While it may seem difficult to modify an honor system steeped in tradition, some faculty members have suggested ways to increase student reporting of honor offenses and improve faculty's knowledge of the system.
Some faculty members said they are frustrated with the sole responsibility of maintaining the community of trust without student support. They said they would like students to initiate more cases to show their commitment to the honor code.
Physics Prof. Lou Bloomfield said a multiple sanction system could encourage students to take responsibility for maintaining the system.
"It shouldn't be 1 percent of the student body who is looking after this," Bloomfield said. "It should be everybody. Given the single sanction, I'm not sure that turning them in is going to be realistic."
Professors opposed to the single sanction have many ideas for what they say would be a more just system.
Electrical and Computer Engineering Prof. Ronald Williams said he is in favor of a two-sanction system that is not based on the seriousness of an offense. In his proposal, students would only be expelled after being convicted of two honor offences.
"It takes away trying to measure seriousness, but yet it does give a second chance, a chance for someone to maybe see an error in their ways and correct things. It does recognize that people make mistakes and can perhaps atone for those mistakes. And also if that first penalty is not an outrageous one, maybe it will let students feel a little bit better about bringing honor charges when they see honor offenses."
Other faculty members would prefer a return to more stringent policies in maintaining the community of trust. Until the early 1970s, the honor constitution included a non-toleration clause, which stated that witnessing an honor offense and failing to report it was in itself an honor offense.
"The system cannot work unless people are willing to take personal responsibility and turn people in," Politics Prof. Larry J. Sabato said. "They're not just cheating the system, they are cheating the other students."
Sabato attended the University when the non-toleration clause existed.
"I was stunned to discover that had been dropped," Sabato said. "I cannot imagine how you can have an honor system without requiring that, so that was very disappointing to discover. That's a real sign of deterioration, and that needs to be brought back."
Bloomfield said he also is in favor of reinstituting a non-toleration clause.
"Given the single sanction and this philosophy that this school is lily-white, if you observe an honor violation and don't report it, you should leave the University," he said. "That's the only consistent set of rules."
Regardless of the details of the constitution, students should be more involved in the honor system, Sabato said.
"I would like to see them actively support the system, publicly so," Sabato said. "I'd like to see them speak out for it. It's so easy to be apathetic and not take a stand and not say anything and not offend anybody. That's no way to get through life."
Faculty members must be more engaged as well, Astronomy Prof. Charles R. Tolbert said. He stressed that faculty members should be better educated on the inner-workings of the system. He said some faculty members who do not have past experience with the honor system rely on "scuttlebutt," rumors which can distort impressions of the system when professors who have been involved with honor retell their experiences in a negative light.
Outgoing Honor Chair Carey Mignerey said the Honor Committee has identified faculty education as an important goal in the last few years. The Committee has instituted faculty orientation dinners, revitalized the Faculty Advisory Board and updated the faculty handbook.
"We've made great strides in that," Mignerey said. "So I think we've really raised the bar in the last few years about faculty education."
The administration also should increase communication with the faculty to remedy some faculty members' wavering support for the honor system, Sabato said.
"I would like to see a much tougher stand by the administration toward faculty who do not support the system," he added.
Despite the faculty members' degrees of support for the honor system, Sabato said the underlying principles of the community of trust are enduring.
"I'm a hardliner on this," Sabato said. "There is absolutely no two ways about it. Once you start compromising on standards of lying, cheating or stealing, there's no going back and society deteriorates. It's just that simple."
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