Background of the Honor System:

Among the most significant traditions of the College of William and Mary in Virginia is the student-administered honor system. The essence of the honor system is individual responsibility in all matters relating to a student’s honor. The evolution of the honor system is best understood in the context of the history of the itself. The College originally combined the higher school with a grammar school and served almost exclusively the sons of gentlemen of the planter aristocracy, who took special pride in their reputation of men of honor. The students formed a small close knit group, at times numbering fewer than one hundred, and a violation of the code of discipline was punished by ostracism.

From its earliest days, the demonstrated a strong interest in the character of its students. In 1736, the Statutes stated that “special care must be taken of their morals, that none of the Scholars presume to tell a Lie ... or do anything else that is contrary to good manners.” The faculty resolved in 1784 that every student should, upon matriculation, pledge to observe all regulations, “particularly such as require that kind of conduct . . . conducive to the Honor & Prosperity of the University.”

In 1788, the Board of Visitors declared that “whereas those, who are generally admitted into the higher schools, are from their years entitled to a certain degree of confidence in their discretion . . . the ordinary strictness of schools may with respect to them be in some measure relaxed.”

Nathaniel Beverly Tucker, a Professor of Law, in a 1834 address to students, stated: “It has been the study of its professors to cultivate at the same time the intellect, the principles and the deportment of the student, laboring with equal diligence to infuse the spirit of the scholar and the spirit of the gentleman. He comes to us a gentleman. As such we receive and treat him, and resolutely refuse to know him in any other character. ... His Honor is the only witness to which we appeal.”

Because a gentlemen’s code of honor characterized early life and conduct at the College, the exact date by which a formal honor system had developed is unknown, although it certainly had emerged by 1779, the year often claimed for the honor system’s official establishment, when the College was reorganized under Thomas Jefferson’s leadership.

In the last two centuries, the College has grown in size and complexity and the student body is no longer the homogeneous group of young men that characterized the early years of the College. Today, William and Mary is a coeducational university serving thousands of students, undergraduate and graduate, from all parts of the United States and from foreign countries.

In modern times, honor has become a more relative value. It means different things to different people. Although an implicit “gentlemen’s code of conduct” existed among a small number of students at the two centuries ago, the system of honor inherited from the College’s earliest days has been transformed into a written Honor Code. The Honor Code today informs all students, regardless of academic status, of the level of honor expected and seeks to promote a university-wide community of trust among scholars.

Like its predecessors, the modern Honor still presumes that a student is honorable unless proven otherwise. The Honor outlines the conduct that cannot be tolerated within a community of trust. Prohibited conduct is limited to three specific areas-lying, cheating, and stealing. This restricted definition enables the historical essence of honor to be applied in a practical manner within diverse groups.

Whereas the present Honor Code is of relatively recent origin, the spirit and essence of the Honor System have treaded the years undisturbed and, guarded jealously, have remained intact. It is the responsibility of all students to preserve and maintain this important tradition at the College by adhering to and enforcing the code.

(text excerpted from the Student Handbook, 2007-2008, pages 86-87)

Click here to review the Student Handbook.