The Honor Committee

1. What is the role of a faculty member in the Honor System of the University of Virginia?
Faculty faith and support is crucial to the longevity of the Honor System. As long-term community members, faculty have a substantial role in shaping students' attitudes towards the Honor System. Faculty members also enjoy many benefits of living in a community of trust. When you put Honor information of your syllabus or discuss your Honor policies in class, you are showing that the Honor System is alive in the classroom. When you trust students' excuses, leave the room during a test, or give a take-home exam, you are enjoying some of the benefits of the Honor System. Faculty members also participate in the Honor System by reporting Honor cases when they see a violation of the Honor code.

2. How can I utilize UVa.'s community of trust in my classroom?
·Give take home exams
·Give unproctored exams
·Believe a student when he gives you an excuse unless you have some reason to believe otherwise.

3. How can faculty contribute to the effectiveness of the Honor System?
Put your Honor policy on your syllabus. Discuss your position on Honor in first days of class and throughout the year. Be explicit about what "Pledged" means to you on each assignment. Eliminating ambiguity goes a long way towards ensuring honorable student behavior.

Research regarding college cheating reveals that, when a student believes a faculty member is supportive of the school's Honor system or academic integrity policy, that student is much more likely to take the policy seriously. If students feel trusted, they will rise to that trust. Trust students, and let them know why you are trusting them.

4. If I see an Honor offense, am I required to go directly to the Honor Committee and report it?
You are strongly encouraged to show your support of the University’s Honor System by using the Honor System for serious acts of lying, cheating, and stealing. The, Honor System’s constitution, however, does not require that you report cases for each act that you encounter. The University does not have a non-toleration clause – i.e. a student is not required to report an Honor offense that he or she sees – and this spirit is extended to faculty members. Your school or department policy may have other requirements with regard to the Honor System.

As a faculty member, you have the freedom to speak to other faculty members about the incident(s) (as long as you preserve the identity of the student in question), to speak to the student(s) involved, and/or to solely address the incident through the Honor System.

5. If I know that I want to report an Honor case, how can I do that?
You can contact a student Honor Advisor through the Honor Offices (924-7602). Alternatively, you can contact your school's elected Honor representative (see here for a list). Your advisor will arrange a time to meet with you to discuss the possible Honor violation. By speaking with an Honor support officer at this time, you are not bound to report an Honor case. If you do decide to proceed with an Honor case after discussing your options with the Honor advisor, she or he will take you through the process.

6. Can I rescind my report of an Honor case if I change my mind?
No. After you formally report an Honor case against a student, the case will be in the system until it is resolved. This policy was instituted to avoid situations in which the Reporter might be pressured to drop a case against his will.

7. What is the first thing I should do after reporting an honor case?
The first thing a Reporter should do after reporting a case is to make detailed contemporaneous notes of the offense in question. These notes should include as much information as possible about what made you suspect an honor offense. Please include any useful background or contextual information as well as the steps you took leading up to your decision to report a case.

8. What do I do with any physical evidence that I have related to the alleged honor offense?
Do not return any documents back to the student. Your honor advisor will set up a meeting to collect any evidence that you have along with your contemporaneous notes. In order to most effectively investigate the case, we ask for all original documents relevant to the investigation. If you would like this documentation returned at the end of the proceedings, please let your advisor know.

9. What is the process for investigating the reported case?
You will be assigned an Honor Advisor, who will serve as your confidential personal contact and source of information throughout the process. Two Honor Counsel will serve as impartial investigators. They will interview you, the investigated student, and any other witnesses who may have information about the case. After the investigation is complete, the case will proceed to an Investigative Panel comprised of three Honor Committee members. If the panel finds, based on all the evidence, that it is more likely than not that an honor offense has occurred, then the student will have the option of requesting a trial or leaving the University admitting guilt. If the panel finds that it is not more likely than not that an honor offense has occurred, then the case will be dropped.

10. What should I tell the student regarding the report of the case?
If the student asks you about the case after you have reported an honor investigation, you should tell the student that any questions that he or she has related to the investigation should be directed towards his or her Honor Advisor, or they can call the Honor offices directly at 924-7216.

11. Is there a forum for me to share my opinions with the Honor Committee?
The Honor Committee has created a standing committee to serve as a liaison between the faculty and the Honor Committee. The Faculty Advisory Committee channels faculty opinion to the Honor Committee and keeps the faculty informed about the Honor System. The Faculty Advisory Committee meets approximately monthly, and if you have comments or concerns, we encourage you to attend a meeting. Please call the Honor offices (924-7602) for meeting dates.

12. Do Honor cases actually occur? At what frequency?
The Honor Committee receives about 60-100 reportings every year.

13. How is confidentiality maintained in the Honor System?
Maintaining confidentiality for a student going through the Honor System is of paramount concern. Honor support officers are forbidden, by the Judiciary System Standard of Conduct #11, to discuss Honor cases outside of what is required by their duties.

14. Does confidentiality impede consistency among cases?
At the Investigation Panel stage, three Honor Committee members, who normally sit on at least one Investigation Panel a week, judge whether a case meets the standards to send it on to trial. Thus, at this stage, confidentiality does not affect the consistency of judgements.

At the trial stage, the jury is normally composed of 8 – 12 randomly chosen student jurors – students requested for jury duty from the University population. Because of the confidentiality of case results, these students will not have any prior knowledge of judgements in previous Honor cases. Each jury determines a student’s guilt or innocence on three criteria – act, intent, and seriousness. An act is defined as serious if open toleration of it would harm the community of trust at the University of Virginia. The members of each jury determine, at each trial, the community standard of seriousness.

15. Can anyone attend a closed Honor trial?
No. If a student chooses a closed Honor trial, the only persons to be admitted to the trial are the jury panel, the Honor Committee members presiding over the case, the Honor support officers involved, the Reporter of the case and the accused student(s). The student may ask to bring guests for moral support and to ensure that the proceedings are fair. The Honor Committee also reserves the right to have up to ten support officers or Committee members observe the proceedings for training purposes. All persons attending closed Honor trials are bound by the Honor Committee's rules of confidentiality. Students violating said rules may be subject to Judiciary charges under standard #11.

16. What should faculty do if they are contacted by an outside attorney about an Honor case?
Faculty may, but are not required to, communicate with an accused student's attorney about an Honor case. There is generally no reason not to be reasonably cooperative, depending on what is being asked, but this is always a matter of judgment and circumstance. Before discussing a case with legal counsel, there should be clear documentation that the attorney is in fact who he or she says, and has in fact been retained by the student in question. Faculty may and should feel comfortable in referring legal counsel to the Office of General Counsel (924-3586), especially if questioning becomes argumentative or intimidating, appears to be suggesting answers, or presents any other reason for causing uneasiness. The General Counsel's Office will be glad to intervene and provide available information requested. The Honor Committee processes also provide accused students and their advisors with opportunity to understand the factual basis of the charge.

17. If a faculty member is sued in conjunction with an Honor case, will the University provide representation?
While it necessarily depends on the circumstances, experience over the years has shown that University faculty who discharge their responsibilities in good faith, and without malice, will be afforded legal representation through the Office of General Counsel. Faculty members are also free to retain personal counsel of their choosing at their own personal expense.