Re: So we got caught, so what? But we did the right thing.
Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@debian.org> writes:
> On 20 Mar 2006, Greg Conner told this:
>> So we got caught trying to br BYU students. You guys win that
>> battle.
>
> Interestingly enough:
>
> ,----[ http://honorcode.byu.edu/Ecclesiastical_Endorsement.htm ]
> | Requirements
> |
> | Whether on or off campus, or between semesters, all students are
> | expected to abide by the Honor Code, which includes: the Academic
> | Honesty Policy, the Dress and Grooming Standards, and the Residential
> | Living Standards. Students are required to be in good Honor Code
> | Standing to graduate.
> `----
As you probably already know, Manoj, Honor Codes like this are not
meant to be applied as strictly as they claim.
The strictness is intended to provide only for the exercise of power.
Gay students at BYU can expect to be expelled instantly, on the
grounds that the Honor Code knows no flexibility or compassion; and
then, as we have seen and can expect, lying is tolerated.
Honor Codes like this are not descriptions of reality--whether the
reality of how people behave, or the reality of what standards are
enforced. (For another example, see the Honor Codes at the US service
academies, which institutions not only are plagued by religious
discrimination and violence against women, but in which that
very discrimination and violence is tolerated for years by the
power-holders in the institution.) The Honor Code is not a
description of actual behavior or actual disciplinary expectations.
It is a tool for the exercise of power; it is an attempt to make the
institution seem more honorable than it actually is.
It is ironic in the extreme, of course, that it should be promulgated
by an institution with a history of bigotry as deeply entrenched as
BYU!
Things like Honor Codes are self-presentations, attempts to depict
one's institution as something other than as it is, and to serve as a
touchstone for the celebration of and deployment of arbitrary and
unbridled power.
In other words, the Honor Code (despite the words "all students") is
not meant to apply to all students. It is meant to be a cover for
the self-righteousness of some to exercise their power as they please
over the others. For those who are officially "honorable" (no matter
how much they may lie, cheat, or steal), the Honor Code is not
enforced, and never will be.
The attentive reader may see parallels to certain events in Debian's
history.
Thomas
Reply to: