University of Virginia Library

Letters To The Editor

No Honor At The Degree Mills

I am a student at New
College in Sarasota, Florida.
Recently, I read several articles
from The Cavalier Daily
concerning the Honor System. I
offer the following comments
for the benefit of those
members of your community
who may fail to appreciate the
full significance of honor in
personal and academic
conduct:

Before transferring to New
College, I attended a large
urban university, affectionately
referred to as a "degree mill."
My freshman class was a
conglomerate of former high
school students from the local
area bound and determined to
submit to the petty pursuit of
passive education.

As that first autumn passed,
I began to find some of the
student conduct "morally
unconscionable." Cheating was
a predictable, if not an
uncommon, occurrence. It was
ignorantly encouraged by poor
teaching situations-I am
thinking particularly of certain
required courses offered over
closed circuit television for
which grades were determined
by a compilation of scored
-IBM-multiple-choice-test-cards.
The indifference
exhibited by some student
proctors led to behavior which
I have mentally enshrined in
Sarasota's Circus Hall of Fame.
What I resented even more
than the cheating was the
bragging which often
ensued-but I guess confession
is good for the soul.

The institution I formally
attended condoned this
conduct simply because it
failed to act when a few
students neglected to include
personal integrity among the
characteristics of their
otherwise unique personalities.
And because it continued. I
felt that my own efforts at the
university were cheapened and
my own integrity affronted.

Academic and personal
dishonesty do not qualify as
crimes without victims. I was a
victim; hopefully, no one at
the University of Virginia will
ever be. I first experienced
moral outrage because of
academic dishonesty.

An honor system at my
former school might have
worked-my own bitterness
tells me it would have been a
farce. That is why I have
written this letter. The Honor
Code at Virginia should serve
as a model for all schools in
this country, not just the large,
over crowded, ill equipped
state universities. It should serve
as a beacon of light to all
individuals who have placed
personal integrity on their
most wanted lists.

At this point in the school
year, the new students at
Virginia are probably well
aware of the vital part the
Honor System plays in the very
existence of the institution.
Reflect on it occasionally.
Living a "good and decent" life
is no easy task-it requires our
best efforts. Here endeth the
Gospel.

Congratulations

For some time I have
intended to write to
congratulate the CD on the
quality of its reporting and the
scope of its news coverage this
year. Some of the feature
stories are worthy of national
citations. You are clearly
Charlottesville's number one
paper at the present
time-quite an achievement for
a paper which must rely on a
part-time unpaid staff!

Keep up the good work.