Each student is charged with the responsibility to refrain from dishonorable conduct. Accompanying this individual commitment to abide by the Honor System is an even more demanding commitment­a responsibility to ask those who violate our standard of honor to leave the University. Accepting these responsibilities is vital to the successful maintenance of our student-run Honor System.

By today's standard, an honor offense is defined as an intentional act of lying, cheating or stealing which warrants permanent dismissal from the University. Three criteria determine whether or not an honor offense has occurred:

• Act: Was the act of lying, cheating or stealing committed?
• Intent: Did the student that the actor know, or should have known, that the act in question was or could have been considered lying, cheating, or stealing?
• Non-triviality: Would open toleration of such an act impair the community of trust sufficiently enough to warrant permanent dismissal from the University?

Although a student should always conduct himself or herself honorably, a student is only formally bound by the Honor System in Charlottesville and Albemarle County, any of the University of Virginia's regional centers, or any where else that a Univeristy student represents himself/herself as a student at the University. The geographic limitation is intended to prevent an overextension of the System, for the Honor System can only be administered effectively and efficiently where it is reasonably well-known and understood. Section I.B. of the by-laws addresses the jurisdiction of the Honor System.