There is such a thing as too much honor

Go on any admissions tour, and the honor code is sure to be mentioned by your University Guide. Honor is something held in high esteem here, and most if not all would agree that is a good thing. However, there is a line between respect and obsession, and given the upcoming Honor Committee elections and proposal to reform the single sanction policy, that line is starting to blur. The honor code is an important part of our University, but the abundant bickering that has been commonplace over the past week is far from what the code's founders intended to accomplish.
I will spare the details of the most recent honor arguments - if you have not tired of hearing the repetitive pleas for and against the single sanction, just check out some of the recent Cavalier Daily Opinion guest columns. With each new discussion the subject becomes more mundane, and the average student's interest is probably fading fast. The whole point of having an honor code is so there is no need to think about rules; just do the right thing. The vast majority of students will never have to go through an honor trial, and to them the honor code is about being able to abandon their laptops at the library for half an hour and not have it stolen. Any student charged with an offense has a chance to admit his or her guilt and avoid expulsion. Someone – obviously with prior knowledge of the punishment at hand – who has done wrong and fails to come clean should have to deal with any repercussions he has brought on himself. As for the innocent, it is hard to believe they will be convicted on a lack of evidence.
Yes, by writing this post I am contributing to the problem. But I hope after reading this you will not think about the word “honor” again this week unless you are pledging an assignment. The Honor Committee is important, but its debates do not need to dominate University discussions the way they have. Don't we have real papers to write, articles to read, and tests to study for?