A referendum has failed to change the UVa Honor Code‘s single-sanction system. Of the 5,569 votes, 3,346 were against permitting the accused to confess and receive a three-semester suspension instead of expulsion. The system currently has just one punishment: expulsion. Nick Chapin has the story in the Cavalier Daily.
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
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UVa students decided that choosing personal responsibility and accountability of one’s actions is the right path to take. Shame on those who voted otherwise, and those who brought this action to the table.
–jd
same as it ever was….same as it ever was
every four years the question is asked and the answer remains the same
I wish I were as optimistic as you. I think UVA students decided that choosing personal responsibility and accountability for one’s actions is the right path for ALL OTHER STUDENTS to take. But wait until a student who argued passionately against changing the Honor Code is himself or herself caught cheating–then, it will be a whole different story, “I was under stress, it’s not _really_ cheating,” etc.
Sorry to sound so cynical, but I teach UVA students, and like all students (and all people in general, for that matter), they can be quite militant about upholding the highest of moral and academic standards when they’re talking about it in the abstract. But when it gets personal (like, when they get a B instead of an A), then you don’t hear so much about standards; that’s when the excuses and the blaming of others rears its ugly human head.
Note: I don’t think UVA students are any worse in this regard than any other students. And I’m not saying that students are particularly duplicitous or conniving–they are no more so than any other human beings.
That said, I’m glad the Honor Code change was defeated. Although I know plenty of faculty who are reluctant to bring honor code charges against a student precisely because of the single-sanction–so there are that many violations never being reported because some instructors are personally opposed to putting a student in a position where he or she could be expelled. Which kind of defeats the purpose of the Honor Code.