05/14/2026
More than 130 years ago, students at Princeton University looked to The Webb School as a model for something revolutionary: trust.
A recent article in the student newspaper, the Daily Princetonian, reflected on Princeton’s decision to reinstate proctored in-person exams after widespread concerns about cheating in the age of artificial intelligence. The move upends a tradition that had defined Princeton for 133 years — its famous Honor Code.
https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2026/5/princeton-news-adpol-proctoring-in-person-examinations-passed-faculty-133-years-precedent
What struck me most was the reminder that Webb did not play a small role in shaping that history. In many ways, Webb students helped build the movement itself.
Historian Edward Tenner writes:
“Finally, in the autumn of 1892, at least two undergraduates from a small preparatory school, the Webb School in Bell Buckle, Tennessee, began to build the movement that the Princetonian had called for. Charles Ottley (Class of 1893) and James Brodnax (Class of 1894) had lived under an honor code established by the school’s founder, Sawney Webb.”
Those students were:
• Charles Ottley — Webb 1889, Princeton 1893
• James “Mac” Brodnax — Webb 1889, Princeton 1894
At the time, Princeton students were frustrated by what one historian described as a culture of “cheating” and “sly warfare” during examinations. Ottley and Brodnax brought with them an experience that was already deeply rooted at Webb: a community governed by personal honor and trust rather than surveillance.
According to Princeton archives, their advocacy helped Princeton establish the Honor Code that would define the university for generations.
One of the most powerful examples of that legacy comes from Fei-Fei Li, now one of the world’s leading voices in artificial intelligence and ethics.
While a student at Princeton, Dr. Li faced an impossible situation: her parents needed surgery during the same time as her final exams. Because of Princeton’s Honor Code, she was allowed to take her exams at the clinic while helping her family.
She later wrote:
“The date of the operation overlapped with the final exams of my first semester, but thanks to Princeton’s Honor Code … I was able to arrange to take my tests at the Deborah clinic. I sat directly outside the sterilized area of the operating room itself, translating during and after the procedure.”
That story reminds us that honor codes are not simply about preventing cheating. At their best, they are about creating communities built on trust, responsibility, and humanity.
It is fascinating — and perhaps a little sobering — that in 2026, artificial intelligence is now challenging the very system that students inspired by Webb helped create in 1892–93.
But maybe the deeper lesson still remains: technology changes, but character matters just as much as ever.
Sources:
Edward Tenner, “The Honor Code through Wilson’s Spectacles,” Princeton University Library Chronicle 64:3 (Spring 2003), 425–44.
M. Reeder, “Honor System,” Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University.
