<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-virginia/685562-fourth-year-student-found-guilty-lying-uva.html?highlight=honor+code[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-virginia/685562-fourth-year-student-found-guilty-lying-uva.html?highlight=honor+code</a></p>
<p>The thread above from 2009-10, coupled with the recently announced proposals, make me very pleased my child will graduate from UVa this Spring. Our family has grown to love UVa during our child’s time at The University, but I would not want a student at the school if the provision to have honor trial juries populated only with elected-honor council members is put into place. While independent jurors may tend to “over” acquit students of offenses (I haven’t seen the stats on trails to convictions), a juror of only elected honor council members is virtually guaranteed to convict any accused students who are brought to trial. Why do I say that? Honor Council members are a self-selecting lot. Accordingly, it is extremely unlikely they would vote against a fellow Council member who is prosecuting an allege offense. The process will change from one like a criminal trial to one more akin to a grand jury – where the old adage is, even an incompetent prosecutor can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich. </p>
<p>The UVa community can twist the process all it wants, but the problem with the honor code in the 21st century is not the composition of the jury. The problem is with the single sanction, particularly where it is meted out by students with NO opportunity for a review by responsible University faculty or administrators. Think about the movie Animal House,
do you really want young Neidemeyers (or Mary Siegels, as in the example of power-tripping from just four years ago) having even greater power to decide the academic fates of their peers? </p>
<p>I don’t. Indeed, I wonder how the Law school sits silent on this.</p>