The University of Virginia as a premier institution of higher learning and scholarship has an abiding interest in the ethical conduct of all members of its community. I emphasize the words "ethical" and "community" because in this age of self-centered individualism, we often underestimate the broad impact of our conduct choices on those around us and we generally devalue or even reject our responsibilities to others. That narrowness of vision weakens the fabric of society and when even reflective institutions like The University of Virginia can't support meaningful society, humanity is in trouble.

In support of ethical conduct by the members of our UVa community, I enumerate below several core values that I intend to uphold in this class.

A. Academic and Intellectual Integrity

In a community dedicated to scholarship and learning, there is no substituted for academic and intellectual integrity. Honesty and forthrightness are essential pillars upon which our enterprise rests and, without them, there can be no trust and little community. All participants in this course are therefore expected to conduct themselves honestly and forthrightly at all times. Truth is the coin of our realm and that truth applies not only to words, facts, and ideas, but also to the authorship of those items. Misrepresentation of authorship is a form of intellectual dishonesty known as plagiarism and cannot be tolerated.

To support Academic and Intellectual Integrity in this class, I take the following actions:

1. I regularly remind students of what constitutes intellectual dishonesty and specifically of what constitutes plagiarism.
2. I regularly remind students of the costs, direct and indirect, of academic and intellectual dishonesty.
3. I will not accept for credit any coursework that violates this expectation of academic and intellectual integrity.
4. I encourage students who find themselves struggling to maintain their integrity to talk with me before it's too late; before they have acted dishonestly.

B. Student Self-Governance

To support academic and intellectual integrity at the University of Virginia, the students developed their Honor System. Recognizing that lying, cheating, and stealing are the principal ways in which students violate academic and intellectual integrity, the students constructed their Honor System around those issues. However, the University's academic community values this Honor System because it supports academic and intellectual integrity, not the other way around. Unfortunately, by viewing students as either honorable or dishonorable and by permanently expelling those it finds dishonorable as its only sanction, the present Honor System makes itself more effective at sustaining a vainglorious sense of "honor" among its exclusive members than at supporting academic and intellectual integrity at the University.

In support of Student Self-Governance and to help the Honor System achieve its glorious potential as the upholder of academic and intellectual integrity at the University, I take the following actions:

1. I will support fully any honor investigations initiated by students in this class.
2. I will not initiate any honor investigations myself but will instead seek out students in the class to initiate those honor investigation.
3. If I am unable to find students willing to pursue an honor investigation on my behalf, even after addressing the class as whole, I will abandon the case. However, because academic and intellectual integrity cannot be compromised, I will act to reduce the opportunities for similar misconduct in the future. Such action will typically involve revoking privileges associated with the Honor System. A list of revoked privileges appears elsewhere.
4. I regularly remind students that the crown jewel of their Honor System is its "Community of Trust." It is that community that makes it possible for faculty to respect students as young adults and award them privileges in the academic enterprise. It is only by upholding that Community of Trust on every occasion that the students can earn its benefits.
5. I regularly council students that whenever they fail to uphold the Community of Trust, either through their own misconduct or by tolerating the misconduct of others, they actively damage the entire Honor System and undermine the core value of Academic and Intellectual Integrity. A student who is aware of misconduct by another must not fail to act, even if that action is simply to confront the perpetrator or to inform the instructor. A student who tolerates misconduct is not upholding the Honor System and is not entitled to be a member of the Community of Trust.

C. Equality of Respect and Justice

All people deserve equal respect and equal justice. Those equalities are particularly true in this community of scholars. Although students may differ in ways they can change, namely in character and in diligence, and in ways they cannot change, namely in innate abilities and in privilege of background, they are all equally entitled to learn what this class has to offer.

In support of equal respect and equal justice for all students, I take the following actions:

1. I make every effort to ensure that students receive equal respect and equal justice in this class.
2. I designate this classroom and my office as safe havens for anyone who feels that they are being treated with prejudice or injustice or are being subjected to discriminatory harassment of any form. That designation applies whether the problems stem from this class or from any other aspect of life within or without this University.