THE UPCOMING open honor trial has generated a lot of interest in the community, and it has raised questions about the merits of confidentiality within the honor system. The open trial will provide a valuable glimpse into a process that is normally closed, and some have expressed the view that we should either have more open trials or give more details of closed cases. I want to explain the position of the Honor Committee with regard to both of these points.
The Committee does not decide whether a student has an open or closed trial. The choice is entirely in the hands of each student who has been accused of an honor offense. When a student requests a trial after being accused of an honor offense, he or she must decide whether to have an open or a closed trial. The right to have an open or closed trial is afforded to every student accused of an honor offense under the Honor Committee Constitution, ratified by the student body. The Committee does not have any preference whether a student has an open or closed trial. It truly is a personal decision that every accused student must make weighing the costs and benefits. Therefore, the reason the Committee does not have more open trials is that accused students elect not to have them.
Because accused students do not elect to have open trials, most honor trials are closed. At the end of each trial, the Committee releases the report to The Cavalier Daily and indicates the year and school of the student involved. The Committee does not release any more information, and all parties involved in the case are bound to confidentiality with the University Judiciary Committee's Standard of Conduct 11.
There are two main reasons the Committee does not provide more information after a student has had a closed trial. The first reason is simple: The Committee is required not to do so under federal law, and thus has no choice. The records of Committee cases are considered "education records" under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). As such, FERPA prohibits the release of these records and the information contained within them without the consent of the student involved in the honor case. Therefore, as with a request for an open or closed trial, the choice of whether or not to release more information is not in the hands of the Committee.
Furthermore, regardless of the law, I do not believe that it would be a wise policy decision to release the details of closed trials. I believe that the public's right to information is outweighed by an accused student's right to privacy. The honor system and the single sanction are not meant to be punitive; they are in place solely so that we can have a community of trust at the University. We hope students who are convicted of an honor offense and dismissed from the University are able to learn from their experience and go on to have successful college careers elsewhere.
Some see the confidentiality of the Committee as an attempt to "cover up" information which could be harmful to the honor system. It is important to remember when evaluating this claim that any student, if he or she believes that something is being ignored or not properly addressed by the Committee, may request an open trial, waive his or her rights under FERPA, and make the process completely public. It is entirely the choice of the accused student.
In the case of all open trials, the Committee recognizes that the trial is a valuable educational opportunity for the community to see the inside of the honor process. Indeed, we welcome the opportunity. However, our primary concern with any trial cannot be the educational opportunities it presents. Our primary concern must be with providing an impartial and fair process for the accused student. That is why the Committee's policy is to not comment about the case specifics of the current open trial. All the relevant facts will be heard at the trial itself, and it is important that the community reserve judgment until that time.
It is important to remember that although honor trials provide a unique insight into our honor system, trials are not the essence of the honor system. The essence of the honor system is the U.Va. student and his or her integrity. That part of our system, the essence of it, is not closed and can be seen every day.
(Christopher Smith is a fourth-year
College student. He is the Honor
Committee chairman.)
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