Upon matriculation to the University, students pledge never to lie, cheat or steal. This promise is the cornerstone of the honor system, but are University students getting away with shoplifting?
According to legal experts, in the past, University students have been arrested for shoplifting and have not always been brought up on honor charges.
The honor system seeks to create a community of trust between students, faculty and the Charlottesville community. But when students are arrested and charged with shoplifting and not brought up on honor charges, for many, the community of trust is threatened.
According to some officials, University student shoplifting in Charlottesville is a significant problem.
"It's clear that it is not uncommon to have a University student charged with shoplifting," said Dave Chapman, Charlottesville Commonwealth attorney.
Chapman said because city courts do not keep an electronic record of misdemeanor crimes, it is difficult to determine the exact number of students who are brought up on shoplifting charges each year.
But these students often escape the repercussions of intervention from the University and the Honor Committee.
Honor Committee Chairman Hunter Ferguson said cases involving student shoplifting rarely are brought before the Committee.
"Our Committee members have been aware of shoplifting, occasionally [a case] comes our way," Ferguson said. "No more than a few a year."
Police and legal officials say because they are not required to report student arrests to the University, student shoplifters often slip through the cracks.
"It's not part of my job [to report students]; I just defend the student," Student Legal Services Director Lester Wilson said. "It would be an ethical violation to report the students who come to me."
Chapman said the Commonwealth's Attorney's office is not required to report shoplifters to the University either.
"We are completely unrelated to the honor system," he said.
The Commonwealth's pursuit of criminal justice is separate from that of the University, he added.
Charlottesville Police Sgt. F.G. Upman stressed that although the police are not required to report incidents of students involved in shoplifting to the University, these files are available.
"It is public information once the arrest is made," Upman said. "It is up to the honor [system] to go to the courts."
A student representative from the Honor Committee would need to go into the Charlottesville courthouse and search for files on students arrested for shoplifting so that the Honor Committee could be made aware of the arrests.
"It is the responsibility of University students or University administration to monitor local courts," Chapman said. "If someone wanted to monitor the court it would be time-consuming but not difficult."
Although these files are available to the public, many students' criminal activities go unnoticed in the University community.
"We don't police classrooms or police the community as a whole," Ferguson said. "We only take cases that are brought to us" by the students, faculty and community members.
In December 1995, two men's basketball players, Scott Johnson and Daryl Presley, were caught attempting to steal more than $200 in clothing from a Leggett's department store which used to be in Charlottesville's Fashion Square Mall. Even though the students were caught by a store official, neither student was brought up on criminal charges and only were required to sit out two games during the 1995-96 basketball season, causing much controversy among the University community.
Similarly, in December 1997, women's basketball player Lauren Swierczek was caught stealing $60 of merchandise from Stone & Thomas, a store also in Fashion Square Mall. Swierczek was charged and sentenced by a Charlottesville judge. She still plays on the basketball team.
Ferguson said community members are welcome - but not obligated - to report cases of shoplifting, and they all are investigated in the same manner as all other honor issues.
"As of right now, no one is down at the courthouse" looking for offenders, he said.
Each year, the newly appointed Honor Committee meets with the police to create familiarity between the honor members and the police.
"We don't have an obligation to do so, but we work closely with [the] Honor and Judiciary Committees," University Police Capt. Michael Coleman said.
As for the future, Ferguson said he would like to see further communication between the police and the Honor Committee.
"We welcome working with police to curb shoplifting" in the future, he said.
In the 1998-99 academic year, a total of 69 cases were investigated by the Honor Committee, 15 of which were individual cases of stealing.
There were three individual cases of lying and stealing and two individual cases of lying and cheating brought before the Committee.
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