COLLEGES and universities around the country wonder how we do it. A strong, completely student-run honor system at a large international university exists nowhere else in the United States. The military academies are well-known for their having broad-spanning honor policies and stiff sanctions for offenders, but their systems are subject to administrative oversight. Many small liberal arts colleges have student juries or counsel that serve in the system, but rarely hear cases or serve relatively small communities. Virginia's Honor System is entirely in a league of its own.
At the University of Virginia, the expectation is that students do not lie, cheat or steal. Since its inception in 1842, students have governed themselves under this system. The Honor Constitution and its sanction can only be changed by a student vote. Twenty-three students run every aspect of the system's administration, and each of them is elected by their peers. Support officers -- all 150 of them students -- handle everything from investigating honor violations, to serving as confidants to initiators and accused students, to educating the University as a whole on matters pertaining to the system.A student jury is the only body vested with the power to dismiss another student for an honor offense.
Self-governance and the honor system are two cherished traditions at the University, but that is not why we should work so hard to maintain them. We should keep the system and the practice of self-governance even if all of the tangible benefits and traditional nostalgia suddenly disappeared. Trust and self-governance are institutional values -- they are the reason we come back to Charlottesville each year and the reason that our University exists.
As an institution of higher education, our goal is discovery and the pursuit of the truth wherever it leads. That goal is only achieved in a community committed to honesty and integrity. As Thomas Jefferson's University, we are committed to democracy. Every member of our community is reasonable and trustworthy until proven otherwise. No one should be subject to rules that they cannot participate in changing.And because of our democratic processes, every student is responsible for how the system turns out. Every student is a stakeholder from day one of enrollment.
Students and alumni of the University are rightfully proud of the Honor System. We have something built into the fabric of our institution that other universities (and potential employers) admire. Roughly once a week I receive an inquiry from another school about our system and how it is run, nearly all of them impressed with what students at the University accomplish.
But we could still easily lose control of our honor system. One way is, aptly enough, through lack of participation. Faculty members and non-students currently initiate about 86 percent of honor cases. To some critics around Grounds, this suggests that students aren't willing to endorse the very heart of the system -- that students hold each other accountable. To some, this is a reason to take government out of the students' hands. Others point to the fact that though turnout at elections has improved in the past year, still only half of the student body votes each spring. It's one thing to reap the benefits of a strong and distinctly U.Va. honor system -- it's much harder to defend it when it is challenged. And these challenges are coming.
If you believe like I do, that the heart of this system is worth defending, then show it this year. Abide by the system in your classes and outside of them. Confront your fellow students when they take advantage of your trust. Speak up when others challenge our ability to maintain the System. Write a letter to The Cavalier Daily, post a column here or call an administrator in your school. Vote in elections, and if you disagree with a policy, propose a referendum. Come to our meetings on Sunday nights. If ever there is something the honor system needs to do for you, e-mail me directly and we will do it.
With one of the most diverse and talented Honor Committees in the system's history, and with one of the most intelligent and activist student populations in the University's history, the stage is set for a year of unprecedented reflection and advocacy for what Honor means to our University.We, the students, own this system in name, and this year we will most certainly own it in practice.
And when outsiders wonder how the University maintains its community of trust, the answer will be clear -- through its outstanding and dedicated student body.
Meghan Sullivan is Chair of the Honor Committee.
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