University of Virginia Library

Honor Poll
Points Decline
Of Spirit

By RICHARD PETTY

The Honor Committee recently
expressed its concern to the Board of
Visitors that the University may be losing
the "sense of community" which is vital
to the preservation of the Honor System.

In a statement to the Board, the
committee has stated that the sense of
"University Community is increasingly and
rapidly becoming less perceptible to each
entering class, as students are now dispersed
throughout Albemarle and adjacent counties in
attempts to find adequate housing facilities and
living conditions."

The committee feels that in order for the
Honor System to continue to be an important
force in the University, the students must
obtain a feeling of belonging to a "University
Community" and feel that they have a definite
stake in that community, and thus in the Honor
System.

A committee member has stated that "the
feeling of community is just not as great as it
once was." "If this feeling of community is
allowed to dwindle further," the Committee
fears, "the viability of the Honor System will
decline proportionally."

There is a strong sentiment in the
Committee that extensive growth should not
take place if it is to do so at the expense of the
University's sense of community. The
committee has in fact stated that the
University's quality of community "must be
maintained at all costs."

As evidence to support its conclusions, the
committee has cited results from its recent
Honor System poll questionnaire.

The results of the survey which randomly
sampled ten per cent of the University
population, revealed that only one per cent of
the students surveyed felt that, as the
University grows, the Honor System will
become more effective.

The poll also indicated that 59 per cent of
the students felt that the System will become
less effective. Thirty-one per cent of the
students felt that growth will not change the
effectiveness of the Honor System.