Third-year College Student Evan Behrle was elected chair of the Honor Committee this weekend during the Committee’s annual retreat. He ran unopposed for the position and will replace fourth-year College student Stephen Nash when the new committee takes office on April 1.
The Committee also elected its four vice chairs. Third-year College student Conor O’Boyle was elected vice chair for trials, third-year Education student Andi Chernau was elected vice chair for investigations, third-year College student Brittany Wengel was elected vice chair for education and third-year College student Michelle Butler was elected vice chair for community relations.
The members of Honor’s executive committee said that Behrle ran unopposed because they each had full confidence in his ability.
“I think I can say with a pretty high degree of confidence that I didn’t run unopposed because other people were lazy,” Behrle said. “I think at the end of the day, people were particularly passionate about certain elements of the system.”
Each of the incoming Committee members said they were excited about the conversation the recent election had generated. Although the Committee-proposed Restore the Ideal Act did not pass, the student body passed an amendment put forward by second-year Law student Frank Bellamy to enact informed retraction. The proposal allows students to admit guilt once formally notified of honor offense accusations and leave the community for two semesters.
“It’s a very unique opportunity,” Wengel said. “I think we need to capitalize on the momentum we have.”
All five incoming members of the executive committee said they were pleased informed retraction passed, but said the full effects of Bellamy’s constitutional reform remain to be seen.
“We don’t really know what to expect out of this,” Chernau said. “We all have different opinions and bets on how it’s going to play out with Honor. … I personally think there’s going to be less of a need for investigators.”
Butler said the reforms have initiated a conversation with the University community that needs to be continued as the Committee seeks to improve support for the revamped system.
“We really need to get more buy-in from the faculty, who end up being our largest reporters,” she said.
The incoming executive committee also stressed aligning the Committee’s objectives with those of the student body and working with those organizations most opposed to the honor reform effort.
“We want to work with the main organization that was against reform, which was students’ Honor Caucus,” Butler said. “We hope to realign our objectives and goals with theirs.”
Behrle said the new Committee has come into office with more energy and a stronger honor system, due to informed retraction, than any Committee in the past decade.
“What’s really exciting for me is that what you saw during the campaign…was a lot of honesty,” Behrle said. “[We had] an honest engagement with the downfalls of that system.”
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