A new proposal to alter the Honor Committee's single sanction could offer students a new way to admit guilt in an honor offense without being subject to permanent expulsion.
The proposal, discussed at Sunday's Committee meeting, essentially would function as a "broadening of the conscientious reaction umbrella," said Brian Winterhalter, an Architecture School representative and the author of the proposal.
Under the present honor system, a conscientious retraction allows students who know they have committed an honor offense to admit to it without facing honor charges. However, students are not allowed to file conscientious retractions once a case is initiated against them or once they know that someone is aware of the honor offense.
Winterhalter's plan, which has been referred to as an "informed retraction," gives students who know they are under investigation for an honor offense the opportunity to confess anytime up until Honor Committee members accuse the student at the Investigative Panel stage.
Instead of being expelled, the proposal would require students who use the "informed retraction" to leave the University for two semesters.
Under the present system, there is no way to confess to an honor offense once a case has been initiated without being expelled from the University.
The proposal also allows those convicted to learn from their mistakes without being permanently removed from the University, Winterhalter said.
"Having them take time off will make them think about what they've done," he said.
Those students also would be required to take an honor and ethics class once they return. While the students are suspended from the University, their transcripts would have a notation regarding the inpending re-enrollment because of an honor violation. However, when the students return, the notation would be removed from their transcripts.
A decrease in student and faculty support and participation in the honor system was one reason Winterhalter said he submitted the proposal. He said he believes an "informed retraction" will encourage people to become more involved in the system and consequently more likely to report offenses.
Other committee members agreed that today's University culture requires new discussions on the single sanction.
"I think as in the previous debate on single sanction, this debate was very lively and [the committee] discussed the proposal on a high level," Committee Chairman Thomas Hall said.
"I believe there needs to be some change," said Architecture School Rep. Meghan Van Dam. "Single sanction is an ideal ... we need to modify it."
However there were concerns about certain specifics of Winterhalter's proposal.
"I'm concerned about the length of the rehabilitation time, and how this new proposal may affect students that have already graduated from the University," Van Dam said.
Winterhalter said his plan remains open to changes and alterations by the Committee. For any change in the honor constitution to be made, two-thirds of the Committee must vote in favor of the proposal, as well as 60 percent of the student body.
Much of this proposal stemmed from discussion surrounding a similar proposal submitted by Darden School Rep. D. Lamont Soverall on Sept. 9. Soverall's proposal would allow any student convicted of an honor offense to re-enter the University in 6 months to 2 years after their conviction, depending on the amount of rehabilitation they received.
Soverall's plan was much more subjective than Winterhalter's, Hall said.
While some Committee members said the proposal would lessen the importance and prestige associated with a University degree, Winterhalter said this concern is a non-issue because "there are already admitted honor offenders graduating," he said, referring to those students who submit conscientious retractions.
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