It's 10:04 a.m. and the University of Auckland is watching me at the Munchy Mart.
Six eyes - four human and two electronic - follow the movements of my body, gazing intently as I navigate the campus convenience store. Store employees are stationed at each corner of the matchbox-sized shop, staring intently as I contemplate my purchase. As I leave, I catch a glimpse of myself on two different television monitors. Either the University of Auckland cares deeply about the Ambiguous Asian Soy Beverage I purchased or my own school views me as a potential thief.
During the past few months, it has become apparent that I am an exchange student in a community of distrust. Four pages of every course syllabus are devoted to cheating and plagiarism procedures. Every assignment is submitted, not to a professor but to Turnitin.com. Security officers patrol the student commons, not to protect us but to monitor us. As I lug my backpack to the bathroom to prevent another case of petty theft, I finally come to understand the enormous value of Virginia's honor code.
The eve of my birthday, the International House erupted into a "frat party" celebration in my honor. Kiwi, British, Sri Lankan, Chinese and Indian students were gleefully cavorting about in their own - yet, amusingly inaccurate - interpretations of fraternity garb, guzzling cheap beer and flashing hand signs. I giggled in delight as I was presented with my birthday cake, which had two Barbies engaged in a chocolate-covered "sorority mud-wrestling match" perched on top. When I collected my purse at the end of the affair, however, I discovered that a $10 bill was missing from my wallet. It seems that one of the party guests picked up an extra bonus for the night.
This following Wednesday was my first Comparative Animal Biology midterm and my body was taut with nerves. I made my way to a pre-assigned test room, patiently progressing to the door via a winding snake of a line. I was asked to place all pens and pencils in a Ziploc bag and surrender my backpack to a teaching assistant for quarantine. My student ID was scanned to verify my identity, and I was led to an assigned seat, where I was supervised throughout the entire examination period. It felt like entirely too much hassle for an hour-long test of flatworm-related questions and concerns.
In the interest of full journalistic disclosure, I should probably make a few things clear at this point. The honor system bores me to death. I automatically skip any Cav Daily article that mentions it - sorry, editors - and only dutifully listen to the diatribes of my honor-obsessed friends. Before coming to New Zealand, I suppose I would have stated that the system had little to no impact on my life beyond the source of lame jokes and eye rolling.
What I never understood before was that despite my kvetching, it is a virtue of my education that I do not have to make a conscious choice to refrain from stealing bananas from the local convenience store, cheating on a biology test or swiping $10 from a purse left in a corner - the thought simply never crosses my mind. I am never lackadaisical with my belongings, but no harm has ever come to a notebook or bag that I carelessly left in Alderman for an hour or so. I have taken U.Va. exams on the Lawn, in the library and in my bedroom, a process I find much less upsetting than the ID-scanning standard ordeal at Auckland. Furthermore, I previously took for granted that my classmates would abide by the same standard, creating a certain peculiar understanding and camaraderie between University students that is absent here in New Zealand. Fellow students at Auckland are simply strangers, while students I meet at U.Va. are most certainly my classmates.
I may tire of honor, but living honorably, even in New Zealand, is something that I intrinsically gained through the process of earning my U.Va. degree. Being a Wahoo means that I can promise that I will forever be a model customer at the Munchy Mart, no matter who may be watching.
Jessica's column runs biweekly Tuesdays. She can be reached at j.burris@cavalierdaily.com.
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