Throughout the academic year, both the Honor Committee and the University Judiciary Committee have worked to improve the ways in which they serve the University community. Both groups will continue their efforts to improve both internally and within the University community as they prepare for the upcoming year.
Honor Committee Chair Jess Huang cited flexible exams, which were offered in several courses for the first time this year, as a successful initiative accomplished by the Committee this year.
Efficiency as well as flexibility are some of these exams' benefits, said Tyler Alexander, Committee vice chair for community relations, adding that he hopes other professors will take interest in providing students the option of flexible exams.
Huang also mentioned the introduction of the online Honor Blog earlier this semester as a positive step for the Committee toward providing a way to increase communication with students.
Huang noted that because the blog was only recently implemented, the Committee has not been able to advertise the option to students as much as it would have liked, which may be contributing to the current lack of student and Committee activity on blog.
Alexander said the blog could improve the Committee's transparency but added that "we need to go a different avenue and maybe send out a newsletter to different organization leaders" to increase posting.
The issue of disproportional reporting of minority students committing honor offenses, referred to as spotlighting or dimming, was the first issue addressed on the online blog. The Committee will continue to discuss the issue in the upcoming semester with the continuation of Diversity Advisory Board programs such as faculty workshops, Huang noted.
Minority Rights Coalition Co-Chair Wyatt Fore said, however, the Committee should directly educate affected minority groups -- such as athletes, international students and black students -- who risk being targeted in the existing framework.
The Committee also reinstated the single sanction ad-hoc committee this semester. During Sunday's meeting, Ad-hoc Committee Chair Adam Trusner emphasized he hopes the ad-hoc committee's goal will focus on discussion rather than new proposals.
Fore expressed disappointment with this goal, noting there is substantial ongoing discussion of the single sanction outside of the Honor Committee.
"It is the purpose of the ad-hoc is to turn the discussion into positive change," he said.
UJC has also kept busy this semester, as it experienced an increased case load that Chair Merriam Mikhail attributed to both UJC's new online system and the University community's recently heightened trust in UJC.
Educator Sarah Gray Tullidge said UJC will work toward educating new members of the U.Va. community about the judicial system along with the Honor Committee next semester.
Educators from both the Honor Committee and UJC will be assigned to specific dormitories and will present first-year students with basic information about both systems, Tullidge explained, adding that representatives of both bodies will remain active at dormitories throughout the semester.
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