Since its creation in 1842, the honor system has employed the single sanction of expulsion to uphold the highest standard of academic integrity at the University. Recently, however, the sanction has come under fire as the subject of intense debate that has divided the University community into pro- and anti-sanction camps.
Supporters of the single sanction say it is the best way of maintaining the community of trust, and abolishing it would be a detriment to the tradition of honor at the University. On the other hand, opponents say the single sanction is outdated and must be reformed to meet the needs of a changing University.
Still, the question remains: What makes this reform movement different from past efforts, and will this be the year students vote to change one of the University's oldest traditions?
A change could do you good
For the past several months, the ad hoc Sanction Reform Committee of the Honor Committee has met weekly to develop what they consider the best possible alternative to the single sanction.
This week, the committee is mobilizing its various task forces in new ways in an effort to bring the sanction issue to the student body.
The public debate and community outreach sub-committees are contacting various student groups around Grounds to foster discussions on the issue.
"The sanction issue affects particular student groups who I don't think have been aware of that or weighed in [on the issue] in the past," SRC Chair Sara Page said. "We'd like to encourage them to weigh in, to be louder."
In addition, preparations are underway to create a Web site dedicated to the issue, tentatively named singlesanction.com. The Honor Committee reviewed the content for the site at its meeting Sunday night, and SRC members are meeting with members of the Darden School this week to discuss layout and design.
Page said the Web site will be ready before the end of the semester.
"It's going to be pretty comprehensive," she said. "Everything we have on the issue will go up, and students then can make the best educated decision they can make."
Whether students will go to the Web site and read about the single sanction is questionable, but Page said she thinks students will access the site, especially over winter break.
"It will be fairly simple, and the issue is controversial enough and people are curious about it," she said. "I think there are a lot of undecided people who haven't really engaged with it yet."
Also this week, the SRC will get down to the nitty-gritty in deciding the most viable alternative to the single sanction. The policy-drafting sub-committee has devised a list of four reform options, and the SRC will discuss each of the options in detail before deciding which one they will recommend to the Honor Committee before the end of the semester.
Of the four possible reform options, Page said there are two that seem the most feasible. She said there seems to be a lot of support for the "single sanction with forgiveness" option, which says that students who are expelled from the University may ask for forgiveness and be re-admitted to the University after a certain period of time.
Page also cited "forgiveness with early acknowledgement of guilt" as a favorable option, which gives students the chance to admit guilt within a limited window of time after being notified that a case has been initiated. A student who has admitted guilt must spend a specified period of time away from the University before being re-admitted. Any student who does not admit guilt would proceed through the current trial process and be expelled from the University if found guilty.
Honor Committee Chair Meghan Sullivan said she thinks the SRC has been making good progress.
"The sense I get is that they've been trying to spend as much time as possible with the issue," Sullivan said.
A single-sanction CIO
This year, the single sanction debate is not just limited to honor ad-hoc committees charged with investigating the issue. Hoos Against the Single Sanction, a Contracted Independent Organization created earlier this semester, has a goal to bring an end to the single sanction though publicity, grassroots activism and candidate endorsements in student elections, according to its mission statement.
The group currently has about 20 members and is discussing ways to become more vocal in the single sanction debate, said Marco Rivero, president of Hoos Against the Single Sanction. The group's prime initiative is to endorse candidates in the spring election who are in favor of sanction reform, he said.
Rivero also said he thinks student interest in the issue is particularly high this year.
"I think everyone is open to change, even if this is a very traditional school," he said. "If we could have alternatives to the one-strike-you're-out system ... I think people would embrace that."
Is the sanction to blame?
While the SRC and Hoos Against the Single Sanction are calling for change in the sanction system, another group, Students for the Preservation of Honor, is resisting the movement.
"In terms of the single sanction debate, I think that it's almost our exclusive focus right now," SPH Chair Josh Hess said.
With a membership of 14 mostly honor support officers, Hess said the group is starting to build a network of people to help mobilize pro-sanction voters for the spring election as well as get the word out to defend the single sanction.
"We'll be active in getting information out there about the importance of the single sanction," he said.
Hess said SPH also will promote the "Balanced Approach to Reform Resolution," a proposal that advocates reform within the honor system itself rather than with the single sanction.
"The idea is just to give the Honor Committee an alternative reform option should they decide they don't want to endorse a reform option to change the single sanction," Hess said.
Page said it is hard to ensure that the sort of internal reforms recommended in the BARR proposal would be enacted.
"I think that the reforms mentioned in the BARR proposal aren't enough and don't address some of the major problems that stem directly from the single sanction," she added.
Hess said the proposal is not intended to impede the work of the SRC, but rather he hopes it will be a viable alternative to whatever they come up with.
Page said in spite of any opposition, the SRC will continue to prepare the best possible option for sanction reform for students to vote on in the spring.
"I think that to keep a vote from the students is not in line with the values of student self-governance here at U.Va.," she said.
"A special year for the issue"
Debate over the single sanction is nothing new. It has been said that the issue seems to resurface about every four years, and past referendums to reform the sanction have been voted down by students. Given the history of failed reform efforts, one may question whether this year's initiative will be subject to what seems to be an inevitable shoot-down by the student body.
But Page said this is "a special year for the issue with a lot of potential."
She attributed the single sanction's reemergence as a point of contention to several factors, including increased publicity and media coverage.
"People are really thinking about it a lot," she said.
Page also said this year's Honor Committee has been especially open to discussing the issue.
"The Committee itself, including our chair, is particularly open-minded and fair and is sort of a progressive committee who appreciates ... honor as a tradition more than the mechanisms of the system as tradition," she said.
Sullivan said the Honor Committee is dedicated to encouraging students to engage the issue and take ownership of the system.
"The Committee's goal is to have a well-reasoned debate with as many people as possible," she said.
Page also cited the recent slew of faculty reports on the state of the honor system as impetuses for reviving the single sanction debate.
A time for change
Regardless of the single sanction's fate at the University, one thing is clear: the times they are a-changin'. From faculty members to the Honor Committee itself, many within the University community have acknowledged the need for serious change within the honor system.
A statement from the Faculty Senate Academic Affairs Committee Sunday called for an end to the single sanction, but ultimately the decision lies with the student body.
"I think it's hard to tell generally what student opinion is on this issue," Sullivan said. "You can't really speculate either way."
Still, Page said she is optimistic that reform will take place this year.
"It feels like right now is a big time for change," she said.
Hess, however, said he does not think the sanction realistically will be reformed this year, given the "enormous history" of the single sanction.
"The honor system has a special place at the University of Virginia," Hess said. "This is because students have been willing to uphold an exceptionally high standard for so long, and I don't think students are going to let that go this year."
Even if students vote not to reform the single sanction this year, Page said the work of the SRC will form a basis for future reform initiatives.
"I think everything we do this year will set the stage for the future," she said. "If it doesn't happen now, then this committee will have compiled a lot of data, written statements and editorial pieces and will have created a lot of supporters, probably in both directions, but hopefully a lot more people who feel passionately about reform."
Despite individual Committee members' feelings on the issue, Sullivan said students will have the final say.
"Ultimately, we're going to institute whatever policy the student body votes on," she said. "Our goal is to help that decision go as smoothly as possible."
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