The honor trial that resulted in the expulsion of fourth-year student Jason Smith on Sunday, March 29 was one of the most appalling things I’ve witnessed in my time at the University. As a member of the University community, I have always revered the honor system and respected the Honor Committee’s role in maintaining the high standards that are demanded of its students. That said, I feel that it is cases like these that are more detrimental to the integrity of the honor system than the offenses themselves. This case should never have been brought up to the Committee in the first place; the degree of triviality of missing a few assignments and suspicious excuses should have been significant enough to dismiss the case from the beginning.
It seems fairly obvious to me that the apparent irony that the class was centered on the subject of honor was not ignored in the proceedings. I am embarrassed to be a part of a community that would so quickly and so coldly turn a fellow student’s life upside down for the sake of making an example of out him. The single sanction is not merely controversial for its severity, but for the arbitrariness in its implementation. If the Committee would like to police the student body for missing assignments, we are going to have a very small community of “trust” left.
Lastly, the class itself was a pass/fail one-credit class. By definition, the class demanded very little effort from its students. It is evident that Smith chose to not put forth effort, and therefore deserved a failing grade, but beyond that I am hard pressed to find the justice in expelling him from the University for the minor offenses he is guilty of. Unfortunately, today is one day in which I am not proud to be a Cavalier.
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