Executive Committee of the Student Body

November 1, 2007

A member of the Student Body has decided to withdraw in the face of an Executive Committee Hearing after having been charged with information indicating that he/she may have committed an honor violation in that he/she may have lied and/or misrepresented him/herself to dorm counselors and/or members of the Student Judicial Council.

January 1, 2008

A member of the Student Body has decided to withdraw after the Executive Committee found him/her guilty of an honor violation in a closed hearing and in the face of an additional investigation. The Executive Committee determined in the closed hearing that this student violated the community’s trust in misrepresenting a math test to his/her professor.

In the student’s defense, he/she said the admittedly forged math test was not intended for the math professor. However, the Executive Committee determined through credible evidence that the student knew the professor had received the admittedly forged math test and the student failed to correct the misrepresentation.

February 1, 2008

A member of the Student Body has decided to withdraw in the face of an Executive Committee Hearing after having been charged with information indicating that he/she may have committed an honor violation in that he/she may have plagiarized on his/her Philosophy assignments and/or misrepresented him/herself to the professor.

March 1, 2008

Statement from the Executive Committee Condemning Sexual Violence

In response to a call from members of the University community to raise the profile of the Student Faculty Hearing Board (SFHB) and condemn sexual violence at Washington and Lee, the Executive Committee of the Student Body states that sexual violence, including sexual assault and rape, is not just a private matter. Such behavior endangers the trust that each of us owes to one another. Sexual violence is unacceptable in society generally and is especially discordant with Washington and Lee’s culture of honor and integrity.

The Executive Committee retains jurisdiction over all activities that the Student Body deems dishonorable. In recognition of the sensitive nature of sexual violence cases, the Board of Trustees created the Student Faculty Hearing Board as a specially trained forum to adjudicate such matters. Consequently, the Executive Committee may choose either to hear cases brought to them involving allegations of sexual violence or to forward those cases to the SFHB. As a punishment for sexual violence cases, the SFHB may choose to impose dismissal from the University.

April 1, 2008

Summary of Executive Committee Honor Activity for the 2007-2008 Academic Year

Investigations: 9

Withdrawals in the face of an Investigation: 1

Withdrawals in the face of a Closed Hearing: 2

Closed Hearings: 4

Guilty Verdicts in a Closed Hearing: 1

Not Guilty Verdicts in a Closed Hearing: 3

Student Body Hearings: 0

Executive Committee Ruling on the Trident Case Heard by the Media Board

The Case

The Trident recently published an article, “The Bracket,” that offended many members of the W&L community. Many students, faculty, and University officials called for the resignation of the editors and writers of the article, and for the Trident to issue a public apology.

Several students and faculty lodged a formal complaint against the Trident, as a publication, with the Media Board, an organization made up of representatives from all student media outlets. The Media Board is empowered to hear complaints filed against its members and to recommend sanctions for the Executive Committee to impose. The Media Board held a meeting where representatives of the complainants explained their grievances and asked the Media Board to sanction the Trident in some way.

The Media Board recognized that the Trident editor responsible for publishing the article published an apology which acknowledged that an error in judgment was made. The editor told the Media Board that the Trident will work to ensure a similar incident does not occur in the future.

The Media Board unanimously recommended that the Executive Committee maintain the Trident’s links to the University, so that the Trident remains accountable to the Media Board. Additionally, the Media Board unanimously recommended that the Trident, and all media outlets, develop a mission statement and a journalism code of ethics that they will adhere to in the future. The Media Board noted that it is the responsibility of each editor to ensure that their staff members understand these ethical standards.

The Ruling

The Executive Committee instructs the Trident to develop a journalism code of ethics under the guidance and supervision of the Media Board, to be completed by Friday, April 25, 2008. The Executive Committee further instructs the Trident editorial board to include the Trident staff writers as participants in the drafting of the code, and to ensure that all editors and writers understand and live up to the code of ethics.

The Executive Committee commends the Media Board’s plans to urge all media organizations to develop mission statements and codes of ethics and to continue the current campus discussion of the role of student media at W&L. As the Media Board observed, the editors and writers of all student publications must understand that their words and deeds are a direct reflection on the W&L community as a whole.

This case involves a complaint against a publication. Complaints against individuals should be directed to the Student Judicial Council or the Student Faculty Hearing Board.

April 1, 2008

A member of the Student Body has decided to withdraw in the face of an Executive Committee Investigation involving information indicating that he/she may have committed an honor violation in that he/she may have plagiarized on his/her English assignment.

Investigations: 11

Withdrawals in the face of an Investigation: 1

Withdrawals in the face of a Closed Hearing: 2

Closed Hearings: 6

Guilty Verdicts in a Closed Hearing: 1

Not Guilty Verdicts in a Closed Hearing: 5

Student Body Hearings: 0

December 1, 2008

Summary of Executive Committee Honor Activity for the 2008-2009 Academic Year

Investigations: 4

Withdrawals in the face of an Investigation: 0

Closed Hearings: 4

Guilty Verdicts in a Closed Hearing: 0

Not Guilty Verdicts in a Closed Hearing: 4

Student Body Hearings: 0

January 1, 2009

Summary of Executive Committee Honor Activity for the 2008-2009 Academic Year

Investigations: 6

Withdrawals in the face of an Investigation: 0

Closed Hearings: 6

Guilty Verdicts in a Closed Hearing: 1

Not Guilty Verdicts in a Closed Hearing: 5

Student Body Hearings: 0

A member of the Student Body has withdrawn after the Executive Committee found him/her guilty of an Honor Violation in a closed hearing. The Executive Committee determined in the closed hearing that the student violated the community's trust in misrepresenting himself to a local police officer.

In the student's defense, he/she said the admittedly forged false identification was not intended to deceive the officer. However, the Executive Committee determined through credible evidence and deliberation that the student violated the community's trust by presenting the false identification to the police officer.

A member of the Student Body has withdrawn after the Executive Committee found him/her guilty of an Honor Violation in a closed hearing. The Executive Committee determined in the closed hearing that the student violated the community's trust by plagiarizing his/her English paper.

In the student's defense, he/she said that he/she had been sick and did not intent to plagiarize the paper. However, the Executive Committee determined through credible evidence and deliberation that the student violated the community's trust by plagiarizing his/her paper.

February 1, 2009

Summary of Executive Committee Honor Activity for the 2008-2009 Academic Year

Investigations: 8

Closed Hearings: 7

Guilty Verdicts in a Closed Hearing: 2

Not Guilty Verdicts in a Closed Hearing: 5

Student Body Hearings: 0

May 1, 2009 (Updated)

Summary of Executive Committee Honor Activity for the 2008-2009 Academic Year:

Investigations: 17

Withdrawal in the face of a Closed Hearing: 1

Closed Hearings: 10

Guilty Verdicts in a Closed Hearing: 3

Not Guilty verdicts in a Closed Hearing: 7

Student Body Hearing: 0

A member of the Student Body has withdrawn after the Executive Committee found him/her guilty of an Honor Violation in a Closed Hearing. The Executive Committee determined in the closed hearing that the student violated the community's trust by misrepresenting him/herself to a resident adviser and by writing the name of another student when instructed to write his/her own name for identification after violating University housing policy.

In the student's defense, he/she said that he/she did not intend to lie and was intoxicated. However, the Executive Committee determined through credible evidence and deliberation that the student violated the community's trust by misrepresenting him/herself to a resident adviser.

A member of the Student Body has withdrawn after the Executive Committee found him/her guilty of an Honor Violation in a closed hearing. The Executive Committee determined in the closed hearing that the student violated the community's trust by plagiarizing his/her English paper. The student used a scholar's words without quotation marks or attribution, paraphrased without giving proper attribution, and the student's argument closely mirrored the uncited work for multiple pages of the paper.

In the student's defense, he/she said that he/she was sick, busy with school work, used many sources and did not intend to plagiarize the paper. However, the Executive Committee determined through credible evidence and deliberation that the student violated the community's trust by plagiarizing his/her paper.

Summary of Executive Committee Honor Activity for the 2008-2009 Academic Year:

Investigations: 21

Withdraw in the face of Closed Hearing: 1

Closed Hearings: 13

Guilty Verdicts in a Closed Hearing: 4

Not Guilty Verdicts in a Closed Hearing: 9

Student Body Hearings: 0

Summary of Executive Committee Honor Activity for the 2009-2010 Academic Year:

Investigations: 1

Withdraw in the face of Closed Hearing: 0

Closed Hearings: 0

Guilty Verdicts in a Closed Hearing: 0

Not Guilty Verdicts in a Closed Hearing: 0

Student Body Hearings: 0

Summary of Executive Committee Honor Activity for the 2009-2010 Academic Year:

Investigations: 1

Withdraw in the face of Closed Hearing: 0

Closed Hearings: 0

Guilty Verdicts in a Closed Hearing: 0

Not Guilty Verdicts in a Closed Hearing: 0

Student Body Hearings: 0

A member of the Student Body has withdrawn after the Executive Committee found him/her guilty of an Honor Violation in a closed hearing. The Executive Committee determined in the hearing that the student cheated on his/her politics quizzes. On two separate occasions the student was observed by the professor and/or other students using his/her book and writing answers on a closed book quiz.
In the student's defense, he/she said that he/she accidently left the book open on the desk and did not use it on the quizzes. However, the Executive Committee determined through credible evidence and deliberation that the student violated the community's trust by cheating on the quizzes.