The Honor Committee held the first of three mock trial sessions to give members of the University community insight into how the trials operate.
The roughly 30 students who attended the event were presented with a mock case of an honor violation and then broke up into small groups to act as jurors for the case.
Committee Chair Charles Harris said the mock trial sessions are part of the Committee's efforts to combat the perception that trials, which are either open or closed to the public depending on the accused student's preference, are overly secretive and inaccessible. The system is often critiqued for not engaging students - particularly student-jurors - which may result in inconsistency across different cases or unfair rulings.
Consequently, the Committee has considered proposals this semester to remove randomly chosen student juries from the trial process, but the proposals were ultimately tabled. The mock trials are part of a push by the Committee to educate students about the process and thereby facilitate their understanding of real cases, should they be selected to participate.
The mock trial itself replicated most of the processes of an actual honor trial. Honor advisers, counsels and educators acted out their roles and served as committee counsel, accused counsel and witnesses for the trial. The trial presented a pared-down case of an honor offense, focusing on the criteria of act, intent and triviality. Vice Chair for Education McKenzie Furber said the cases were formulated to generate some element of debate about the three criteria, and that the cases were designed with a specific verdict in mind.
In the mock case, a student named Jessica Smith was accused of using an online translator for part of a homework assignment for her Spanish class after her professor had forbid the use of such translators. Committee members presented the case from both sides, questioned witnesses and presented closing arguments. Students then broke up into small groups to judge the case - whether the accused had violated the honor code and whether this offense fit the three criteria of act, intent, and triviality.\n"The primary goal for the trials was to create a little bit of transparency for the system," Furber said.
Students often perceive a sort of "cloud of secrecy" around honor trials, she said, and many do not have a clear picture of what goes on in a trial.
"We wanted to get out there and give students the opportunity to see what actually happens," Furber said.
By participating in a mock trial, "we hope that people will recognize that a trial is thorough and very fair," Harris said. He explained that jurors often find honor trials to be "more robust and fair" than they previously thought, and the goal of the mock trial, he said, is to replicate that realization for students who may not get to be jurors on an actual case.
Participating in mock trial cases "will give [students] an opportunity to really think through a case and make it a little more applicable to them," Furber said. She explained that being a juror in the mock cases would give students the opportunity to apply the honor bylaws and "gain exposure to those documents and have a bit of experience."
Overall, students seemed to find the experience very helpful. Fourth-year College student Jen Bristol said she appreciated the conversations generated by the event and that it was "nice to see how things play out." She pointed out that such an understanding is very important since students "partake in the [honor] system everyday."Seeing the process of the trial was "comforting," Bristol said, and applying the honor system to a rather common issue generated productive discussion.
First-year College student Mary Chang said prior to the event, she was "not sure of the whole set up" of an honor trial. Chang said the mock trial was an informative experience and improved her overall understanding. Andi Chernau, also a first-year College student, said she had not realized how much gray area there could be in an honor case.
The mock trial events are part of an overall effort from the Committee to "build and have positive relationships with students across U.Va.," Harris said. He explained that student engagement was one of the key topics that his committee talked about while on retreat over the summer and one of their principle goals for the year. Through these efforts, he said he hopes that the institution of honor can become "an accessible piece of life" at the University.
The Committee will hold additional mock trials Nov. 16 and 17.
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