A black University Law student who filed a complaint of police misconduct admitted last week that the incident never occurred.
Jonathan Perkins, who claimed he had been a victim of racial profiling in an alleged March 31 encounter, told University Police that he made up the story to “bring attention to the topic of police misconduct,” according to a press release.
Police Chief Michael Gibson, who completed a full investigation of the alleged incident, said he will not press charges because he does not want to deter other students from coming forward with evidence of police misconduct.
“I recognize that police misconduct does occur,” Gibson said in a statement. “Pressing charges in this case might inhibit another individual who experiences real police misconduct from coming forward with a complaint.”
This isn’t the end of the ruse. Jonathan Perkins might not be graduating. Why? Honor Code violation. The University of Virginia has a long tradition of Honor Code that is about as strict as any in the United States higher education system.
According to A Short History of UVA-The Honor Code:
Today students at the University make a commitment not to lie, cheat, or steal within Charlottesville, Albemarle County, or where they represent themselves as University students in order to gain the trust of others. Because of this commitment, there’s a strong degree of trust among the various members of the University community. Students are also expected to conduct themselves with integrity and are presumed honorable until proven otherwise.
It’s that old LIE, cheat , or steal that presents a problem to young Mr. Perkins. This story is beginning to sound like a james O’Keefe expose. He has violated the honor code and wasted taxpayer money by making false accusations.
I know all about the UVA honor code, from a student perspective. The words have not changed. Apparently just the enforcement has changed. I am a Mary Washington College graduate and at that time, it was the Women’s College of the University of Virginia. Same honor code existed for both MWC and UVA, I have also taken plenty of UVA courses as an adult but that doesn’t come close to the impact of that honor code as a student.
Before you were allowed to register for courses as a freshman you got a crash course in honor code. You were told that honor was black or white. There were no shades of gray having to do with honor. You either told the truth or you didn’t. You either cheated or you didn’t. No equivocation. I can remember those words today, like it was yesterday. Unlike what is written above, it went further than a commitment. It was an integral part of the laws of being a student. If you didn’t comply you were expelled. No one asked if you felt you were being treated fairly.
It also meant that you could take an exam without a proctor, and it also meant that you didn’t have to keep everything that wasn’t nailed down under lock and key. In many ways, living in an academic village with everyone under the same honor system was very liberating. I only had one thing stolen, a record album (yea, wax). We didn’t have door locks in the dorm until my senior year.
The police chief also sounds like he is wimping out. He doesn’t want to deter anyone from reporting police misconduct? He needs to press charges. What a bunch of bull. It sounds to me like he doesn’t want to do anything that might be seen as politically incorrect.
What does all the above have to do with Mr. Perkins? He violated the honor system. He told a blatant lie while representing himself as a UVA student. Open and shut case. He should be expelled.
From Wikipedia:
In America, the first student-policed honor system was instituted in 1779 at The College of William & Mary at the behest of Virginia’s then-Governor Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson, who graduated from William & Mary with honors in 1762, inked a basic honor system for his alma mater.
Jefferson later envisioned a similar honor system for his University of Virginia (UVA); it was at first based on strict laws limiting student behavior, but later based on student self-government. However, he never lived to see it in practice there. UVA’s early years were marked by contentious relations between students and the faculty, which culminated on November 12, 1840, when John Davis, a professor, was shot to death in an attempt to quell a disturbance on The Lawn. Davis refused to identify his assailant, stating that an honorable man would step forward on his own. On July 4, 1842, College of William and Mary alumnus Henry St. George Tucker, who had replaced Davis on the faculty, proposed that in the future, students sign examinations in the form “I, A.B., do hereby certify on my honor that I have derived no assistance during the time of this examination from any source whatsoever.” The idea succeeded with the students. The wording of the honor pledge has changed over time, and the definition of what constitutes an honor offense has evolved as well, at times including matters such as smoking, cheating at card games or insulting ladies. As of 2006, an honor offense is defined as an act of lying, cheating, or stealing, performed intentionally, of sufficient gravity such that open toleration of the act would impair the community of trust sufficiently enough to warrant expulsion of the offender. Despite the evolution of the system over the years, UVA’s Honor System is rare in that it is administered entirely by the University’s students.
It seems pretty clear to me that Mr. Perkins should be “out the door” with no certificate to mark his graduation and perhaps his name should be struck from the rolls of the university. I would agree with Moon that the police chief is wimping out. I wonder how the students administering the honor code will handle this.
This is so disappointing and destroys credibility of those who really have been victims of profiling. Perkins has failed himself and those who fight for racial equality.
The entire public education system has failed to promote the notion of academic integrity with students. Teachers say ‘don’t cheat.’ It needs to be engrained. Kids simply have no idea what ‘cheating’ really is.
The honor code at UVA should really be used as a model as well as enforced in its own academic village. I hope the honor committee does not whimp like the police chief.
If every teacher in America insisted on an honor pledge or sorts and took a minute or two a day to verbally reinforce, much would change.
When I was a kid, academic honor was a reflection on your parents. If you cheated, you shamed your family. Today if you copy off someone, it is expected. I find that troubling.
Back to Perkins, He violated the honor code of the University of Virginia.
Thanks for posting that history, George. I should have known a lot of that, since I lived for 4 years under than honor system, and then went off and on doing some post grad work. I didn’t.
I am wondering just how much honor can evolve. Are certain components of honor so integral and basic to the understanding of honor that they cannot evolve?
At the high school level I recall seeing honor codes but I don’t think they were inforced very well. Which to me – like this case – says if you don’t prosecute the high visibility cases what else is getting by?
In the above the Police Chief has declined to press charges but isn’t the call of the Commonwealth’s Attorney?
MH, what do you think about President Hample’s actions when she tested the UMW student alarm system? http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2009/oct/26/umww26_20091025-215003-ar-18801/
I attended George Mason when it was a part of U Va and we also observed the honor code. We had no proctors. You could leave an expensive coat on the coat rack outside a classroom and expect to find it when class was over. The problems that happened were often during summer school session when there were students from other schools that didn’t adhere to the code but those violations in my memory were rare.
I’m not sure how U Va’s population has grown since the Sixties; but I think as schools become larger, the incidents increase – if only proportionally to the larger population. Also, schools are more diverse and not everyone shares the same value system. However, a student takes his or her chances when attending a school with an Honor Code if he/she chooses to violate it. It’ll be interesting to see what the students administering the Code do. Mr. Perkins should have been smart enough to formalize his study before leaping into the research.
Good point, Censored. Thanks for your input on this one. I had forgotten that GMU was part of the UVA system back in the day. It was liberating in many ways to be under that honor system.
@marin,
I didn’t read about that. I am not sure what I think. For starters, she didn’t involve the regular police dept. She called campus police. She is their boss. I don’t think it matters if she is a student or a non-student on campus. Everyone should be treated the same as far as safety is concerned.
I expect there were better ways to test the system. However, I think the false police report is a bogus accussation in this case.
I was exposed to the VMI honor code through my nephew’s stories. He graduated from there in ’93. I’m going to brag on him. He will be taking a position as Executive Officer of a Virginia based F-18 squadron in June.
“Police Chief Michael Gibson, who completed a full investigation of the alleged incident, said he will not press charges because he does not want to deter other students from coming forward with evidence of police misconduct.”
How would pressing charges against someone that filed false charges prevent OTHER students from coming forward. Am I missing something? Would he file charges against a white student that filed false charges? Is he worried about backlash if he does file charges against this apparently criminal student?
@Moon-howler
I think when she alerted campus police that the man might have a gun — more than just campus police responded.
I guess to me it’d be like if TSA wanted to ‘test’ the Air Marshall on a flight by having an undercover person display a weapon and see how fast it took for the Air Marshall to subdue him. I see both as boneheaded.
I can also see this ‘defense’ being used by students going forward.. “I wasn’t trying to really slip her some GHB I just wanted to test to see if I could and what the response cycle would be for my paper.”
Cargo, nice on the XO position. On the MC side we’re looking at some new toys for those airframes to help out the warfighter. 😉 I was supposed to go upto PAX for a demo but have family obligations instead.
Back to topic. I think we should have honor codes and they should be handled strictly. Otherwise, it takes away from that institution.
@Marin, I need to read the stuff you sent me on it. I was just shooting from the hip with info given. She is the boss of the campus meter maids and I guess can summons them as she choses. I expect there were better ways to test the system. I suggest spending a grand or two to hire an outside agency to put it through professional testing.
But no, she didnt file a false police report because she is their boss and they are a semi private company of law enforcement. I dont think they carry guns. They didn’t used to. Back in the day Mayberry looked sophisticated by comparison. Perhaps things have changed with that new university status.
Cargo, I agree. If you missed it, I missed it. I have no idea why he is getting a pass on this one. I stick to honor code violation. He lied.
I had assumed that the police chief was Charlottesville police. He is chief of the University Police. That police department is much larger than Mary Washington’s. The law student wasn’t his boss.
My middle daughter is a high school history teacher in a nearby county and is having problems with a significant number of students cheating on the SOL tests. These tests are taken on computers and the students are seated close enough to each other to read the screens on another student’s computers–there are no “masks” on the computers. Some of her students have come to her to complain about other students cheating and admitting it among themselves. She is having a difficult time getting the administrators to do anything about it since it would reflect poorly on the school. What’s wrong with this picture?
@marinm
When you say, “I think when she alerted campus police that the man might have a gun” you cloud the issue since there is nothing in the article that she made such a statement.
Further you state that, “more than just campus police responded.” The article clearly states, “Campus police responded this time by sending two police units and foot patrols for a campus sweep.”
Why muck up a pretty straightforward attempt by President Hample to do her job? The article notes that on another occasion, the police were given advanced notice of a test and they didn’t even respond when the test went off. So, wouldn’t you consider an unscheduled test to be much better. It is not “boneheaded” as you claim–it is common sense. The air marshall “test” example is a bit over the top.
@George
Apparently nothing is wrong with the picture. Everyone can see fine. Sorry. I didn’t mean to be glib. They need to separate those computers. I am surprised that the questions are presenting in the same order.
Many administrators don’t give a rat’s ass if kids cheat or not, as long as they don’t have to deal with the cheating or the parents.
@George and Marin
I got too confused with the who shot John to determine who did what actually.
The big difference I see is that Pres. Hample is the boss of campus police. She can give directives and call for imprompteau drills.
Mr. Smarty Pants lawyer can do that when he is president of a University. He might not reach that goal if he continues to have honor code violations.
George, I appologize. In the links I sent to MH it contained the information but I didn’t include them on here. Sorry to confuse.
http://fredericksburg.com/News/Web/2010/022010/judy-hample-911-call-umw
She acknowledged that the recording doesn’t include her report that the suspect might have a gun.
“I was trying to accelerate the concern that I had in order to get the police to come,” Hample said yesterday.
The audio of her call is also available via the web.
I see no problem with testing response plans but do so in a way that doesn’t endanger the public. What if a responding cruiser struck someone? What if the responding officer took down the first male he saw? What if a lawful gun carrier was on that parking deck at the same time? What if a real crime occured at the same time on the other end of campus and all units were tied up on this excercise?
As for the focus on crime and safety (Hample)… How’d the Judge rule for that woman raped on campus that sued for $10M? She lost. Virginia had no duty to protect her.