Student self-governance is a hallmark of the University. It is an ideal which many University students hold in high esteem. In an honor system where students govern themselves, the question remains: What role does the faculty play in a student-run system?
"In an ideal world, practically nothing," Electrical and Computer Engineering Prof. Ronald Williams said. "If you truly have a student-run honor system, the faculty should not have to worry about honor. But we've faced something of a decline over the years."
Politics Prof. Larry J. Sabato said the faculty must make a concerted effort to convey the significance of the honor code to their students.
"All of us have to do a better job in the enforcement side," Sabato said. "Faculty have to be willing to take a very tough stand on this, and my message to the faculty is very clear: If you cannot support the honor system, you do not belong at the University of Virginia, period. And to students who do not support it, I would say exactly the same thing."
Outgoing Honor Committee Chair Carey Mignerey said the Committee encourages faculty members to underscore their support of the honor code in their classes.
"One of the reasons we encourage faculty members to emphasize the importance of honor is because faculty members who do so are going to have less likelihood of students cheating in their class," Mignerey said. "Students are aware of it, and they take that into account when they are completing their assignments."
The results of a survey of University faculty conducted by the Honor Committee in 1999 indicate a wide range of responses to a question about when faculty discuss the honor system with students in a typical semester. The most popular response -- 36 percent of those surveyed -- said they "never" discuss the honor system with students. Thirty-four percent said they discuss honor "at the beginning of the semester," and 24 percent said they discuss it "throughout the year in class."
There also appears to be disparities in faculty members' faith in the community of trust. While some faculty members give take-home exams, others take greater precautions to prevent cheating.
Physics Prof. Lou Bloomfield has taken a strong stance on honor. In response to widespread cheating in his "How Things Work" class in 2001, Bloomfield said he rescinded the privileges the honor system affords students, such as taking an exam out of the classroom.
"I pulled privileges explicitly," Bloomfield said. "I have on my Web site, 'Here's the privilege, and here's why you lost it. Sorry.'"
Astronomy Prof. Charles R. Tolbert said he trusts that students are honorable in his class.
"We do not proctor [exams] because it is my belief that students are in general honorable," Tolbert said. "We are in the classroom, but we are not there to proctor. I do not watch students' faces to see if they are cheating or have TAs walk up and down the aisles. I am there to be helpful."
Sabato said he advocates that faculty members address the issue of honor from the beginning.
"One thing I do and that I encourage other faculty to do is to take a minute on the first day and make it absolutely crystal clear that the honor system is enforced in this classroom," Sabato said. "And put it in the syllabus, and put a ring around it."
Mignerey said faculty members reserve the right to make their own policies on honor in their classes.
"It is a faculty member's prerogative to proctor or not proctor exams, to trust or not trust students, but we always encourage faculty members to give students the benefit of the community of trust," Mignerey said. "But we've found that professors who emphasize the importance of honor and then do trust their students actually have had very good results and the students often do rise to the level of trust that the professors expect."
Bloomfield said maintaining the honor system is a two-way street in which students and faculty both bring "something of value" to the community of trust.
He emphasized, however, that faculty have to take steps to prevent cheating because some students do not abide by the honor code.
"The students are not holding up their part of the bargain," Bloomfield said. "They're not bringing something of value to the faculty. The faculty can't realistically take them at their word and afford them all these privileges. To the extent that faculty do it, a lot of them are experiencing wishful thinking. They're in denial of various forms."
In spite of the inconsistencies in the faculty's faith in the community of trust, Bloomfield emphasized that upholding and enforcing the community of trust should be left in the hands of the students.
"You live anywhere on a triangle, and the three points of the triangle are the honor system, police state or chaos," Bloomfield said. "You could live anywhere along that. Ideally, I would like to live right on the corner of the honor system, where we have integrity, and it's all handled by the students and it just takes care of itself"
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