Spring elections are coming up for UVA students and one hot topic on the ballot promises to be “single sanction.” Hoos Against Single Sanction has a nonbinding resolution on the ballot that asks if students want to establish a multi-tier punishment for honor-system violations. If a majority vote in favor, UVA’s Honor Committee (www.virginia.edu/honor) could scrap what has been, in effect, a 165-year old system.
Single sanction refers to the only punishment for an “intentional act of lying, cheating or stealing”: permanent dismissal from the University. On February 13, a group of 20 students gathered in Newcomb Hall to hear the Single Sanction Ad Hoc Committee discuss the current system. The four students forming the committee stressed the strength of the honor system, but also suggested alternatives. Josh Hess, a UVA law student, said the system treats students like adults, while sophomore Rachel Carr, member of Hoos Against Single Sanction, explained that once many students are in the system, they have no reason to tell the truth. Jay Trickett and Laura Holland, UVA law students, focused on a single sanction alternative. They suggested informed retraction, where a student would be able to admit they cheated and withdraw from the University for one year, with a chance to reapply.
 Get caught breaking your obligation and students get permanently expelled—but students are rethinking that policy on their spring elections. |
Students aren’t the only ones with reservations about the current system. According to a 2006 survey, only 16 percent of faculty and teaching assistants report cheating they directly observe to the Honor Committee; nearly 31 percent of faculty and TAs said that “single sanction was too strong a punishment for the infraction.”
Elections take place February 21 through February 28.
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