<p>My D1 attends Haverford. One of her safeties was Earlham which she felt has a similar quirky intellectual but not-competitive vibe (and like Haverford, Quaker roots), and somewhat easier admissions standards. You need to be carefyl with financial aid at Earlham, however; they can be quite generous with merit aid, but they don’t meet 100% of need, so it’s not for everyone.</p>
<p>I’m not sure the “Customs People” at Haverford are all that different from RAs in some respects, but they have a different name to emphasize that the relationship is non-hierarchical. Customs People are there in a non-supervisory capacity but as an upperclass resource to help orient incoming students and to be a place students can go to get information and advice. The emphasis is overwhelmingly on Haverford being a self-governing community of equals, committed to living together with equal dignity, integrity, trust, and mutual respect. In that spirit the Honor Code isn’t something imposed or enforced by the College; it’s a set of guidelines or principles drawn up and ratified each year by the assembled students (and frequently amended, again entirely on a student-initiated and student-decided basis), and it’s entirely student-administered. </p>
<p>To that extent the comment by a previous poster that Grinnell “goes beyond” an Honor Code by establishing “student self-governance” is perhaps a bit misleading. I can’t imagine a college or university that has gone farther down the road of student self-governance than Haverford. Its Honor Code is a major instrument of student self-governance, but beyond having sole authority to develop, ratify, amend, and administer the Honor Code, Haverford students also have sole discretion to allocate the College’s student activities budget, and students sit on all major College committees, including faculty hiring committees. Because by Quaker tradition decisions are made by consensus, that makes the student voice a uniquely powerful one.</p>