University of Virginia Library

System Implemented

The distrust created by
strict faculty surveillance of
examinations vanished with the
implementation of the Tucker
resolution which simply stated that
students would certify on their
honor that they had received no
assistance during examinations.

The Honor System had become
a pure student operation by 1851.
Although there was no formal procedure
employed during the nineteenth
century, the students did
manage through a number of committees
to dismiss students who had
violated the trust. Even at that time
there was no appeal after a conviction
to any group other than students,
"save to the throne of the
Deity."

As a result of the University's
growing enrollment, complexity,
and diversity, a formal procedure
was instituted in 1909. Since that
time the scope and the procedural
aspects of the Honor System have
varied with each student generation,
but the cornerstone of mutual
trust has always remained intact.

For example, lying for liquor
was not necessarily regarded as a
breach of the Honor System until
1956. After interviews with numbers
of students and authorities on
the Honor System and a poll on
student opinion the Honor Committee
decided in 1969 to once
again delete lying for liquor as a
violation. The scope and procedural
provisions of the System are always
dictated by the students through
their elected representatives on the
Committee.

As the present Chairman of the
Committee, David Morris has written,
"It is said that the Honor
System generates a spirit of mutual
trust because the System has endured
through a process of dynamic
response to changing student
norms-an ability to define and redefine
a concept of community
honor according to evolving student
standards."