University of Virginia Library

Letters

there is nothing he can do to
satisfy such people. Pressing to
avoid mistakes certainly makes
the game harder to play: Such
seemed to be the case last year.

I doubt many "innocent"
people took offense at his beau
geste during the VPI game.
Perhaps he will take charge of
his cool as he has the
leadership of the team. Then
he may only think "forget
you" as he goes about his
business. This one hopes he
will.

However, it seems a shame
that some in the University
community will inflict a few
more scars on a fine young
man during his life here. I used
to think the problem was
mostly unawareness.

Lacking much evidence to
support that idea, I will have to
rethink the concept of
"community of scholars" and
why people can spend four
years here while remaining
immune to the impact of
scholarly thinking.

Honor?

Having recently become the
victim of thievery, my feelings
toward the Honor System have
again become confused. My
attitude toward the system has
always been one of uncertainty
but at the same time one of
respect. I have always and feel
I have always respected the
code.

However it is sad that I will
respect the code mainly out of
fear of getting thrown out of
school. (This is not to say I
would ever steal from anyone).

You see, I feel cheated. Two
days ago I was playing my
Highpoint handball match in
Memorial Gym (I might add
here that only U.Va. students
are admitted to the gym
now–and I was assured of
this by the ID checker).

Within 15 minutes my
wallet and S70 watch were
missing. I tried not to jump to
any immediate conclusion.
However after a thorough
check I was convinced I was
robbed. The two items, I might
note, were well concealed
underneath my towel.

So while some (most?)
students are conducting
themselves righteously under
the bounds of the Honor
System, I will never be
convinced that there won't be
others taking advantage of my
allegiance and perhaps too
carefree actions.

As I have said before it is
because of occurrences as this
that I doubt the efficiency of
the Honor System. It is not
that I believe that virtue
chosen is better than virtue
forced. Because if I did, I
would be certain everyone
would become a victim.

I am confused and can only
hope that more people would
commit themselves to the
system. In the meantime I
advise everyone else to act as
though there is no Honor
System and watch your
valuables closely.

Service-Free

To those who wonder if the
University can offer valuable
personal assistance to its
students, we suggest a
discovery of Madison Hall.

Recently we had need for
legal advice and found
excellent help in the functions
of the Office of the Students'
Attorney and the Consumer
Information Service. These
offices provide us immediate
professional help at a price
students can afford–free.

We would like to publicly
thank these fine people at
Madison Hall from the bottoms
of our hearts and the tops of
our bank accounts.