University of Virginia Library

Murdock Enters College Presidency Race

By Fred Heblich
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Charles Murdock

Charles Murdock announced
his candidacy for the office
of President of the College of
Arts and Sciences yesterday,
presenting his platform in the
following eight points.

"If the Honor System is to
survive legally, that is to say, at
all, the following changes must
be made:

"1. The Honor System must follow the Anglo-American tradition of
being adversarial as opposed to inquisitional.

"2. A real public trial must be held at the request of the accused -
none of this 'twenty ticket' foolishness.

"3. The fact finders, lawmakers and judges are all the same people in
a given case. This is absurd. We must uphold the Jeffersonian concept
that we are governed not by men, but by men under law.

"4. There are presently no rules of evidence as to relevance,
materiality, or the admission of hearsay. A just codification of this is
mandatory.

"5. The accused student must be advised of his rights at the time of
the first trial - the presentation of the '24-hour ultimatum.'

"6. The present Honor Committee will not allow summary
judgement after the presentation of the prosecution's case, (i.e., would
all the facts as stated constitute an honor offense?) This would greatly
expedite efficiency and the Honor Committee's refusal of summary
judgement indicates they are as uninterested in much needed efficiency
as in the administration of justice.

"7. The scope must be limited to legitimate University interests:
Lying is reprehensible when done on the trust of the Honor System
specifically. Cheating must be dealt with only in terms of academics -
no more card games. Stealing can be tried only when it occurs within
the University community.

"8. The greatest problem, of course, is that the Honor System is no
longer the people's system, but the system of a clubby, like-minded
Honor Committee. There is presently no constitution. There is no
amendment process. This is a specific and obvious cause of its recent
decay.

"This is what's wrong with the Honor System. But there is an even
bigger problem: this institution is successfully racist. The Administration
wants its Board of Visitors, itself, its faculty and student body 99.9
per cent white or more, and the students have ignored them. The
President of the College can no longer confine himself to the Honor
Committee. As the highest elected representative of the University's
largest school, he must actively join with other students and student
leaders from all phases of student life - IFC and the fraternities, SDS,
Counselors, Student Council, the Judiciary and Honor Committees - to
demand that these injustices cease immediately."

Mr. Murdock said that he sees the system as it is operating at present
"violating the constitutional rights of the accused." He said he favors
the change of trials to a more "courtroom-type" procedure. In referring
to point six of his platform, he said that after the prosecution presents
its facts, the Honor Committee should decide if the Honor System has
been violated, so that the accused would not have to go through the
"grind" of defending himself if his actions did not constitute a
violation.

Mr. Murdock also stated that "internal revision is not acceptable."
He calls for "changes in the structure" to allow for amending the
system to stop the "injustices" it creates.