Lying, cheating and stealing are the oils applied to the gears of machinations; done for-profit and everywhere - or at least among the slick. They are quick-fixes, slippery to track and notoriously effective. They are also wrong, for some, including those within our "community of trust," wherever it is hiding.
"The Honor System at the University of Virginia establishes a 'community of trust,' in which any student who violates that trust is dismissed from UVa. through the student-administered investigation and trial process," according to the "What is dishonorable behavior?" report the Honor Committee discussed yesterday. The specific recommendations of this proposal are, we hope, the final exercises in the utopianism with which the Honor Committee distracts us.
The "community of trust" is presented as the justification for the honor code, and vice-versa, making its reasoning circular. The honor code applies to "Charlottesville and Albemarle County, and elsewhere at any time when [a student] identifies himself as a University of Virginia student in order to gain the reliance and trust of others," according to the Committee's website, so it can be assumed this is where the "community of trust" exists as well. Yet the Honor Committee report presented yesterday aims to extend these boundaries, which are already unclear.
The "community of trust" clearly does not exist at all walks of University life. If, at the very best, Greek life and secret societies can be ennobling organizations, the tacit acceptance of their keeping things secretive has already dissolved any idea of trust. A clever visitor would stop his U-Guided tour to point out that by advertising secret societies and the "community of trust" our University is championing contradictions.
The "community of trust" is not based on consensus in the classroom, as there is a reluctance or refusal on the part of some faculty or staff to engage in the process of honor altogether. There are classes in which professors buy in to the "community of trust," earnestly requiring pledges on assignments and using it to justify allowing take-home exams. Instead of this pluralism leading to a more vibrant "community of trust," the result is there are those distant from the system while others selectively benefit.
Moreover, it is not evident how the good-faith practices, including take-home exams or financial leniency at the convenience store, so touted as advantages of the "community of trust," are in any way based in it. These activities can occur anywhere, and in the Charlottesville community University students must rely on the trustworthiness of town residents to carry them through. The "community of trust," while conveniently creating a justification and mythology for our student self-governance, by this very virtue of inclusiveness, at the same time alienates those business owners, residents and public servants with whom our trustful activities take place. It is therefore hypocritical and dubious for those Lawn residents who tie chairs to their property to avoid theft, or administrators who warn that the "community of trust" is no longer in effect when non-students are present to distrust town residents while taking their acknowledgement of our so-called honor for granted.
Our "community of trust" is neither trusting nor a comprehensive community. No one is asking for a clear explanation of the "community of trust," but then this notion should not be used by the Honor Committee without making its meaning clear. Until then, the definition of this term which no one knows is roughly synonymous to propaganda.
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