The article (“Honor case highlights procedures,” Jan. 13) should serve to shake every student’s perception of our lofty honor system. Do we indeed feel safer as a community because a student was removed from school for what was clearly an oversight — likely caused by a lack of sleep and an impending deadline? Doubtful, especially since each one of us has probably been guilty of accidentally skipping a citation or two sometime in our academic career. It appears that our honor system has devolved to the point that harmless mistakes and a professor’s whim are now sufficient to see someone’s entire education derailed.
The bigger issue, however, comes out in the appeal. Even assuming half of the student’s claims are true (jurors falling asleep, trial chair who did not understand the basics of the process, counsel for the community auditioning for “Law and Order” rather than seeking the truth, juvenile behavior on the part of members of the Committee), it is clear that the trial did not go well and did not represent the utmost fairness that should be due to every student. Yet no appeal was granted. While such incompetence and bias may seem egregious to us outside observers, perhaps the trial room antics described are simply par for the course in all honor proceedings. We should be deeply troubled if this is the case.
Finally, it is simply mind-boggling that there is no outside review process for appeals cases. Our government is built on a system of checks and balances to prohibit the abuse of power. “Being advised by a lawyer” does not constitute an appropriate check. Having an Appeals Committee outside the Honor Committee itself would be a logical step to ensure that those entrusted with protecting our so-called “honor” act appropriately and fairly in all situations.
It is time for us as a community to ask ourselves, is “honor” working? Do we really support the idea that messing up a citation makes a person dishonorable, unworthy to walk among us? Do we accept this system because it is the best way to ensure an open, honest school environment or because we are too apathetic to seek change? Each moment we fail to stand up to these abuses of power we put ourselves and our academic careers at risk. Next time, it could be our hurried mistake that lands us in a trial room and eventually on the street.
Whitney Hawkins
CLAS III
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