University of Virginia Library

Worst Miscarriage

While sitting in the law school
pursuing my normal daily routine, I
was casually informed of what I
consider to be the worst miscarriage
of justice that has occurred on the
campuses of either my
undergraduate or graduate schools.
This miscarriage was perpetrated by
no less esteemed a body than the
University of Virginia Honor
Committee.

Although Honor Committee
procedures prevent my having full
access to the facts of the case,
rumor has it that a University First
Year Man, learning of an open coke
machine, took at least two and
possibly more free cokes without
the intention of paying for them.
There were numerous students
taking free cokes in a college prank
atmosphere. The Honor
Committee, effecting the University
of Virginia's particular type of
justice, expelled the student from
the University, and later, under
student pressure, reversed.

Heretofore, the only persuasive
argument for the retention of the
overly broad Honor Code was an
implied assurance that the Honor
Committee was "just" in practice
and would conclude that de
minimise instances of "lying,
cheating, or stealing" were not
"lying cheating or stealing" in fact.
This would prevent the invocation
of academic capital punishment
where unwarranted.

The Honor System's most recent
travesty of justice is evidence that
the Committee is often unwilling to
disregard literariness even where
justice warrants it. We find that the