University of Virginia Library

No Crooks

In The Cavalier Daily of
February 8, 1972, Mr. Marvin
Edwards stated that "according
to a survey conducted by
James Bowers of over 5,000
students at 99 U.S. colleges
and universities it is reasonable
to assume that a minimum of
one out of every four U.Va.
students has cheated at least
once while in school here."

I wish to take issue with Mr.
Edwards' generalization from
the national figures released by
the Bureau of Applied Social
Research at Columbia by citing
the figures received by the
Bureau when students at the
University of Virginia were
polled.

Contrary to national
figures, where instances of
cheating ranged as high as 60
per cent, the figures at the
University of Virginia showed a
maximum of 2-3 per cent of
those polled who stated that
they had cheated while a
student at the University. This
hardly indicates that "one out
of every four U.Va. students
has cheated at least once while
in school here."

The percentage of lying (1-2
per cent) and stealing (0
per cent) at the University
compared admirably with the
national figures of lying (60
per cent) and stealing (30 per
cent).

I believe that the Bowers
study at Columbia again
indicates that the University of
Virginia cannot be lumped
with other schools in relation
to acts of lying, cheating, and
stealing. Students at the
University have been and
continue to be far better than
the national norm in the area
of honorable conduct.