Why did they change this? Did the other US military academies (USAFA, USNA, USCGA) change their codes/concepts, as well?
The Honor Code is (was?) straightforward and if you broke it, you were gone.
The two other institutions I taught at used to have very strict policies about it and then at some point they became laxer in a similar way. It used to be a no warnings policy, and then became more wishy washy.
I always assumed it was to be more realistic, in that many students were being granted exceptions of sorts. There also can be a lot of grey area with cheating. Overall my impression was that some lawyers recommended the change to avoid liability. But I really don't know.
We've allowed money to become the guiding principle of higher education, rather than ability.
The sad truth no one wants to admit to, is that most people don't need to go to college, and frankly, if we were go to back just 60 years to the rigor of those curriculums, most people couldn't hack it, either.
If anything it would be cheaper to kick them out. But that is at odds with the goal (competent service-members).