The University Judiciary Committee announced during its weekly meeting Sunday evening that it would be pushing its education week back to March 4-7, in part to not compete with Honor Committee’s publicity efforts for its reform proposals.
“[The Honor reforms] are definitely taking up a lot of people’s attention, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing,” said UJC Senior Educator Sean McAuliffe, a third-year College student.
The proposed changes to the honor system, titled the Reform the Ideal Act, would allow students charged with an honor offense to submit an informed retraction — a guilty plea that would result in a one year suspension — and institute jury reform, where elected members of the Honor Committee would sit as jurors for all trials rather than randomly selected students.
UJC Chair Emily Forrester, a fourth-year College student, said moving education outreach back a week would allow funds provided by the Office of the Vice President and Chief Student Affairs Officer to be used more effectively.
Forrester said the reduction in contested UJC races this year could be partly attributed to the University’s current focus on the honor reforms, but she did not see this as a worrisome long-term trend.
“At least as long as I’ve been here, there have been many competitive races,” Forrester said. “Many of the people involved in UJC are happy enough with what they’re doing that they want to keep doing that [rather than run for a new position].”
Just four of the UJC’s 11 races are contested this year, and three of those four involve only one candidate running for two spots. Seven of the Honor Committee’s 12 races are contested.
Should it pass, the Restore the Ideal Act is set to take effect on April 1 when the newly elected members of the Honor Committee take their positions.