Concerns over inclusion of the entire University community in student self-governance have arisen following the approval of a petition to put the informed retraction amendment before the student body.
Over 11,000 students in the School for Continuing and Professional Studies are bound by the honor code, but are not allowed to vote on referenda to change it.
At an Honor Committee meeting Sunday, SCPS Rep. Tom Bird brought a motion to invalidate the informed retraction petition because it received only 2,000 signatures. A petition must receive signatures from 10 percent of students in order to appear on the ballot, and though 2,000 signatures exceeded 10 percent of the commonly accepted student population of 18,800, it would fall short if the 11,000 SCPS students were added to the total number.
SCPS students are enrolled, mostly part-time, at branches of the University across Virginia. All sign the same honor agreement as on-Grounds students, and every year at least one student is dismissed from branch schools for academic fraud.
Student Council and Honor Committee members decided yesterday to allow the petition to appear on the ballot, and to proceed with the election in the same manner as past elections, allowing only full-time students to vote.
"This is a serious problem that needs to be addressed, but not during elections," Committee Chairman Thomas Hall said.
Allowing all part-time students to vote could cause problems because 10 percent of the student body must participate in an election for an honor constitution amendment to pass. Many students in the SCPS who are not accustomed to voting might not participate, and inadvertently invalidate the vote.
"This had never come up before," Council President Abby Fifer said. "None of these students have ever expressed interest in voting or complained."
The discrepancy lies in the difference between the Council constitution, which defines a student as a full-time University student, and the Honor constitution, which does not detail whether part-time students should be included in such matters. Although Council administers elections, it only requires that petitions meet the requirements set forth by the Honor Committee. Therefore, it remains the Committee's responsibility to decide which students to recognize as members of the student body and eligible to vote.
"I feel very strongly that the Honor Committee has a lot of sorting through to do," Fifer said.
She used her powers as president to ensure the election will go forward as originally planned, but will encourage Council to hold serious discussion on the issue and work with the Committee to make changes in the future.
"Student Council is very willing to work with Honor to ensure that all students are represented," Fifer said. "Currently this is a question that Honor needs to address as to how they interpret their constitution"
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