The Honor Committee lost one of its five executive officers at last night's meeting when, in closed session, fourth-year Architecture student Scott Sottile resigned from his position as Vice Chairman for Services and the Honor Committee as a whole.
Sottile has served the honor system in various functions for three years, but he said he has become disenchanted with the system since becoming a member of the Executive Committee last spring. Sottile said his reasons for resigning are both personal and Committee related.
"I no longer have the energy or motivation to continue the work of the Committee," he said. "I've developed a gradual feeling of frustration over my inability to affect change in the honor system as well as the feeling of apathy of the students for the system."
He added, "I came in first year very idealistic about the system, but since then I've seen that students' apathy [for the system] has grown."
Honor Committee Chairman Thomas Hall said he could not remember the last time a Committee member resigned because of disenchantment with the honor system. Committee members have resigned in the past for other reasons, including former Committee Chairman Jimmy Fang, who resigned from the 1994-1995 Committee because of his battle with cancer.
Hall said the Committee took Sottile's resignation very well.
"We were all very disappointed, but no one took it personally," he said.
"I knew since mid-July after participating in the Leadership 2000 seminar that I wanted to step down," Sottile said.
"I saw all the energy and creative ideas that the group had, and I didn't share the same enthusiasm and realized that feeling would be a great disservice to the Committee," he said.
Hall said Sottile has been a great asset to the Committee. "He always gave 110 percent."
He added that he didn't share Sottile's view of student disenchantment with the system.
"I still feel that there is always room for the individual student to make a difference in the honor system," Hall said.
Sottile was a member of the 1999-2000 Honor Committee and was re-elected to this year's Committee in March.
As Vice Chairman for Services, Sottile was the Chairman of the Bad Check Committee. Over the summer, Sottile was working on a program to allow vouching at the AFC and other University athletic facilities.
The vice chairman for services election was uncontested when Sottile ran for the executive position last spring.
Hall said the Committee would vote on a new vice chair for services at next week's meeting.
The Architectural School's Design Council will fill Sottile's position as a Committee representative. The Council has the option of either holding a new election or appointing a new Committee member. The Committee's other Architecture School representative, Brian Winterhalter, was appointed by the Design Council.
"It would be unfortunate if both [Architectural School Representatives] were appointed," Sottile said.
Read More
Professors speak about leading productive dialogue on Israel-Hamas war
By Lexie Stadler | 9 hours agoThe event was hosted by the University’s Task Force on Religious Diversity and Belonging, which is designed to ensure that the University is welcoming to community members from all religions and cultures.
Honor Committee considers formal ban of AI detectors as evidence in trials
By Lexie Stadler | YesterdayThe Committee also addressed balancing student perspectives with those of Committee representatives during panel discussions.
Pro-Palestinian protesters form encampment near University Chapel
By CD News Staff | YesterdayThe encampment overlapped with a separate “May Day” protest on the Lawn, which was hosted by student activist group U.Va. Dissenters and the U.Va. Apartheid Divest Coalition.
