<p>Students will never pass a multi sanction program.</p>
<p>First year college students are overrepresented not only in the committee but in the juries put together. It is a big concern.</p>
<p>I very much value the concept of an honor code and I believe most students at UVA behave with academic integrity. So when it works to discourage cheating, it’s great. When somebody violates it, though, trouble begins. I believe the way the honor code is administered at UVA is counterproductive. Most people who plagiarize, in my long experience, do so out of desperation or on impulse. It’s important to punish them, but tossing them out of the university completely seems excessive in almost every case I’ve been involved with. At Princeton, where I used to teach, honor code violators were permitted to return after a year away doing something constructive, and most did. The rate of cheating was certainly not higher than it is at UVA, the faculty was dramatically more willing to bring charges, and the conviction rate was much higher.</p>
<p>Most of my UVA colleagues call a cheating student in for a conference, terrify him/her by threatening to bring honor charges, and then end up flunking the kid in the class. It reminds me of the situation in eighteenth century England; minor theft was a capital crime, and as a result most thieves were acquitted. The conviction rate went way up when the penalty was made proportionate to the crime.</p>
<p>It is also, BTW, a huge pain to bring an honor charge. The honor committee typically meets in the evenings and gives faculty members only a few hours’ notice when their presence and testimony is required. The people on the committee don’t seem to realize that adults do not typically live on Grounds and that many of them have childcare obligations in the evenings.</p>
<p>Thanks for your perspective jingle. This is a complex issue. Hearing directly from a professor at the University is really helpful as a parent in understanding more about this.</p>
<p>Thanks,jingle. This case also sent a chill up my spine as my son was also within a month of graduation when this came up. I really hope there are more safeguards in place these days by faculty supervising these undergraduates who are given positions of power. I would hope at least a person would have to run bringing an honor charge to a supervising professor at minimum. I also find it problematic for a sitting Honor Committee member to be so involved with the whole process.</p>
<p>It’s not that we lack supervision from superiors, it’s that we lack supervision from our peers. Those involved in Honor are for various reasons not proportionately representative of the student body. </p>
<p>Finally, the Honor “System” never really focuses on initiatives that would encourage its own mission: creating a culture and community of trust and honor. Law isn’t just about punishment.</p>
<p>“The University Judiciary charge filed against Editor-in-Chief Jason Ally was dismissed last night on grounds of jurisdiction.” (status update from Cav Daily’s fb page.) </p>
<p>Though it doesn’t solve the lack of transparency from the Honor Committee.</p>
<p>I didn’t realize it was Jason!! I was his TA before he switched from the eschool to the college!</p>
<p>(he was a hardworking student!)</p>
<p>Washington Post article:
[How</a> U-Va. newspaper editors who alleged plagiarism wound up in the hot seat, too - The Washington Post](<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/how-u-va-newspaper-editors-who-alleged-plagiarism-wound-up-in-the-hot-seat-too/2011/10/19/gIQAfuzbyL_story.html]How”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/how-u-va-newspaper-editors-who-alleged-plagiarism-wound-up-in-the-hot-seat-too/2011/10/19/gIQAfuzbyL_story.html)</p>
<p>wow, we made it into the Washington Post again. Proud day for our school.</p>