University of Virginia - Honor System

Honor System

On my honor as a student, I have neither given nor received aid on this assignment/examination.

The University of Virginia has an honor code, formally known as the Honor System. The Honor System is usually student-run (though university administration interference has occurred, as described in the Leggett case below). It was founded by Virginia students in 1842 after John A. G. Davis, chairman of the faculty and professor of law, who was attempting to resolve a conflict between students, was shot to death. Originally, the student was expected to hold himself to a gentleman's code of conduct. In the wake of the shooting, law professor Henry St. George Tucker, Sr. proposed a basic honor pledge as a gesture of confidence in the honor of Virginia students. In modern times however, the Honor System is composed of only three tenets: a student will not lie, cheat, or steal. It extends to all matters academic and personal, and the sole sanction for a confirmed Honor System violation is dismissal from the University. This is called the "single sanction".

The system is not without its detractors – it has been criticized because the required severe penalty may prevent more moderate violations from being reported or acted upon. As the system is entirely student run, a change to the Honor Committee constitution could have the effect of ending the single sanction system of punishment. Although students have voted on numerous proposals to weaken or eliminate the single sanction over the past few decades, none has ever succeeded. Support for the honor system has waned in recent years, and in the Spring of 2007 a referendum to limit single sanction failed to pass by the necessary 60% margin after earning only 49.5% of the votes cast.

In theory, the Honor System allows the faculty to do such things as assign timed take-home examinations, and research or studies to be done in a particular way, with the assurance that the strictures placed on the student will be observed. However, no professor is required to extend such courtesies. The student is often required to sign all examinations or assignments with the following pledge: "On my honor as a student, I have neither given nor received aid on this assignment/examination." The Honor System allows the student to purchase books and supplies on-Grounds upon giving his or her word to pay, and some members of the Charlottesville community accept the word of the student regarding off-Grounds business transactions.

While cheating convictions are relatively rare (24 students were dismissed during the 2003 academic year, and 21 more were dismissed in 2004), one large cheating scandal occurred in 2001. Physics professor and Hereford College Dean Louis Bloomfield, based on a student's complaint, had suspicions that some of his students had copied portions of their term papers from fraternity archives in his Introduction to Physics class. After devising a computer program to detect copied phrases of at least six sequential words, over 150 students were accused of plagiarizing or allowing others to plagiarize their work over the previous five semesters. Although over 100 of these students were eventually exonerated, 48 students either admitted guilt or were convicted, and were therefore dismissed from the University. Three of these students had already graduated, and their degrees were subsequently revoked.

Lawsuits or threats of lawsuits have resulted in university administration pressure or outright interference in Honor system enforcement. The most notable instance was the 1993 case of Christopher Leggett, a student convicted of cheating. The Honor Committee insisted Leggett had received a fair trial but President John Casteen called it flawed, after Leggett's wealthy family hired the major Washington DC law firm Williams & Connolly to threaten a lawsuit. Casteen directed a new Honor trial with special procedures dictated by Leggett's lawyers tailored just for his case, which resulted in an acquittal. At least one Honor Committee member resigned because of the administration interference.