While many University organizations and activities take a hiatus as students leave Charlottesville for the summer, the Honor Committee continues its work as summer classes are held and cases move forward.
With fewer Committee members in Charlottesville, Committee Chair Jess Huang said conducting fair investigations and trials during the summer can be difficult.
“The trials are a little harder because we need to make sure we have enough people to run the trials and enough jurors,” Huang said.
Still, Huang maintained, the process remains the same.
“We follow the same procedures, the same bylaws,” Huang said.
This summer saw the first open honor trial held in more than two years when third-year Architecture student Emily Bauer was acquitted of charges of cheating and lying during her fall 2007 “Introduction To Design” ARCH 201 course July 20.
Only students enrolled in summer classes are eligible to be jurors, Huang said. This pool of potential jurors is significantly smaller than during the school year; while more than 20,000 students enroll in U.Va. classes in the fall and spring, only 4,882 students enrolled in the three summer sessions this year, according to Summer Session Director Dudley Doane.
“It’s just like if someone is taking a semester off they would never be called to be on the jury,” Huang said, adding that jurors were selected through the normal random selection process through the Integrated Student Information System.
Even with a smaller selection pool, three of the 12 jurors in Bauer’s trial were Architecture students, Huang said.
Bauer said while she originally requested a mixed jury of both peers and Committee members, she was told there were not enough Committee members in town to fulfill her request. Instead a jury of her peers made the decision.
Still, Bauer is happy with her decision to hold her trial in the summer.
“My counsel was able to take as more time with my case because they didn’t have as much going on with their classes,” Bauer said, noting that her counsel in the spring had been busier and more stressed.
Bauer said she met with her counsel about four times in 3-hour sessions in the five days preceding her trial.
“I just don’t know if I would have had the time for it during the school year,” Bauer said.
Holding the trial in the summer, rather than the beginning of the fall semester, would also have made it easier for her to transfer if she had been found guilty, Bauer noted.
Read More
U.Va.’s Finals Weekend spotlights the achievement and service of the Class of 2025
By Leigh Bailey | YesterdayIn University President Jim Ryan’s welcome address, he acknowledged the support of family members and friends present in the audience and beyond that played supportive roles in these graduates’ lives.
Students reflect on the election of first American pope
By Bertie Azqueta | 2 days agoCatholic students on Grounds expressed surprise about Leo’s election.
Fourth-Year Trustees reflect on efforts to create an engaged student body
By Jackie Bond | 2 days agoEdwards and Shortmann will be responsible for reunion events, including the Young Alumni Reunion which includes a celebration with alumni from the three most recent graduating classes.
