30' Virginia'Policy'Review! ! through the very fabric of our University.”2 Yet while this challenge was strong and struck at our core, the Spirit of Honor was also echoing all throughout our University. Despite the different words that people used – Community of Trust, doing what is right, integrity, honor – many individuals kept going back to our guiding principles and ethical framework that we have demanded of each other for all these years. At other schools, students, faculty, and alumni might have found disappointment in the decision and separated themselves over the merits of the action. At UVA, we could have also split upon the reinstatement lines and exclusively defined this period based on those terms. Yet, while there were obviously differences of opinions, we united as a community to affirm that what started out as a sixteen-word pledge two centuries ago still impacts the way we currently conduct ourselves. Those supreme words continue to guide our expectations for the future. It was a period when our Community of Trust was challenged, but also when the Spirit of Honor prevailed. Neither the events of June, nor the Spirit of Honor will probably ever be explained in a few succinct words. There will always be lingering variations and disagreements about what is truly right. Nonetheless, this summer showed me that though the spirit Professor Gooch outlined might be aged, amongst thousands more students from many different countries, and often hard to describe, it still carries on with vitality; and that makes this University truly unique and prepared to tackle any issue that might come our way. Stephen Nash is a rising fourth year student studying an Interdisciplinary Major. He is a College of Arts & Science Representative to the Honor Committee and is the Chairman of the Committee for the 2012-2013 academic year.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Stephen Nash, "A Challenge to our Community of Trust,” accessed on August 28, 2012, http://www.virginia.edu/honor/. 2