TO THE EDITOR:
Ostensibly, the purpose of the Honor System at UNC is to further the aims of the University in educating students and protecting institutional reputation.
It is unclear then, why a five person panel of Honor Court members, two members of the attorney general’s staff, two witnesses, the attorney general and the chair, absent a single Black student, found Maya Little guilty of a spurious charge related to the criminalization of protesting Silent Sam.
I believe the optics and morality of this situation speak for themselves.
This is hardly the first the Honor System attack on the University’s integrity. One need only look back to 2013 when a student was charged for reporting sexual assault, and a 2016 report confirmed that the Honor System charges students of color at a much higher rate than white students.
The Honor Court presents as a form of student self-government, but the attorney general and chair are appointed by an outgoing president whose elections require only 2 percent turnout for legitimacy. They are then empowered to fill their staff completely at their own discretion without a thought for legitimacy or representation.
Since the advent of the charges against Maya Little, I have refused to send any student, under any circumstance, to a system that could scarcely have less legitimacy. But it is clear that is not enough.
I believe it is time that all University members join me in boycotting the Honor System and taking action to recall both the chair and attorney general immediately.
Calvin Deutschbein
