Nov 19th.

1. Do you think the University’s honor code is too harsh? Should the students have been given another chance or some other penalty?

Yes, considering the gravity of the penalty, it should be issued on a case to case basis. Forgetting a foot note or a simple citation is one of the easiest things to do when writing a research paper. If the honor code is going to be that harsh, it is the Universities responsibility to make sure all the entries/students who have to follow the honor code are proficient in their writing experience and understand the MLA formats, and the rules that come with the honor code.
It's totally feasible that students wouldn't know anything about paraphrasing if they have only written straight citations in their papers, and never underwent the learning process about paraphrasing and quoting when the thought was not originally their own.