University of Virginia Library

College Vice-Presidential Candidates
Give Opinions On Honor System

Doug Hixson

"If the Honor System is not
supported by the students, I feel
that it is hypocritical to have it"
said Doug Hixson, candidate for
Vice-President of the College from
Sceptre, in a dormitory speech
Wednesday night.

Mr. Hixson opened his speech
by noting the "influence" of the
College Vice-President, due to the
fact that "most of the cases do
come from the College, since it is
the largest school in the University."
In line with this responsibility,
he added that "there are three
things that I would like to see
done."

The first change Mr. Hixson
advocated was that "a booklet
should be sent out to the students
during the summer, to acquaint the
in-coming first-year men with the
Honor System before they accept
admission to the University."

This would solve, he felt, the
problem that "a lot of students
don't really want to live under the
Honor System," and avoid the fact
that "too often we get first-year
students who do not know what
they are getting into in respect to
the Honor System."

Mr. Hixon's second proposal was
that "the Honor Committee take a
survey to determine what the
students want from the Honor
System." He added, "I firmly
believe that the Honor System
belongs to the students, is a
covenant between the students, and
should be altered, if necessary, to
conform to the student concept of
honor."

Mr. Hixson's third proposed
change was that "some sort of
formal publication of the deliberation
in cases" be published by the
Honor Committee. He added that
now the only student contact with
the Honor Committee is an announcement
of dismissal in The
Cavalier Daily. This, he felt, led to
"a fear of the Honor System rather
than an understanding of it.

"The Honor System is only as
strong as the student support of it"
he emphasized. If the students
"know better where their representatives
stand, they would feel
more like the system is their own."
In explanation of the actual publication,
he felt that "perhaps it
could be published only with the
permission of the persons involved.
I see no need to publish names."

In response to the question of
limiting the Honor System, Mr.
Hixson said "there is a strong point
in favor of limiting this system to
this area or the school year. Of
course it would depend on how the
students felt."

Jack Rhoades

"This is a crucial time. It is
important for the students to know
why it is crucial. We must know the
issues", said John Rhoades, Skull
and Keys candidate for
Vice-President of the College, in
discussing his views on the
College Vice-President
and proposing changes in the Honor
System, Mr. Rhoades said, "I've
always believed in the way the
Honor System is. If we limit its
scope to just the academic
community, we may defeat the
purpose of the Honor System.
People may have degrees of
honesty, but I believe that basically
people are either honest or
dishonest.

To make the Honor System
more adaptable and more
functional, Mr. Rhoades offered a
few changes for the system.

"The Vice-President's major role
is on the Honor Committee.
however, I feel that the
Vice-Presidents of all the schools
should form committees to evaluate
the Honor System and to look into
changes such as the pledging of
tests.

"If the notes on an honor trial
were published, it would help to
inform the students about the
Honor System. If we did this,
without naming the person or the
particular circumstances, but only
the pertinent information, the
decision, and why the decision was
made, we could realize why the
action was an honor offense and we
could create more interest in the
system by showing the students
how it actually works.

"I feel that the orientation
should also be changed. When I was
a first-year man, I lived in a real
fear that I was going to commit an
honor offense. I feel that the
orientation should present the
Honor System as a logical system.
We shouldn't have to live in fear of
the system, but we should live
within the system and understand
it.

Mr. Rhoades summarized his
ideas in these words: "I want the
Honor System to be functional.
Whether it has to change with the
times or whether we have to limit
its scope, I want the Honor System
to be a functional, respectable, and
a workable system. It has to be a
spirit and it has to be flexible. I
want to keep it that way, but I also
believe that if the University
students want it to change, then it
must change."