University of Virginia Library

The Honor System

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

While the System's greatest
benefit may lie in the pride and
self-respect that each individual
gains by living among
honorable people, it is also
responsible for securing
tangible benefits.

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; rather
it is 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 within the
framework of currently
accepted norms of honorable
conduct rather than on the
basis of outdated dogmas or
statutes.

Reduced to its simplest
terms, the Honor System
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 wholly
administered by 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 or 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
which is 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 to the University 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