University of Virginia Library

More Honor

Under the headline
"Expulsion Justified" in The
Cavalier Daily for January 7,
Messrs. James M. Guinivan,
David Borinsky, Robert
Goldberg and Gordon Smith
quote. Mr. Carmona's statement
that his friend "is not more
dishonorable than any other
man at the university", and
argue that "this is not only
unfounded in fact but is also
insulting to a large number of
students at the university."

They also maintain that
"Mr. Carmona and the student
who was expelled realize as
well as we do that lying,
cheating and stealing are honor
offenses which are punished by
dismissal from the University."

I want to make some
comments on these statements.
Some years ago a criminal law
professor at the University of
Oslo made an inquiry into the
moral standards of his
students. He told the students
that he wanted them to tell
him anonymously of whatever
offense or crime they might
have committed—that they had
nothing to fear by telling him
about their errors no matter
how serious, because he was
not going to tell anybody else
about their confessions, and
that no action would be taken
against them. It turned out
that a large number of the
students had committee all
sorts of crimes—from serious
ones such as rape and stealing
to minor offenses such as
illegal parking.

In my opinion this
demonstrates that Mr.
Carmona is far more close to
the realities of life in his
statement than are Messrs.
Guinivan, Borinsky, Goldberg
and Smith, unless you would
suggest that Norwegian
students have lower moral
standards than the
American—which I don't think
they have.

I think that Messrs.
Guinivan, Borinsky, Goldberg
and Smith demonstrate a lack
of knowledge of human nature
and in fact the very existence
of the Honor System is a
demonstration of lack of
knowledge of human nature.
After all—what is honor? In my
opinion not much more than a
superficial cover under which
your crimes—big or small—are
hidden.

Of course I don't mean to
say that stealing, cheating and
lying shouldn't be punished at
all, but in considering what
action should be taken against
a student who happens to be
caught in shoplifting
merchandise worth two dollars,
you ought to have in mind that
the other students not
necessarily are much better,
and that the signing of the
Honor card does not improve
their moral standards.

If the Honor System had
been based on simple realities
of life, I think such a serious
step as expulsion of a young
student from the University as
an action for a small offense
like the one in question, would
never have occurred.