Honor Tracks monument commemorates honor pledge

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The new monument Honor Tracks celebrates Purdue’s new student honor pledge.

It is located on the lawn between Elliott Hall of Music, the Psychological Sciences building and Haas Hall, and it replaces a sidewalk with 40 feet of black granite railroad track.

The granite railroad track ties spell out iconic words from the new student honor pledge: “As a Boilermaker pursuing academic excellence, I pledge to be honest and true in all that I do. Accountable together – We are Purdue.”

Purdue adopted the student-created honor pledge last year to encourage a culture of academic integrity. In spring of 2015, Purdue’s Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities conducted a survey on academic integrity and dishonesty and found that 85 percent of those surveyed agreed or strongly agreed that academic integrity is important to the quality of their education. More information about the pledge is available here and a video is available here. 

Purdue President Mitch Daniels speaks to Patia Storms, Cameron Mann and Eren Bozbag following the dedication of the Honor Tracks. The granite railroad track ties spell out iconic words from the new student honor pledge: “As a Boilermaker pursuing academic excellence, I pledge to be honest and true in all that I do. Accountable together – We are Purdue.” (Purdue University/Mark Simons) Download image

On Sept. 23, Purdue and the Order of the Iron Key dedicated Honor Tracks. Order of the Iron Key, a Purdue student society devoted to service-oriented leadership, led the project. Twelve students and six faculty members contributed. More than 75 individual and student organization donors, including each college at Purdue, contributed more than $60,000 plus material and labor.

“This new monument is a wonderful way to draw attention to Purdue’s new student honor pledge and showcase the university’s dedication to academic integrity,” says Roger Stewart, student affairs specialist in the Office of the Dean of Students.

The granite used in the monument is from India and was donated by 1968 Purdue alumnus Manu Shah. Shah is the founder and CEO and of M S International, Inc, the largest distributor of natural stone in North America. Excavation and construction services of the sidewalk were donated by Kettelhut Construction, Inc. and its president, Steve Habben.

Each college at Purdue has been given a plaque with the honor pledge inscription to display in their campus buildings. 

Writer: Kelsey Schnieders, kschnied@purdue.edu

Source: Roger Stewart, student affairs specialist, rcstewar@purdue.edu