University of Virginia Library

MWC Denies Rights Violation
In Ex-Student's Honor Trial

By SCOTT TOLLEFSEN

Counsel for Mary
Washington College have
denied that a former student's
constitutional rights were
ignored in an honor trial held
at the school last year. The
denial petition was released
yesterday by U.S. District
Court Judge Robert R. Merhige
Jr.

Student Dismissed

Brenda Page Bright, a
former student at the college,
has charged that her rights
were violated when she was
dismissed from the school by
the student Honor Council.

Mrs. Bright was dismissed
from school last December
when the Honor Council found
her guilty of stealing money
from a fellow student. Her
charges were filed Aug. 28.

Judge Merhige rejected her
request for an emergency
temporary restraining order
that would have allowed her to
return to school this fall,
noting that she had waited too
long since her dismissal from
Mary Washington to file the
request.

Mr. Ralph Buxton, attorney
for Mrs. Bright, told The
Cavalier Daily that his client is
challenging the right of the
Board of Visitors of Mary
Washington College to delegate
authority to the Honor
Council.

Delegation 'Unlawful'

Mr. Buxton said that "the
delegation of the Board's
legislative power" to the Honor
Council, a "private
organization," is "unlawful,"
and that the Council therefore
had no legal authority to
dismiss Mrs. Bright.

If the court does not rule
favorably on this charge, the
attorney said that he intends to
show that the Honor Council
did not have a consistent
standard of guilt to apply to its
cases, and that such a lack of
definite rules was a denial of
due process in his client's trial.

The president of the Mary
Washington Honor Council,
Barbara Barnes, confirmed that
Mrs. Bright was contesting the
right of the Board of Visitors
to delegate its power to the
Council.

Miss Barnes pointed out
that the Honor Council was
assuming a function within the
framework of the total
authority of the school.

She told The Cavalier Daily
that "the Board has the right
to review decisions made by
the Honor Council, but it
abstains from such reviewing
out of confidence in the
Council's judicious abilities.

Further, Miss Barnes noted,
at the time of Mrs. Bright's
dismissal from Mary
Washington, the school was
under the jurisdiction of the
University of Virginia Board of
Visitors.

The school attorney for
Mary Washington, Mr. Jere
Willis, supported Miss Barnes
by telling The Cavalier Daily
that the Honor System was
"properly authorized in every
respect."

Due Process Given

He added that Mrs. Barnes
"was not denied due process of
the law," and that "her rights
were scrupulously defended
throughout her trial."

A ruling in favor of Mrs.
Bright would bring the legality
of the University's own Honor
System into question.