Honor Committee March 2008 Update
The Honor Committee is lead by five executive officers and consists of a number of standing and ad-hoc committees. Below is a summary of the work those officers and committees have done recently (or will soon complete). Questions should be directed to the Chair of the Honor Committee, Ben Cooper.
Honor Chair Ben Cooper
Ben has been working with the Institute for Shipboard Education to draft new procedures regarding the Honor System as it is applied during the Semester at Sea program, of which the University is the academic sponsor. He has just begun work revising the Honor Committee's Psychological Evaluation procedures to ensure they provide all students the fairest treatment possible.
The Chairman has also been busy representing the Honor Committee on various selection committees over the past several months, including selections for the new student member of the Board of Visitors, the Gray-Carrington Scholarship, as well as the 2008-2009 Lawn residents. In the coming weeks, he will be preparing the newly elected Honor Committee so that they are ready to begin working when the Committee transitions on April 7th.
Vice Chair for Trials Brian O’Neill
Brian is finishing new counsel training, which will culminate in a mock case after spring break.
In February an undergraduate student in the College was convicted of lying by a panel of randomly selected students. The act of lying occurred in relation to an academic assignment, and was reported by a professor.
Vice Chair for Investigations Linda Liu
Linda is completing new advisor training. Additionally, fifteen new investigations have begun since the last Honor Updated and three conscientious retractions have been filed.
The VCI will be working to update two compilations of data before the end of her term. First, she will expand the analysis of demographic trends in Honor cases from several years ago. Second, she will update the study of improvements in the length of investigations since last year’s passage of a significant reform package.
Vice Chair for Education Allie Moore
Allie has been working on three major projects since the last update. First, she is working to produce a new Honor Movie to replace the current orientation film for First Year students. In February, an ad-hoc committee completed the talent list, picked film locations, and began editing the movie script. Palidan Pictures will assist in the project.
Second, the Education pool has been working the Athletic Department’s academic coordinators to develop new ways to present information about the Honor System to athletes. The current presentation will be revamped to include the academic coordinators.
Finally, the educators designed a new informational poster to be hung in TA lounges to be hung in the week after spring break. The posters will provide basic information about Honor offenses and the Committee’s contact information.
Vice Chair for Community Relations Josh Hess (Chairs the Community Relations Committee)
Early this semester, Josh Hess and Allie Moore debuted the Honor Blog with a post on spot lighting (www.uvahonorblog.blogspot.com). There have been two additional posts since then.
Josh looks forward to the completion of several projects in the near future. The Honor Committee plans to debut its new website soon, thanks to the hard work of Technology Ad-Hoc member Thad Darden. We also hope to see the completion of the Honor student survey before the end of our term.
In March, the Committee will participate in two outreach events. On March 12, the Committee will hold a luncheon for University faculty and members of the old and new Honor Committees to talk about the long-term challenges facing the system. Later in March, the Committee plans to hold an open community forum on the future of the System.
Before the end of the Committee’s term, Josh plans to distribute a memorandum to the entire faculty updating them on the recent work done by the Honor Committee as it pertains to them.
After spring break, CRC members Catherine Anne Daley and Sophie Staples will follow up with University faculty members who are participating in a pilot program to administer flexible exams through Collab this term. The committee will gather information about this pilot exercise to help expand the program in the future. Daley and Staples will also re-contact faculty who expressed interest in administering flexible exams next year.
Over winter break, CRC members Christina Polenta and Nadia Islam succeeded in working with Dining Services to develop a new vouching system at dining halls. Students should now be able to key in their student ID numbers up to six times to gain access to the dining halls without offering their student ID’s.
Diversity Advisory Board, Chaired by Jon Overdevest and Kat Custodio
The Diversity Advisory Board is working on three major projects. First, it hopes to work with the Faculty Senate and Diversity Council to develop a Diversity Workshop for University faculty. Second, DAB is investigating the current jury selection process. It hopes to address the wording of questions pertaining to enforcement of the single sanction on juror questionnaires which may discourage participation by some demographic groups. Finally, DAB is working with VCI Linda Liu to update previous statistical analysis of demographic trends in case reporting from 1998-2003.
Procedures Ad Hoc, Chaired by Catherine Anne Daley
Since the last update, Procedures discussed proposals to amend the transcript notations for students who LAG, replacing “enrollment discontinued” with “withdrawn.” This proposal will be considered by the full Honor Committee soon. It has also discussed the possibility of restoring the historical practice whereby University faculty tap UVA students to bring Honor cases to the Committee in their place. The ad hoc is supportive of this idea, but there will be more logistical work needed.
Before break, the ad-hoc discussed clarifying the nature of the “intent” criterion of Honor offenses and shifting the burden of proof to accused students on the “triviality” criterion. Both of these proposals will be reevaluated and voted on before the term is finished.
Additionally, the ad-hoc plans to discuss a more aggressive revision of the Honor Committee’s jurisdiction and work with the Executive Committee to update the procedures for psychological evaluations.