University of Virginia Library

While the current
controversy on whether or not
the Honor Committee should
incorporate graduated penalties
swirls around the University, I
have become convinced that
the present System already
incorporates graduated
penalties, and that the problem
is not so much one that
requires changing the single
sanction system as one that
requires communication of the
existing alternatives to the
student body.

Presently the Honor
Committee has jurisdiction
over all student misconduct
which involves lying, cheating
and stealing. The Judiciary
Committee has jurisdiction
over all other types of student
misconduct, and the
jurisdiction is shared
concurrently with other
judicial bodies-The First Year
Judiciary Council, The
Upperclass Resident Council,
Mary Munford-Gwathmey
Committee, McKim Hall
Committee and the Married
Student Housing Association,
from which an appeal may be
made to the University
Judiciary Committee if the
student is found guilty by one
of these bodies.

The Judiciary Committee
has a graduated set of penalties
and the Committee is presently
studying efforts to improve the
penalties, to make them both
constructive and rehabilitative.
As the Honor Committee
carves out certain areas of
student misconduct which it
does not feel are reprehensible
enough to warrant dismissal
from the University, the
Judiciary Committee will begin
to handle those cases and
utilize its graduated penalties
in dealing with them.

A case in point is misuse of
student ID cards to get into
athletic contests. This in past
years may have been an honor
offense, but because it has
been deemed not so
reprehensible as to merit
dismissal, it is now handled by
the Judiciary Committee.

Another similar case in
point was one which the
Judiciary Committee heard last
week involving a fabricated
refrigerator permit used by a
student in a dormitory. Such a
case in previous years may have
been heard by the Honor
Committee. Now it was heard
by the Judiciary Committee.

In the future, similar areas
of student misconduct may be
carved out of the Honor Code
and given to the Judiciary
Committee, where a fair
hearing will be given and the
appropriate penalty issued if
guilt is determined.

It seems that if a student's
misconduct is in the gray area,
where it does violate a rule or
standard of conduct and may
be dishonorable in the broad
sense but is not so
reprehensible as to merit
dismissal, it should be brought
to the Judiciary Committee.
Granted, the Honor Committee
shall determine whether or not
it will take a case and our
jurisdiction is limited by their
decision. But, if a member of
the University community
questions some student's
conduct and seeks a hearing on
the matter, but does not feel it
is an honor offense, the
Judiciary Committee is the
appropriate body to handle the
complaint. And it does have a
graduated system of penalties,
which should allay one's fears
that expulsion is the sole
sanction upon determination
of guilt.

If students used the present
system in such a manner, only
egregious offenses would
be heard by the Honor
Committee and the Judiciary
Committee would consider all
lesser types of student
misconduct. The single
sanction presently employed
by the Honor Committee could
be kept and used when a
student was found guilty of an
act of lying, cheating or
stealing, as presently defined
by the Honor Committee.

All lesser cases, including
those in the gray area, could be
heard by the Judiciary
committee and graduated
penalties would be
imposed - hopefully
constructive, rehabilitative
penalties.

A system of graduated
penalties for the Honor System
would only serve to weaken
the System and dilute it's
effectiveness. Such dilution
would lessen the meaning of
the Honor Code.

So the answer is not so
much in changing the single
sanction of the Honor
Committee, but in
communicating to students
that they do have alternatives
and that the system only needs
tuning up-but not a new
engine.

While I do not speak for the
Judiciary Committee as a
whole, and this letter is not
intended as such, I do favor
retaining the single sanction for
the reasons stated above.