University of Virginia Library

Presidential Candidates Answer
Questions On The Honor System

Larry Altaffer

1. I believe the Honor System
will face some very demanding
challenges in the next year. I think
it will face a growing disenchantment
by the student body parallelling
their feelings toward the present
society in our nation. It will
become increasingly important for
the Honor Committee to exert a
concentrated effort toward
facilitating a sufficient orientation
program. This is especially true
with respect to the graduate students.

There is also the approaching
problem of an increased work load
being placed upon the Honor Committee
by increases in enrollment.
I think the Committee must begin
now to consider how its structure
might be modified to meet this
demand. I do not think it is a
good idea to establish a separate
committee for each school because
it would destroy the cross-section
of the student body that now sits
on the committee and it would
present the problem of discrepancies
in interpretations by the
separate committees.

The approaching liquor-by-the-drink
legislation will also present
a very realistic test for the Honor
System and I think next year's
Committee must do an exceptional
job in orienting the new students
and also in stressing the consequences
of false identification to
the present student body.

I also think the Honor Committee
should meet with both old
and new faculty members at the
beginning of the year to clear-up
any misunderstanding they might
have.

2. I believe that it is very important
for any member of the
Honor Committee to do everything
he can to acquaint himself
with the feeling of the student
body toward the Honor System. I
think it would be worthwhile for
the Honor Committee to consider
administering a questionnaire
concerning present student opinion
and attitude toward the Honor
System. I do not believe that any
major changes would immediately
arise in the structure of the Honor
System. I think that changes will
come more gradually in the form of
new interpretations by the Honor
Committee and student body concerning
specific offenses.

One very important thing that
I feel most people fail to realize
is that when students change their
opinions and interpretations of offenses
they are automatically
changing the system on a personal
basis because they use these new
interpretations to decide what they
consider to be an offense.

However, I still maintain that
the Honor Committee must find
out what the students think about |