University of Virginia Library

The University of Virginia has an Honor
System which generally has been regarded as
one of the University's most notable and
respected traditions Established by students
in 1842, the Honor System has become a
tradition not because it is venerable with age,
but because it is a valuable and to student life

While the greatest benefit of the System
may be said to lie in the pride and self-respect
that each individual gains by living among
honorable people, as a pragmatic system it is
also responsible for securing tangible benefits
as well.

In a community dedicated to learning, it is
an obvious advantage to know that one's work
will be accepted as his own, and one's word
accepted as the truth

Worthy as such benefits are, they would be
negligible if the price were a loss of personal
freedom. Fortunately this is not the case, for
the Honor System is not a strict code of
conduct which attempts to regulate a
student's life, but is rather a broad, flexible
system based on a spirit of mutual respect and
integrity which actually broadens, not
narrows, one's freedom of action within the
University community.

It is not, furthermore, a static system, but
one which is responsive to present student
mores. The Honor Committee makes its
decisions, not on the basis of outdated
dogmas or statutes, but within the framework
of currently accepted norms of honorable
conduct.

The Honor System, reduced to its simplest
terms, requires that an individual act
honorably in all relations and phases of
student life.

More specifically, the System rests on the
premise that lying, cheating, and stealing are
breaches of the spirit of honor and mutual
trust and are not to be tolerated within the
University community, or wherever one is
accepted as a University of Virginia student

A distinctive and significant feature of the
Honor System at Virginia is that it is
administered wholly by the students. Neither
the faculty nor the administration has any
part in the actual workings of the Honor
Committee

If a student observes dishonorable conduct
by another student, it is his duty to
investigate the matter conscientiously,
confront the suspected offender personally,
and demand an explanation, if the
explanation is unsatisfactory, it is then the
obligation of the student who observed the
offense to make a formal accusation

The accused person must then either leave
the University, thereby admitting his guilt, or
must appeal to the Honor Committee for a
hearing

The Committee, composed of elected
presidents and vice presidents from each of
the schools of the University hears the
charges, evidence, and defense and either
acquits the accused of all charges of finds him
guilty by a 4/5 vote, in which case he is
permanently dismissed from the University

From a decision of guilty, an appeal may
be made, only upon grounds of good cause,
before a second hearing body, composed of
those Honor Committee members who did
not sit on the original trial. A case may be
re-opened at any time upon the production of
new evidence bearing directly on the question
of guilt.

It is particularly essential that all entering
students realize that the Honor System
imposes a dual responsibility – that of living
as individuals within the spirit of the System,
and that of insuring, for the good of the
academic community, that fellow students
also abide by the spirit

The effectiveness of the System depends
upon the acceptance of both these
responsibilities by every member of the
University community. Acceptance of
admission is an acceptance of the Honor
System and is an implicit agreement to live by
its spirit

Every student at Virginia enjoys the
benefits of the System, each must share the
responsibility for its vitality.

The Honor Committee