Throughout University history, open honor trials have provided a window to the inner workings of the honor system.
Third-year college student Adam Boyd's Oct. 19 open trial, the first in two years, follows in a long line of tribunals that have brought the community closer to the honor process.
"The open trial makes students realize that the honor system is more significant in their own lives," Committee Chairman Christopher Smith said.
Boyd's trial will be the first open trial since the spring of 2000, when second-year Engineering student Patricia Gonzales was found guilty of cheating.
Though the vast majority of students choose to keep their trials private, many interesting cases over the years have been made public.
The Gonzales case in 2000 was appealed after the conviction, and the Committee granted Gonzales a new trial after it was revealed that her honor advisor had been acquainted with the accuser in the case, unbeknownst to Gonzales. Her second trial was closed to the public and the verdict was not publicly disclosed.
Before Gonzales, the last open trial was held in September 1998, when three baseball players were accused of cheating on a music test. The trial was declared open only a few days prior to the trial date.
Then fourth-year College students Josh Bowling and Brian Sherlock, and Edward Anderson, who had already graduated, were found innocent after their accuser failed to appear for the trial.
Open trial records are not easily accessed at the University, as the Committee does not treat them differently from other cases and therefore shreds documents from not-guilty verdicts and confidentially files those of expelled students.
In one of the earliest open honor trials on record, documented by The Cavalier Daily in 1978, third-year Law student John Henson set in motion one of the most interesting string of events in honor history.
Henson, accused of stealing the question for the 1977-1978 Jessup Moot Court competition, was accused and convicted in an open honor trial in May of 1978.
Subsequently, Henson appealed, was granted the appeal and was then again convicted. He once again appealed and after several appeals of the appeal, he was granted permission for a third trial. Soon after the accuser dropped all charges.
"That went on forever," said Politics Prof. Larry J. Sabato, a faculty member during the trials. "It was one of those issues that kept popping into headlines."
Henson's case lasted three years and included charges brought against the honor system in U.S. District Court. Those opposed to his prosecution blamed the honor system for allowing Henson to be prosecuted for a grudge held against him by the accuser.
"These cases by their very nature force new generations of students to think about the system and reconsider it," Sabato said.
The case brought about great scrutiny of the honor system and was cause for a complete revamping of honor by-laws and rules. It also was a catalyst for the instatement of student juries, which eventually replaced the administrators who reviewed cases.
Boyd said he hopes his case can stimulate similar change.
"We have a system that is completely secretive," Boyd said. "It's key to make sure things are being done right."
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