University of Virginia Library

To The Editor

Honor At Va?

While preparing to come to
Virginia I was very optimistic about
the value of the Honor System. I
labeled my possessions, not so I
could identify them if they were
stolen, but so I would be able to
distinguish them from someone
else if they got mixed up. When
my bicycle disappeared in
mid-November from outside my
dorm (it wasn't locked), I had
enough faith in the Honor System
to honestly believe that it had to
have been taken by someone
outside the University.

To a considerable extent this
faith has dissipated. Two Friday's
ago I, left a notebook and a
textbook in a Cabell Hall room.
When I discovered this I decided
that I would wait until Monday to
retrieve them. I just assumed no
one would bother them. When I
returned Monday morning,
someone had been kind enough to
leave me the textbook but had
decided to borrow the
note-book-presumably for good.

During orientation week, one
upperclassman told us that the
Honor System was the
responsibility of the First-year
class. If we didn't abide by it there
would be no more Honor System at
Virginia. These examples pitifully
show that we may be straying from
the values inherent in the Honor
System and that its demise may be
upon us. I can only repeat the
upperclassman's charge; the fate of
the Honor System rests with
everyone here at the University-if
we disregard it, there will no longer
be Honor at Virginia.