<p>To whomever asked about why his jury was deemed unfair - </p>
<p>Smith, first and foremost, was not tired by a council of his peers. He is supposed to have a right to at least two students from his school within the University, who might be able to better relate to his experiences. He had none. Also, the jury was predominantly made up of underclassmen, rather than being balanced. Five of the people who found Smith guilty were first-years; four were sophomores and only four were upperclassmen. None were fourth-years like Smith, which is key considering that time at the school can change a student’s perspective considerably.</p>
<p>Also, the system calls for the jurors to deem the crim “trivial” or “non-trivial” based solely on their personal belief - an opinion that can be swayed by factors as minor as whether or not the juror was having a good or bad day.</p>
<p>Source - Virginia Cavalier Daily - the article was printed on the Jason Smith facebook group and written by a teacher</p>
<p>This is all pretty disheartening. I thought the concept of Honor and the “Community of Trust” (as it is marketed to prospective students) was a nice bonus to everything else UVA offered…the ability to take exams home, work on them on the Lawn with just a pledge of honesty, or being able to leave your door unlocked all worked to market UVA as this intelligent, considerate, honest, sophisticated group of individuals. Once you get on Grounds, however, you start to realize that not much of this is true. </p>
<p>Cheating, stealing and lying are all pretty rampant. I’ve known people who’ve had items stolen from the porch of the Lawn residences and tons of stuff is stolen from the library. Nearly every year, as finals approaches, an e-mail goes out advising students to monitor their personal belongs as thefts DO occur. </p>
<p>The existence of the Honor Code never once provided me with any sense of security at the University. It actually intimidated me, not on account of any cheating or otherwise frowned upon action, but because of the severity of the single sanction and the near impossibility of winning an appeal. It really kept me on my toes when it came to writing papers and taking exams.</p>
<p>I think there is a big issue at the University with maintaining a tradition (that does not even date back to Jefferson’s time) and updating the code based on the growing size of the university and the lack of understanding most students have in regards to the Honor Code.</p>
<p>To address the cheating aquisations: Anyone else in the e-school?</p>
<p>I am, and I really don’t see much of it. Maybe it’s because engineers realize they’ll need to know this stuff later on in life (compared to other majors, who are simply using their undergrad as a stepping stone to a grad school/law school/med school). I also think that the non-inflated grades in eschool helps, a low GPA is quite common.</p>
<p>I mean, I certainly know of incidents where people copy parts of each other’s tests or work on homework together when they’re not really supposed to, but that’s as far as it goes. If you’re relying on cheating to get your your engineering degree, I’m pretty sure you’ll be screwed in the long run.</p>
<p>I was in a CS101 exam recently and the guy next to me cheated; so did another guy sitting in the middle row of the auditorium. The professor called them out on it, but didn’t press honor charges and let them continue the exam without noting anything when it was turned in. Is this honor? We think not.</p>
Time and again, people point out that this campus is an open one. Not everyone on Grounds is a UVa student. College campuses are attractive to people who are up to no good because many students operate as if they are in a safe, perfect bubble. There are many stories about forgotten items because untouched or returned to owners, but I don’t think any student on any college campus should make a habit of leaving valuables unattended or leaving doors unlocked.</p>
<p>I’m not affiliated with UVA, so please excuse me if I am misunderstanding, but it seems to me like most people, the professors in the letter included, would rather not have an honor code at all. I only say this because I don’t understand what good an honor code is if a whole myriad of exceptions is made. If professors think that they can handle cheating, absences and lying on their own, why have a code at all? But if the code is kept, should it not be upheld, even if it means the expulsion or punishment of hundreds more students than are currently being reprimanded?</p>
<p>Let’s talk about a power trip for these two mean girls. Originally, the assignment was a 1-2 pages paper. Later, two 3-4 pages papers, with intensive follow-ups. These gilrs were on the hunt, and worked very, very hard to destroy him. Shame on them!!!</p>
<p>Also, Mary Siegel humiliated Jason Smith by asking him to write an essay on why he shouldn’t be late, etc. after he turned in his assignment late.</p>
<p>As a rising in-state high-school senior who will be applying to colleges in the upcoming school year, this is a huge thing for me personally. I have always wanted to go to UVA; it’s always been my dream school. The more I read about this case, however, the more I’m doubting as to whether I want to go to a school where an injustice this massive is allowed to go on uncorrected. The fact that this kid was expelled for something as trivial as this worries me far more than any amount of cheaters ever will. This does not only reflect on the university’s supposed “honor”, this goes to the leadership of the university itself. It’s as if they don’t even care about this student’s education. They let years of learning go to waste because of an obvious injustice. If they care that little about someone’s education, why should I pay them $10k+ to care that little about mine?</p>
<p>I really hope this issue is resolved, because out of all of the different colleges in Virginia, UVA was hands down my first choice.</p>
<p>Masrith why would UVA be your first choice? Haven’t you heard of Ivy League Schools? After reading this there is no way I would go to UVA, power-hurry people who will stop at nothing to get you kicked out doesn’t sound like fun. Personally I think that UVA needs to start screening its applicants with interviews, I have found the people they are letting in to be sub-par at best.</p>
<p>Interviews would have killed me as an applicant from Maine, unless there were a good abundance of alumni near my town.</p>
<p>Really you should be more heartened by the intervention of the student body.</p>
<p>The thing that must be fixed is the uncontested elections for many of the seats – basically, not enough people running (especially for offices concerning the Curry School!), underrepresentation of the CLAS and stuff that allowed Mary Siegel to get elected on such an annoying chalking campaign. It’s an issue I think you will find that is common from school to school. Certainly there isn’t enough advertising to make the nominations themselves competitive. </p>
<p>Oh if they staggered some of the elections so I wouldn’t have to read biographies for 50+ positions in the course of a single sitting that would be nice.</p>
<p>Sorry. I’m coming into this thread very late, but I love what Hazelorb said. So true!</p>
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<p>Perhaps being expelled was kind of harsh (I’m a fan of a multi-sanction system), but come on now. How dumb was this guy to continually lie and make excuses in a class about honor that was taught by the Vice Chair of the Honor Committee?</p>
<p>Wahoomb, by the way, if you see people cheating in your Econ class, why don’t you report them? You’re part of the problem by doing nothing. Just talking about it here on CC and doing nothing else won’t solve anything. I’m not saying that you become a tattle-tail, but if cheating is truly an issue, you can confront those students and say you saw them cheating and suggest they make a conscientious retraction or else. The biggest problem is not the system itself (though it’s flawed). The problem is that people don’t take honor seriously. If you believe in honor, stand up for it. If you see Honor Committee members using fake IDs, call them out on it. If you don’t like the single sanction, then fight to change it. If you think the Honor Committee is not living up to its principles, then why you join it in order to change it?</p>
<p>I think most of us see fake IDs as benign though, to the extent that we know they are being used for alcohol consumption (and not for say, drug/border smuggling), and then by the third year a lot of people are 21 anyway. And morally, the majority of us students don’t see underage alcohol consumption as a dishonorable, morally-impoverishing offence.</p>
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<p>Yes, but did that merit expulsion?</p>
<p>How dumb was that girl to dress so skimpily and then try to take a shortcut through that dark alley? Man, she so deserved it. I guess we should acquit her attacker.</p>
<p>Under a single penalty system you simply have to hold yourself to a higher standard. Perhaps you won’t get caught, perhaps others have gotten away with it in the past, perhaps a thousand things but ultimately you need to weight the risk that you take against the sanction.</p>
<p>First of all, I hope you don’t think under aged consumption of alcohol is harmless. Second, comparing rape or assault to cheating on a test is ridiculous.</p>
<p>Many students feel that the students “should have known” with regards to lying, stealing, and cheating. That those who don’t “hold themselves to a higher standard” deserve to be expelled. Let me make sure you are very clear on two things. One, according to many professors and researchers, plagiarism is one of the hardest things to prove as being intentional. There is such a thing as subconscious plagiarism. Once a student’s case goes to trial, let me assure you,he or she already is thought of as guilty of “should have known”. So even if the jury feels that the student did not intentionally plagiarize, they “should have known”. THat is a big problem because it doesn’t jive with research on this matter. Number two: I challenge any graduates to live up to the honorable life of my daughter. She did, still does, and always will hold herself to a higher standard. It is too bad that UVA was unable to see that. I also think it is sad that you have professors unwilling to do ANYTHING about the honor code. If they can’t bring students up for honor charges due to the single sanction, think what has actually been created. And… until you go through all our family did, you will never ever know the horror of being told you are dishonorable when you know that you are not. YOu will never know what it is like to try to transfer and being looked down upon because you have to answer “yes” to the question, “Were you ever expelled?” Or the fact that over 20 credits are not transferring, even though she had a 3.5 AFTER the F in the course. THe loss of money alone is disgraceful, especially in light of the fact that she paid for everything herself. We were so blessed and lucky to be surrounded by friends and family who assured my daughter of their disgust with UVA and proved it by sending scores of letters to Casteen. I am only hopeful that one day this barbaric system is abolished before more lives are ruined.</p>