After two sessions of strong debate, the Honor Committee passed a proposal to create an Honor System Review Commission Sunday night by a 10-3-1 vote.
The new Commission will analyze all aspects of the Committee's bylaws and is charged with finding ways to simplify investigative and trial procedures.
The new Commission will consist of three former and/or current members of the Committee, four University alumni, faculty and/or administration and the 2000-2001 Committee Chairman, as well as two additional members of the 2000-2001 Honor Committee.
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The two Committee members who initiated the plan for the Commission, Vice Chairwoman for Trials Terra Weirich and Vice Chairman for Services Cordel Faulk, stated in their proposal that the impetus for the Commission stems from the complexity of current procedures.
The complicated nature of the system "has increased the amount of time it takes to investigate honor offenses and detracts from the efficiency of hearings," the proposal states.
The proposal also states that these complexities have made the Committee more susceptible to lawsuits in the past five years.
The most recent lawsuit slaps a $10.5 million charge on the Committee and the University from former student Ayola Greene, whose degree was revoked in 1995.
The Commission will begin work in April and will work through the summer to review the Committee's bylaws.
The Commission's specific recommendations will be due to the Committee no later than Sep. 17. Sunday night the Committee was adamant in amending the proposal so that no recommendation put forth by the Commission could be put in effect before the approval of next year's Committee.
Committee Chairman Hunter Ferguson has continued to voice his support for the proposal ever since it was first brought to the Committee at last week's meeting.
At that meeting Ferguson described the proposal as "an affirmative action for student self governance at U.Va."
He reaffirmed his support for the Commission in Sunday's meeting.
"The spirit of the proposal is an open ended, positive look at the Honor Committee. Right now procedures are too complex and past reforms have not produced significant changes," he said. But the passage of the proposal did not come without intense debate.
Some members of the Honor Committee stated firm opposition against the new Commission.
Vice Chairman for Education Peter Leary said he thinks the Commission is unnecessary and will open up the honor system to unwanted influence by the University's Board of Visitors.
"This is a bad precedent," Leary said. "The problems we do have are minor and right now we have legitimate means of addressing them. This Commission will be an embarrassing legacy this body will leave the honor system."
Vice Chairman for Investigations Carter Williams gave a 10-minute prepared statement on the many dangers the Commission holds, which one of his fellow Committee members described as "elegant."
He said he sees the Commission as a threat to the independence of the honor system and that it could be used as a vehicle for the Board to make drastic changes to the honor system and take self-governance out of students' hands.
He added that by creating the Commission, the Committee is asking an outside body to do the job of the Committee.
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