Both the Honor Committee and the University Judiciary Committee chairs are pleased with the progress their organizations have made this semester and are already looking ahead to the spring semester.
UJC passed a bylaw this semester defining professionalism for its support officers and outlining specific violations of professionalism.
“I think these professionalism standards are so important because it’s [now] transparent to our support officers what standards we do hold them to,” UJC Chair Merriam Mikhail said.
Addressing a concern of UJC members and students alike, Mikhail said she believes the committee also was able to increase its transparency this year by releasing a variety of statistics at the beginning of the semester that showed exactly which standards of conduct had been most violated during the spring semester. The data also showed how many students had been found guilty and how many had been acquitted, Mikhail said, adding that the data helped break down preconceived notions that anyone who comes before UJC is found guilty.
“It shows that we do give a fair trial,” she said.
Statistics detailing UJC demographics were also released this semester. Mikhail said releasing information on the racial composition of the support officer pool in addition to what schools they attend is another way the committee increased its transparency to students.
“For the first time we showed the University who is on the University Judiciary Committee,” Mikhail said.
The Honor Committee also tried to reach out to the University community, Chair Jess Huang said, noting she was most pleased with the efforts the Committee undertook to reach out to students. This semester, members of the Committee began attending meetings of contracted independent organizations and athletic teams to discuss honor with a variety of students. Huang said the Committee plans to continue this educational effort next semester.
“I’m very pleased with the way the Committee has come together in terms of outreach,” she said.
Huang noted that a significant change the Committee made this semester was reshaping the roles of its educators. Previously, educators would work with the vice chair for education to plan one outreach effort at a time. The Committee decided to change that process by encouraging the educators to plan and execute their own outreach and educational efforts, allowing the Committee to reach out to a greater number of students.
“The new model has been working well,” Huang said. “I’m very pleased with the initiatives the educators have put on. The number of projects that we have going is really encouraging.”
In addition to outreach efforts, the Committee passed bylaws that affected its jurisdiction and jury selection. In September, a bylaw was approved to limit the number of days an accused student had to request a change in his or her jury. Accused students may now select a jury of randomly selected University students, a mixed jury of Committee members and students, or a jury of all Committee members. The Committee also passed a bylaw in October permitting it to investigate cases in the School of Continuing and Professional Studies that do not originate in Charlottesville. Under the old system, the SCPS center regional director investigated cases.
Members of both the Honor Committee and UJC hope to continue the progress they have made thus far until the end of their terms next semester.
Huang said the Honor Committee will begin to collect demographics data about its jury composition next year. While the data will not have any statistical significance during her term, she said, it will be useful for future Committee members. She added that the Committee’s new Web site will go online next semester and will feature a new video about honor.
Huang also said the Committee will continue to discuss a bylaw that was proposed this semester. The suggested bylaw would give University students who participate in the Semester at Sea program, are found guilty of an honor violation and are kicked out of the program the chance to stand trial at the University to determine whether they can remain in the University’s community of trust.
Additionally, both organizations will partner in the spring to continue fulfilling each organization’s outreach goals, Mikhail said. She said the partnership will hopefully allow the organizations to answer frequently asked questions about the organizations and to address any overlaps that may exist between the two organizations.
UJC will also discuss several issues the Issues Subcommittee proposed this semester. Mikhail said UJC will discuss the wording on a student’s transcript when he or she is suspended. Currently, the transcript reads “Enrollment discontinued” if a student is suspended, which is what the Honor Committee uses when a student is expelled.
Mikhail said the Issues Subcommitte may submit a referendum to UJC to define what a student is and when a student is officially held to the standards of conduct. She cited so-called “gray areas” where UJC has difficulty deciding whether a student can be accused of violating a standard of conduct. Rising first-year students who have just enrolled in classes during summer orientation or upperclassmen working in Charlottesville during the summer but not enrolled in classes are both examples of these gray areas, Mikhail noted. If a referendum is submitted and voted on, it will need two-thirds of the committee’s approval to pass.
Finally, UJC will continue its discussion about increasing the number of representatives in the College from three to five, Mikhail said. The committee recently voted to allow the Issues Subcommittee to draft a proposal as a spring referendum.
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