University of Virginia Library

Is System Effective . . . ?

Students Question Honor Code

This is the second installment of a
two-part series on the Honor System.

By Carroll Ladt
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Much discontent over the Honor
System is centered in the graduate
schools, especially in the schools
of Law and Education. Typical is
one first-year law student's statement
that "it is basically laudable
but a possible restriction of
broad academic freedom." A
transfer student in graduate education
said that "some reactions (of
other transfers) were extremely adverse"
toward the system.
Numerous graduate students remarked,
"they felt above being a
part of the Honor System."
Graduate students also held the
opinion hinted at by many undergraduates
that the professors didn't

receive enough orientation about
the Honor System.

A number of professors have
noted their objections to it, one
saying he felt we were "rushing
headlong into the 19th century."
This is a particularly serious problem,
especially among first-year
men, as one said, "If your teachers
say they don't believe in it, how
can you?"

In a recent report made by the
Air Force Academy Committee
after the cheating scandal in the
Colorado school, the dissatisfaction
of some faculty members was
cited as having tended "to breed
corresponding disaffection among
some members of the Wing." The
professors, it seems, are rather
skeptical of the whole thing despite
an orientation at the beginning
of school. Many look upon
it as ridiculous, others feel it is
an imposition. The number of
critics of the system among the
faculty must run rather high, since
nearly everyone interviewed could
remember at least one professor
speaking out against it.

One of the most disturbing
trends that came out during the
interview was e high percentage
of the independents who either
don't believe in the system or
just ignore it. This is not a reflection
of morals but rather a
product of living conditions. A
large factor in the effectiveness of
the system exposure to it.

Fraternity men through their
fraternity's orientation and their
participation in University activities,
seem to have more day
to day exposure to the "spirit
of honor." Independents, on the
other hand, often lose this ritual
contact. For many the Honor System
ceases to play an important
part in their everyday life as they
turn away from the University
traditions. This is not to say independents
are any less moral,
but rather that as they lose contact
with the system, the idea of
strongly supporting it fades.

The frequently made statement
that the Honor System of prohibiting
lying, cheating, and stealing is
unrealistic considering the morals
and attitudes of the times deserves
particular attention. Often it is
said that the University is simply
an island of traditions which give
no relation to the world around it.
"Is it fair to expect us to be
honorable both at home and at
school when that honor is unrealistic?"

Many students feel that the
system is not only unrealistic, but
archaic. If no one else behaves
honorably-and it often appears
they do not-why should we be
expected to? This problem was
examined at some length by the
Air Force Academy Committee
of which Hardy C. Dillard,
Dean of the Law School was a
member. The gist of their conclusion
was "if the code is to be
meaningful, the cadets themselves
must believe in it....Committee
members have had confidential interviews
with at least 100 cadets.
Without a single exception, these
cadets affirmed not only their
acceptance of the code but also
their positive preference for living
under it." The results of our interviews
with the students here were
quite different with many students
disenchanted.

How then can the system be
preserved? The answer to this
question seems to be orientation,
but it is presently ineffective. Although
first-year men are impressed
by their orientation exposure,
other introductions to the
Honor System usually fail
dismally. A law student from Yale
commented the "orientation struck
me as a way of making sure no
one had an excuse for not reading
the blue sheet. It was more designed
to scare than to educate."

In addition to the first exposure,
orientation is viewed by many as a
process that should be continued
throughout a student's University
career. "We should," said one
counselor, "keep it more in front
of students rather than allowing it
to fall back into complacency."
The only way the Honor System
can work is through continual
exposure to the students-at the
present time this exposure is rather
haphazard.