Yesterday's election results brought an end to months of debate on the informed retraction, though the results suggest the issues it addressed will live on.
Students cast 3,346 votes against and 2,223 votes in favor of the amendment, which needed a two-thirds majority to pass.
"The most important thing is that students had the opportunity to voice their opinions," said College Honor Rep. Michelle Jones, who started the petition to put the proposal on the ballot. "The high voter turn-out shows that lots of people cared."
Voter turnout climbed to 35.4 percent as 6,153 total students voted. On the informed retraction, 5,569 of the voters cast ballots.
The percentage of students voting was .1 percent higher than last year when four honor referenda were on the ballot.
"Turn-out is most important," Honor Committee Chairman Thomas Hall said. "The Honor Committee is thrilled that so many voiced their opinion on the single sanction."
Newly elected Honor Representatives also expressed excitement for the high turnout.
"I'm very glad everyone got to vote," newly elected College Honor Rep. Duncan Brook said. "Though I am opposed to the informed retraction, I think the votes show that we need to keep the issue on the table and if there were problems that this proposal tried to address we will have to look for other solutions."
Brook was not alone in his concern that the issues targeted by the informed retraction need to continue to be examined.
"I am glad the students voted to maintain the single sanction, the original cornerstone of the honor system for the past 160 years," Hall said. "However the issues raised by the informed retraction are rational issues, we do need to work on bringing the faculty back into the system and making students feel it is a just system."
Jones agreed and hoped the incoming Committee would find a way to deal with the issues.
"The problems that exist will have to be dealt with some way or another," Jones said. "Future Committees or student bodies will have to find a solution."
The informed retraction would have allowed students accused of an honor offense to confess and accept reparations along with a suspension of three full academic semesters from the University.
Students would not be allowed to transfer credits taken at other universities during this period of "reflection and rehabilitation."
Drafted by Architecture Rep. Brian Winterhalter last year, the proposal was considered and modified by the Committee for months. Last month in a Committee vote, the proposal failed to receive the two-thirds majority necessary to put it before the student body, missing the margin by only two votes.
Jones and others collected over 2,000 signatures in order to put the amendment before the students in the vote this week.
Read More
Student Council votes to relocate Hereford orchard and basketball hoop
By Lauren Seeliger | 4 hours agoStudent Council passed a resolution Tuesday to relocate the orchard and basketball hoop of Hereford Residential College due to construction in the surrounding area.
Dean Rucker honored with Z Society’s highest honor, Pale Z Award
By Brendon Bordwine | 21 hours agoThe Society has a storied history of honoring University leaders with the Pale Z.
Students receive free STI testing through U.Va. Health and Wellness
By Jackie Bond | YesterdayThrough funding from Student Council, students are now able to receive free STI testing with SHW which includes tests for HIV, Syphilis, Gonorrhea, Chlamydia and Hepatitis C.
