I was confused to learn that the Honor Committee is discussing how to prevent students from talking about exams after they have taken them (“Honor reviews exam discussion policies,” Feb. 22). The Committee is right to observe that this is a social norm at our University, and that most students don’t intend to give unfair advantage by making comments about exams. However, there are other social norms the Committee chooses to totally ignore. Fake IDs, for instance. Presenting a fake ID is essentially claiming to be someone you are not — a lie — though these are trivial cases in the eyes of the Committee. I’m not suggesting that the Committee take up a crusade against fake IDs, but it’s interesting to see which social norms they choose to go after and which ones they leave alone. Is it because most students feel personally wronged if others get a higher exam score (an uncontroversial topic), but some also feel that they have something to personally gain by using fake IDs (a controversial topic)?
Ben Chrisinger
ARCH IV
Good Perspective here. Next time you see an honor committee member that is under 21 at the bar, take a picture. Whether or not that student has a fake ID (or snuck in, or got in somehow), that person is “technically” in violation of the honor code. I think the best way for the community to combat a tyrannical honor committee, is to pick on them and try to nitpick them on honor violations (just like they do to the community). Give them a piece of their own medicine.
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You might not get much support for this idea. A few years back my daughter was raped in her campus dorm room. The man’s counsel at the SAB was his brother, a UVA 3rd year who had previously been arrested for rape in Atlanta. He was a member of the Honor committee. When I brought that to the attention of Vice President Lampkin, she said that incidents that happen off campus are not relevant to consider for dismissing someone fromthe Honor Committee.
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How did you find out he had been arrested in Atlanta? And what happened with his charge-not guilty, charges dropped, plea bargain?
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