Remembering and Reinvigorating the UVA Honor Code
Executive Summary
The University of Virginia Honor System is governed by students, an arrangement that has been respected from its earliest days. However, the Board of Visitors is enjoined by its mission statement to support and uphold the Honor System. There are things that the Board can do to strengthen the culture of Honor at UVA without infringing upon student sovereignty.
We propose the following, to be pursued in consultation with the University of Virginia Honor System’s leaders:
The admissions office should boost the visibility of the Honor System and community of trust as part of UVA’s brand identity. Marketing materials and the application process should induce a posture more inclined to support the Honor System, aligning with the long-term goal of building enthusiastic student acceptance.
The University should ramp up its Honor Code orientation and buy-in from faculty and staff.
The administration should tap its communications resources to support messaging across print, video, and digital media, thus supplementing the resources available to the Honor Committee itself.
Structures should be created so that the Board, president, provost, and deans can engage in regular dialogue with the student Honor Council leadership.
Introduction
One of the four foundational objectives of The Jefferson Council (TJC) is to champion and reinvigorate the Honor System at the University of Virginia. To that end, TJC has formed a committee of individuals — several of whom served on the Honor Committee during their time as students at the University — that endeavors to advance this goal. Over the past year, this group has had a number of productive dialogues with the current chair of the Honor Committee, the special advisor to the Honor Committee, and other current students to better understand the present state of the Honor System and the undertakings of — and challenges facing — the Honor System, the Honor Committee, and the Honor support officers. At the request of TJC executive director, we have prepared this white paper to outline some of our findings and recommendations to TJC and the University’s Board of Visitors (BOV).
At the outset, we feel it is important to emphasize that the preeminent hallmark of the Honor System is that it is led and administered by the University’s students. The recommendations set forth herein are intended only to provide prompts or a framework for discussion among the BOV, the current generation of students elected to administer the Honor System, and the University administration. Ultimately, should these or other changes or new initiatives be pursued, it should be with the support and feedback of the Honor Committee. This fundamental tenet notwithstanding, some of the recommendations in this white paper may require authority and influence beyond that held by the Honor Committee. If supported by the Honor Committee, we believe the BOV should bring to bear such authority and influence over the administration and faculty to assist the Honor Committee in achieving these goals.
“Formal channels are essential to communicate standards of the Honor Code and evolving procedures of the Honor System. These channels should imbue the Grounds with the fact that Honor is a foundational core value of the University of Virginia.”
Although in some respects the majesty of the Lawn and Rotunda give one the impression that the University is timeless, in most respects it is in a constant state of change. Students, faculty, and administrators come to and leave the University year-in and year-out. These individuals are introduced to and educated about the Honor System through many informal and formal channels which are both necessary and useful. Informal communications are essential to sustaining a culture that ensures a University-wide community of trust. Formal channels are essential to communicate standards of the Honor Code and evolving procedures of the Honor System. These channels should imbue the Grounds with the fact that Honor is a foundational core value of the University of Virginia.
The Decision to Join the University of Virginia Community of Trust
As the University continues to change and grow, we think the Honor System should be more formally integrated into the selection, and self-selection, of individuals considering pursuing their education or career at the University.
For students, both undergraduate and graduate, the BOV should charge the University administration, specifically the admissions staff of each school, to engage with the Honor Committee to adopt initiatives that enhance the prominence of the University’s Honor System as a factor in a student’s decision to apply to and matriculate at the University. The Honor System is of course already featured in many admissions materials, but such enhancement might take the form of a required application essay prompt, revised advertising and brochure content, interactive modules for applicants — similar to the Honor module required of enrolled students — among any other creative and effective ideas. These initiatives should be further tailored to their particular audience, with special attention paid to materials presented to potential international applicants. The effectiveness of these initiatives can be measured, and we would of course encourage that.
We are less familiar with the processes by which new faculty and administrators are hired, but we believe such processes should be assessed, the Honor Committee consulted, and initiatives pursued that elevate the importance of the Honor System and its student self-governed nature to the culture of the University of Virginia. We believe this is especially important with respect to those in teaching or other student-facing roles.
One potential critique of this element of our proposal may be that such actions might cause some to perceive the University as a less desirable institution at which to study or work. To the extent this rather cynical viewpoint needs to be rebutted, we believe that the University should make clear that it is an intentional institutional prerogative to strive for excellence on all dimensions — including ethical and moral ones.
Further, it is quite evident in the materials published by Alumni Hall and the various capital campaigns that the Honor System is an important element, if not a cornerstone, of the University’s “brand identity.” The Honor System is not only a positive cultural point of difference from peer institutions but a competitive advantage as well. Having worn the “honors of Honor” is no doubt a source of great pride and nostalgia for countless alumni. This retrospective emphasis on the Honor System, however, only marginally enhances its relevance to life on the Grounds today.
We believe the existence of the Honor System should be a positive, meaningful influence in an individual’s decision to become a student or accept a position at the University of Virginia. This is and has been true for many of the students, faculty and staff that have pursued educations and careers on Grounds, and it is our hope that as the University continues to change and grow this will remain true and become more universal in the decades ahead.
Enhanced Communication Resources for the Honor Committee
A new multi-sanction system was adopted just one year ago, and its viability depends on sustained support from multiple constituencies. They include prospective students, enrolled students from the USA, enrolled students from outside the USA, new faculty, current faculty, University administrators, and alumni. Any complex new system of procedures and outcomes affecting thousands of people poses daunting leadership communication challenges.
Meeting these challenges is critical and every reasonable effort must be made starting with clear, persuasive, and engaging communication. Conversely, there are significant institutional downside risks to insufficient, or failed, student and faculty understanding, acceptance, and engagement. The annual turnover of students and Honor Committee members increases the probability of these risks occurring. Meeting the challenge requires strategic communication executed with clarity and simplicity of messaging to target audiences. In today’s world, the bar is set high for persuasive, effective, and emotionally engaging communication.
Although the Honor System is unequivocally affirmed to be student self-governed — and the Honor Committee and support officers possess the ideas and financial resources to communicate across their various constituencies — they do not routinely have the training and experience to execute persuasive broad reach visual, social, and digital communications. The University has numerous staff with high levels of skill in these areas. We believe it would be of great value to the Honor System for the administration to extend the offer of access to its professional design and executional expertise to the Honor Committee in support of its communications efforts.
An Open Door to University Leadership
Today, the BOV is informed about current topics regarding the Honor System through the occasional elective remarks of the provost and the student representative to the BOV, who may from time to time yield some of his or her time, by invitation, to the chair of the Honor Committee. With respect to the latter, Hamza Aziz, 2023-2024 Honor Committee chair, presented to the BOV in September 2023. Rector Hardie, in remarks to the full BOV made in September 2023, said of the Honor System:
“… for the community of trust to survive and thrive, we must have buy-in and participation by all — faculty, staff, students, and members of the Board of Visitors. The Honor Code and system of student self-governance set UVA apart. When UVA graduates go out in the world, they quickly realize that the leadership skills they developed as students prepare them to be critical thinkers and decision makers throughout their lives.”
We believe more formally structured and frequent engagement by the BOV, or one of its standing committees, with the Honor Committee chair is necessary and highly appropriate as a forum for the BOV to receive timely and frank feedback as to the health of the Honor System on Grounds.
We further recommend that for students, both undergraduate and graduate, the BOV should charge the University administration — specifically the president, deans, and admissions staff of each school — to engage with the Honor Committee chair and each school’s Honor representatives to (i) provide for an open forum to discuss current issues relevant to the Honor System; and (ii) monitor the implementation of initiatives that enhance its vitality and relevance to the student-body, faculty, and staff.
Conclusion
This white paper is not intended to be a comprehensive assessment of the Honor System, nor, as evident in its relatively few recommendations, a wide-ranging menu of initiatives. Instead, it is our goal in this white paper to offer the BOV some focused thoughts as to where it might direct its energies and the priorities of the University administration. As relative outsiders to the current day-to-day life on Grounds and administration of the Honor System, we offer these recommendations with a healthy dose of humility, but also believe them to be important ones to implement to ensure the continued health of the University’s longstanding Honor System.
David I. Greenberg
Engr ’66, Law ’69
John V.O. Kennard Sr.
Col ’68, Darden ’73
Charles C. Harris
Col ’08, Law ’11