University of Virginia Library

Honor System

Probably the greatest of all
traditions is our Honor System. It is
therefore under the most severe
attack. The other traditions have
allowed time to pass them by, but
the Honor System remains to fight
that battle of traditions. Last year,
the Honor Committee saw fit to
allow four students to remain in the
University who openly admitted to
obtaining soft drinks from a broken
vending machine without making
the proper remittance. Hardly a
system of honor. Truer to the mark
would be to call it honor amongst
thieves. Our Honor System is
nationally renowned as being as
strong a one as exists. It is the code
by which Senators, Representatives,
Judges, Lawyers, and businessmen
base their daily lives. For once one
has abided by the stringent rules of the
Honor Code, that spirit is etched on
the conscience. The unanswered
questions surrounding the Honor
System, that you will hear so much
of, will continue to go unanswered,
for the System is merely a spirit
and nothing more. Even the
traditional guidebook of Virginia's
traditions exists now. The
Jeffersonian, the publication of the
University of Virginia Young Men's
Christian Association, is now
defunct. Included in that book was
a listing of all the organizations,
traditions, and assorted useful
information. Once again, a tradition
laid by the wayside.