I was happy to read Monday's article on the recent Honor Committee meeting ("Pierson voices honor concerns", Sept. 28). Pierson, the mother of an expelled student, spoke at the meeting to address the ordeal that her daughter went through as an accused student. I hope that the Committee takes her words to heart and will give serious thought to working with her and other parents of accused students in improving the honor system.
However, I fear that this type of collaboration is not the true goal of the Honor Committee. The end of Monday's article quotes from Honor Committee Chair David Truetzel. He said "We would all love it if people came in for community concerns," and that non-Committee members who speak at their meetings have a "bigger impact" than other contributors. I was rather surprised to see this statement from the Honor Committee Chair, if only because in my four years at the University of Virginia, I never once saw an Honor Committee meeting advertised to the student body. In fact, it was not until late in my fourth year that I even became aware that the Honor Committee had a portion of their meetings open for so-called "community concerns." I don't think I was anomalous in this ignorance of honor happenings at the University of Virginia. Rather, I think that the Honor Committee has been quite content to keep its innermost practices free from public scrutiny as much as is possible.
It would be irresponsible to make this allegation without at least some evidence, so I looked to the Honor Committee's Web site for some assurance that it was committed to openness. Not surprisingly, I found none. The site does not mention the time or place of the Honor Committee meetings, nor does it mention anywhere that these meetings are open to community members to share their concerns. Likewise, an introductory letter on the Web site from Truetzel promises to "keep the public up to date on the Committee's business" through meeting minutes and other postings, which again were absent from the site.
I hope that Truetzel and other members of the Honor Committee will begin to take seriously their claim that they want other members of the community to share their concerns in an attempt to improve honor at the University. The Honor Committee must truly listen to dedicated individuals like Ms. Pierson who speak before them, and they must ensure that all members of the University community have this opportunity. The Honor Committee will begin to truly represent honor at the University of Virginia only with a Committee that opens its minds to the concerns of community members.
Bonnie Carlson\nCLAS '09
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