I am personally appalled that students would support the outright bullying of Mary Siegel. One against 500? If you’re going to fight her at least fight fair. What Siegel did was perfectly justified; whether on the Honor Committee or not, all students have the responsibility of reporting what they believe to be violations. Not only did Jason Smith have multiple unexcused absences, but when given the opportunity to rewrite and submit papers a later date, he could not even follow through with that. His excuses and justifications don’t match up, thereby justifying the need to bring it to the Committee. As a fourth-year student, he had a obligation to provide a good example of conduct and studiousness to those younger than him and to those outside the university. He violated the trust Siegel and Michelle Fox bestowed upon him. What appears to be the main cause of outrage was the verdict given; obviously this is more a conflict with the single sanction policy than that of Siegel herself. In the “real world” people that go to trial aren’t necessarily directly taken to jail or given the death penalty; the punishment is modified to fit the crime. In order to prepare us all for the real world, the Committee would do better to modify the punishment; for example, Smith could have simply not been allowed to pass the class and be required to perform community service. Grow up, pick on somebody your own size, and take issue with the real problem at hand: that of single sanction.
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