowed students to take exams without a professor present, but on Monday, faculty voted to require proctoring for all in-person exams starting this summer.
A “significant” number of undergraduate students and faculty requested the change, “given their perception that cheating on in-class exams has become widespread,” the college’s dean, Michael Gordin, wrote in a letter, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Princeton’s honor system dates back to 1893, when students petitioned to eliminate proctors — or an impartial person to supervise students — during examinations, according to the school’s newspaper, The Daily Princetonian.
The honor code has long been a point of pride for Princeton. However, artificial intelligence and cellphones have made it easier for students to cheat — and even harder for others to spot, Gordin wrote.
Despite the changes to the policy, Princeton will still require students to state: “I pledge my honor that I have not violated the Honor Code during this examination,” according to the Journal.
Students are also more reluctant to report cheating, according to the policy proposal. Students are more likely now to anonymously report cheating due to fears of “doxxing or shaming among their peer groups” online, the proposal says, according to the school newspaper.
Under the new guidelines, instructors will be present during exams to act “as a witness to what happens,” but are instructed not to interfere with students. If a suspected honor code infraction occurs, they will report it to a student-run honor committee for adjudication.
Nadia Makuc, a senior at Princeton who chaired the committee for the past year, told the Journal she thinks students support the change because it means they are off the hook for reporting classmates for cheating.
Makuc noted that the abundance of technology has made cheating easy for many students.
“If the exam is on a laptop, someone can just flip to another window. Or if the exam is in a blue book, it’s just people using their phone under their desk or going to the bathroom and using it,” she said.
A survey of over 500 seniors conducted by the student newspaper last year found that 29.9 respondents reported they had cheated on an assignment or exam during their time at the school.
Nearly 45 percent said they had knowledge of an honor code violation but chose not to report. Only 0.4 percent said they reported a peer for an honor code violation.
English and theater professor Jill Dolan, who served as dean of the college from 2015 to 2024, told the student newspaper that the new policy is “a shame, but it’s necessary.”
“But I also do understand why it passed. I think we need some different practices in this day and age, but it does mark a moment,” Dolan said.
The changes at Princeton highlight an issue plaguing colleges, universities and schools across the country. While some colleges have returned to old-fashioned, blue books, others have opted for AI-detection programs that are supposed to sniff out when students use the technology to do their assignments.
Nearly half of (43 percent) U.S. teachers with classes from sixth to twelfth grade said they used AI detection tools in the 2024/2025 academic year, according to a poll by the Center for Democracy and Technology.
