The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 67, No. 33, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 24, 1980 Page: 4 of 16
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THRESHING-IT-OUT
Honor Council
Chairman responds
To the editor:
Richard Dees' article as well as
your editorial indicate more than
anything else a conscientious effort
on the part of the Thresher to
evaluate the operation of the
Honor Council. It is extremely
satisfying for me to see your
concern and interest, and I
welcome it. In particular I agree
with you wholeheartedly, Matt, in
calling for students to place more
importance on the election of
Honor Council members. These
are the people solely empowered to
"administer and interpret the
Honor System..." These people
adjudicate a tremendous spectrum
of conflicts between a particular
group of humans and a set of
ideals. These people alone direct
changes if the adjudicating process
is less than satisfactory.
A caution is appropriate, I feel,
with regard to your efforts.
Obviously Richard's article, like
your editorial and journalism, in
general are fine and good and serve
a definite purpose. The article
provided a forum which I thought
was excellent for differing
opinions on topics I and several
others were at liberty to debate. It,
however, also publicized
statements and opinions which
varied from being amazingly
precise to irresponsibly inaccurate
on topics we felt not at liberty to
discuss.
Recognizing that the complete
Constitution, By-Laws and
Procedural guidelines of the
Honor Council are open to public
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discussion, there is no forum that I
know which would be more
accurate and complete than that of
the Honor Council and student
body themselves. For this reason I
cannot beseech you or any member
*>f the Rice student body or faculty
strongly enough to attend and
participate in the open meeting I
have called of the Honor Council
this Sunday. It is my intention to
direct this meeting and the Council
to address all such matters as those
in attendance see fit.
Vincent R. James
Chairman
Meehan discusses
Council article
To the Editor:
Mr. Muller said he welcomed
response to his suggestions to and
criticisms of the Honor Council. I
would also like to comment on Mr.
Dees' article about the Council. I
do not pretend to speak for the
whole Council: these opinions are
my own.
I agree with Mr. Muller that the
Council can become an adversary
body. This comes about because of
friction between the accused and
the Council and due to Council
members deciding guilt halfway
through a trial. The Council must
not become an adversary body.
The only other alternative is
rejection of the present Honor
System and installation of a full-
fledged judicial system patterned
after the U.S. courts. And we all
know how that system works.
Contrary to popular belief, the
Council does not mete out a
harsher penalty to someone who
pleads innocent and is then found
guilty than to someone who simply
pleads guilty." Rather, those
students who cooperate, who show
some remorse receive a lesser
penalty. This Distinction is
important. Those students who are
sorry that they made a mistake get
a break. We feel these students will
abide by the Honor System in the
future.
Now, about the appeals process.
Mr. Dees did not talk to the main
authors of the new appeals
process. The new procedure was
not prompted by the particular
case mentioned but by two other
reasons. First, all (repeat, all)
appeals were degenerating into
retrials. The same people were
rehearing the same evidence. This
has been corrected. Second, in all
appeals, the accused was not
addressing the evidence which
convicted him/her. This has also
been corrected.
I agree that the ombudsman
ought to act as procedural advisor,
not defense attorney, to the
accused. However, the Honor
System books have to be printed
and sent to freshmen and there was
not enough time to adequately
consider this problem. It is being
worked on. Come to the Honor
Council open meeting on Sunday
and discuss this.
Finally, I think a major problem
was overlooked. Mr. Muller
praised our dedication. The main
problem with the Council this year
has been lack of dedication. Some
Council members have been
unwilling or unable to devote the
time necessary. This results in
other Council members putting in
overtime. If there was one thing
about the Council I was going to
stress to prospective members it
would be the time commitment. It
takes a lot of time and it is always
the wrong time. If you are
unwilling to put in the time,, don't
run. You'll screw everybody else
around. See you on Sunday.
Tom Meehan
Senior Representative
Thresher criticized for
lack of objectivity
To the editor:
As a member-elect of the Honor
Council I have observed several
proceedings and have learned
about some of the problems and
difficulties the Honor Council
encounters in fulfilling its
important function. I also have
learned that there are no easy
answers to many of the questions
that arise during a trial.*' My
exposure to the workings of the
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Honor Council is limited but
perhaps I can contribute a more
accurate impression of the Honor
Council.
Many of the problems of the
Honor Council have been
corrected or will be corrected by
changes in its procedures that are
still being considered. Continuing
discussion of these ideas is
definitely beneficial to the process
but the greatest remaining
weakness in the Honor Council
seems to be human weakness and
error. Keith Cooper, Marsha Ness,
and the others quoted have
valuable comments but are not free
of personal weakness or flaws in
reasoning and judgement. This
should be kept in perspective when
drawing conclusions from their
comments. This perspective was
not always evident for reasons I
will explain later.
I think the deliberative
process needs some explanation.
Honor Council deliberation
requires the communication of
ideas and opinions. It also requires
a decision. This puts everyone "on
the spot." If Honor Council
members have serious doubts
concerning the guilt of the
defendent, they have an inherent
duty to bring this to the attention
of the group, possibly even
working to convince the others of
the accused's innocence. Members
convinced of the guilt of the
accused have an equal responsibil-
ity to answer the doubts of others if
they can explain why they think
the accused is guilty. It is a very
stressful experience for all
involved. Obviously, there were
several members who were not
able to deal with this stress and
probably should never have been
on the Honor Council.
Another issue I must address is
the secrecy requirement of the
Honor Council. It protects both
the reputations of the students
involved and the image of the
Council. Both need and deserve
this protection. The Honor
Council functions as a court and
internal workings of the judicial
system in this country have always
received and do require some
protection from the public eye.
Contrary to what many journalists
believe, their involvement in court
cases often does more harm that
good. Like the federal judicial
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system, the Honor Council is an
institution that must overcome the
individuial weaknesses of its
members and rely on their
collective strengths. Although this
"black box" approach prevents
evaluation of individual
performances, it maintains respect
for the integrity of the group and
should focus attention on the most
important aspect of a jucical body:
its decisions. If I think that some
members aja weak, or indecisive,
or biased amines, it is a personal
judgement, inappropriate for
public discussion. As individuals,
Honor Council members are
ordinary people, but I think the
System minimizes their human
faults and maximizes the
opportunity for just and correct
decisions.
Mr. Muller's claim that the
secrecy regulations foster an
"unhealthy 'we really just answer
to ourselves' attitude" is totally
false and ignorant of the real
situation. Never have I witnessed
such an attitude among any of the
Honor Council members. They
feel responsible to the student
body and to the University as a
whole for their actions. Electd by
the student body, they must
answer to their own conscience for
individual actions in the Council,
this appears to be their highest
authority, it probably is the best
one for meditating between the
interests of the group and those of
the individual student.
If one is interested in attitudinal
problems, the Rice Thresher is
another organization which
seemingly operates with attitudes
of superiority and infallibility,
reluctant to admit to errors or
recognize its own lack of
objectivity. On several occasions
this semester, statistics were clearly
slanted in their reporting to reflect
and support the personal bias of
the editor. I know from reliable
sources that certain members of
the editorial staff had already
made up their minds concerning
the Honor Council and its
problems prior to any investiga-
tion or questioning. A good
example of opinions made in
isolation to the facts is an earlier
editorial which criticized the
Council's unwillingness to change
while a front page article
publicized changes the Council
was making in its procedures. With
the scenario set, it was just a matter
of gathering incriminating
evidence. Maybe this is what they
what they call good journalism,
but it puts the Thresher in an
"adversarial" position to the
Honor Council and doesn't
encourage a flow of accurate
information. I was asked several
questions by telephone that made
me wonder whether the Thresher
was trying to get the story, or make
the story.
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The Rice Thresher, April 24,1980, page 4
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Muller, Matthew. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 67, No. 33, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 24, 1980, newspaper, April 24, 1980; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245440/m1/4/?rotate=270: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.