For the second time since September, the Honor System Review Commission missed the deadline to release its comprehensive evaluation of the University's student-run honor system and requested a postponement - a request the Committee unanimously voted to grant at last night's meeting after no discussion of the matter.
The delay makes the report unavailable for an upcoming lawsuit against the Honor Committee.
Citing the need to put finishing touches on its review, the Commission has requested a postponement of its report, previously scheduled for last night, to Nov. 19.
The Commission, a 10-member panel composed of three current Committee members, three past Committee members, University alumni, faculty and administrators, was created last year after a number of lawsuits were filed against the over 150-year-old system. The Commission report will offer suggestions to make the honor system more efficient and less complex.
The 1999-2000 Committee originally set a deadline of Sept. 17 for the release of the Commission report. The original date would have allowed enough time for current Committee members to determine what, if any, changes it would make to the honor system before the end of their year-long term. The original deadline also gave the Committee more time for University-wide education if it decided a spring referendum on the proposed changes was necessary.
But in early September, the Commission members claimed they were bogged down by the complexity of the task and asked the Committee to push back the deadline.
The Committee agreed to delay the release date to last night, in spite of some Committee concerns on whether it would leave enough time to educate the student body on proposed changes to the system.
Last Sunday, in closed session, Commission members informed the Committee that the report would once again miss its intended release date.
The report now is scheduled to be released Nov. 19 - six days after Maurice Guillaume Goodreau's $1.75 million lawsuit against the Committee is scheduled to go to trial.
Goodreau, whose degree was rescinded in 1998 by the Committee, claims the Committee's policies are flawed and that the Committee violated his constitutional rights.
As it currently stands, the Commission report cannot be used as evidence in that trial.
According to Rachael Setear, Honor Committee legal advisor and Commission member, the Commission report is still a work-in-progress until it is released, so it is subject to the attorney-client privilege.
After it becomes a public document, it could be subpoenaed in a lawsuit.
Committee Chairman Thomas Hall said although the Commission does not want to "provide any ammunition" for Goodreau's lawsuit, the impending trial was not the driving factor in the release postponement.
Representatives' reactions to the latest postponement were mixed.
"I was very disappointed to learn [the report] would be delayed," Education School Rep. Jim Haley said.
Haley said the postponement will make it difficult to properly educate students on potential referenda issues in time for spring elections. "I think we need to do everything we can to get it on the ballot. To put this off another year would not be acceptable. We owe this to the students and the Commission," he said.
Architecture School Rep. Brian Winterhalter said he was less concerned by the delay.
"If [the Commission] needs more time to do their work, we should give it to them. We want this done right rather than being done in a hurry," Winterhalter said.
Hall said the report is about 85 percent complete.
He said the Commission now is putting the final touches on what will be a 35 to 40-page analysis of the system as a whole.
One of the main tasks left for the Commission is to discuss broad issues, such as racial spotlighting and diversity outreach, which did not fit into the Commission's analysis of specific procedural problems, he added.
The Committee is not required to act on the Commission's recommendations.
A constitutional change to the honor system would require a referendum vote by the student body, which Committee members say most likely would take place during the Student Council spring elections in February.
Vice Chairman for Trials Kennon Poteat said it is disappointing the report release is taking so long, but that he was sure the Commission would not miss another deadline.
"There will not be another postponement," he said.
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