For 133 years, Princeton University allowed students to take their exams without a proctor — a unusual situation resulting from student demands for an “honor code.” Now in 2026, that time-honored system is coming to an end, all thanks to a surge of cheating enabled by AI.
First reported by the Wall Street Journal, the Ivy League university made the bombshell decision to scrap the honor system this week, after faculty voted to require in-person proctors starting over the summer.
Per a letter penned by Princeton dean Michael Gordin, faculty arrived at the decision after “significant numbers” of both professors and students came forward, “given their perception that cheating on in-class exams has become widespread.”
Instead of an honor system, professors will now have to watch over student exams and report any deviations from the school’s policy on scholarly integrity. Students will still keep some autonomy: violations will be reported to a student-run honor committee to decide any alleged policy breaker’s fate, the WSJ reports.
That news comes amidst a massive rise in cheating across the US, not just in fancy Ivy’s, but in colleges, high-schools, and even bar exams.
“If the exam is on a laptop, someone can just flip to another window,” Princeton senior Nadia Makuc told the WSJ. “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.”
Last year, a survey of some 500 Princeton seniors found that over 27 percent admitted to cheating with an AI model like ChatGPT, while about half said they knew about a violation of the honor code. If those are the numbers at a vaunted Ivy league, just imagine what conditions are like for the rest of the country.