ASK ANY University alumnus what he or she remembers most distinctly about the University and the answer will almost always be the same: honor. Regardless of year of graduation, field of study, or organizational membership during their time here, alumni hold the honor system in memory as a constant symbol of the University of Virginia.
Indeed, honor is much more than another fond memory that alumni carry with them for the rest of their lives. Honor is something that all students and alumni inevitably accept into their lives the moment they decide to attend the University, and it is something that follows them into their professional and personal lives.
Yet when alumni give their answer to the question above, they are not talking about just the promise they made not to lie, cheat or steal. Chances are few of them ever had direct interaction with the Honor Committee itself during their time here. And while it is true that honor is part of the tradition our historically rich university often holds so dear, the University is certainly not lacking in history that could rival the story of John Davis’ shooting or Henry St. George Tucker’s proposed resolution. Indeed, it is not tradition that backs honor, but rather the value and philosophy behind it.
The reason behind their answer to this question is that alumni recognize honor as something so integrally tied to the community that it belongs to them as much as their alma mater belongs to them, just as it belongs to you and me.
Being a student at the University means more than belonging to the community of trust. It means that the community of trust and honor belong to you.
Belonging to the community of trust means reaping the benefits of honor. It means that your identity as a student has added value in the eyes of others. It means that professors and TAs may allow you to take exams on your schedule at home. It means that local merchants may trust you to repay them later when you have forgotten your wallet. It means that honor will become an aspect of your identity, and that others will recognize and respect it.
The community of trust and honor belonging to you means that you are responsible for maintaining and improving the system. You must uphold the tenets of the honor system and hold others accountable to do the same. You must elect representatives each year to sit on the Honor Committee, and you must hold them responsible for what they do. You must e-mail your representatives with question or address the Committee at meetings on Sunday evenings with both encouragement and criticism. You must seek to improve the system by joining honor’s ad-hoc and standing committees. Come this fall, when you are given the opportunity to join honor as a support officer, you must take it and further make our system your own.
There exist numerous honor systems nationwide, but there remains a key distinguishing factor that sets the University’s honor system apart from any other. It is not the colorful history of our honor system or even the single sanction that make us different. What distinguishes our honor system from any other is the fact that it is ours. Honor at the University is not just any honor system, but it is a system that belongs to us, the students. It belongs to the students who serve on the Honor Committee, to the students who serve in our support officer pools, to the students who sit on juries, and to every student who calls himself a member of our community of trust.
That is why alumni continue to choose honor as the ultimate representation of their University. Those who “have worn the honors of Honor” leave the University with a piece of our community that follows them for the rest of their life, something of which they will forever have ownership. Although they may no longer belong to the University’s immediate community of trust, honor will forever belong to them. For them and for you, honor is not just a system or organization at the University; it is something that is yours to treasure and keep.
Jess Huang is chair of the Honor Committee. She can be reached at jph6a@virginia.edu.
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