University of Virginia Library

Criteria For Dismissal

Although the Honor Committee
certainly may dismiss a student for
his dishonesty which undermines
the execution and integrity of the
University's educational
responsibilities, in its strictest sense,
or for conduct which is disruptive
of good order in academic facilities,
or which results in the damaging or
defacing of University property, or
which endangers the health or
safety of others on campus, it
clearly may not expel a student for
ungentlemanly activity or behavior
in which the University has no
lawful interest; a lawful interest
exists only where the University
seeks to discharge its educational
responsibilities or generally to
maintain good order in its facilities.
Prohibitions on lying-stealing-cheating,
however, designed to
foster gentlemanly character
development, merely to duplicate
the civil or criminal law, which
limit speech, assembly, publication,
or which generally have no direct
bearing on the University's
academic mission, are unlawful and
constitutionally inappropriate.

A regulation is permissible only
so long as it directly contributes to
a substantial interest of the
University, and only where the
behavior proscribed, if permitted,
would directly interfere with a
specific process considered a
legitimate undertaking of the
University. Thus, if expulsion for
lying or cheating or stealing in a
particular case would merely
duplicate some civil or criminal law
sanction, or if expulsion for lying
or cheating or stealing would not
clearly and substantially reinforce
the fundamental "academic"
mission of the University, then it
must be discarded; the alternative
to voluntary clearing the Honor
System of this constitutional
impediment is, as is clearly
foreseeable, highly undesirable. Like
all other State governmental
functions and institutions, the
University, because it is governed
by the Constitution, can not exceed
the fine line which divides its
interests from those of the
individual and the community.

Suppose, for example, that
student A, in a poker game in an
off-campus apartment with friends,
including classmate B and
non-students X and Y, is caught
cheating by X. Suppose, further,
during the course of the
conversation accompanying the
game, in response to Y's question,
A lies by saying that he has failed
to study for the History I exam
scheduled the next afternoon,
whereupon B relied and elects to
continue the game in lieu of
studying. And suppose, further, on
his way back to his room in the
dorm, A is caught stealing money
from student C's wallet in C's
room. What action?