ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 26, 1997 TAG: 9704280002
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
Apply honor codes equally for all
I HOPE I am missing some of the point of your April 1 Business section article (``UVa law, business rethink honor code'') on the University of Virginia's law and business schools' proposal to secede from the university's honor system.
My alma mater (West Point, class of 1974) had an honor code that wasn't specific to any one class, sex, ethnicity or field of study. It applied to every member of the school, and fostered trust and unity, precisely because no one was preferentially treated.
The code was simple to state, easy to understand and clear in its application. I don't remember a situation where those being judged needed persons who ``understand your situation, but also who are going to ask more telling questions.'' If you violated the code, you knew the outcome.
My concern is that the UVa proposal comes from a student engaged in the dual-degree program for law and business. Having spent several decades in the business world, I am concerned that this student is learning to do exactly what we businessmen and our lawyers are stereotypically portrayed as doing:
Claiming that our "peers" aren't the common man. Insisting that only those who ``understand" our situation can be relied upon to determine if we have violated the rules. Demanding that only ``more telling questions'' can reveal the truth. Asking the rest of the country to accept that judgment as fair.
Is there a question as to why we're perceived as less than totally trustworthy?
I hope the Board of Visitors relegates this proposal to a trash container. Condoning an environment where an honor system can be "tailored" to meet the needs of an elitist group is something any graduate would find intolerable.
DAVE ROGERS
PULASKI
Virginia's Confederate history is honorable
GOV. GEORGE Allen was wrong to proclaim April as Confederate History and Heritage Month (April 12 news article, ``Allen says he meant no offense''). He should have so proclaimed every month!
Virginia didn't go to war to defend slavery or to dissolve the Union. Can those who are ``oh so offended'' with anything connected to the Confederacy defend the hypocrisy of the federal government's going to war to ``end slavery'' in the Confederacy, while at the same time allowing the indefensible act of slavery to be legal and practiced in this country?
Can those who feel they cannot honor those who fought against the Union explain why Virginians voted nearly 2-to-1 against secession only weeks before the outbreak of hostilities? Can they justify a claim that Virginia wanted to dissolve the Union when Virginia didn't leave the Union until asked by Abe Lincoln to illegally send Virginia's sons to attack a sister state?
The majority of those Virginians who had to suffer the trials of war did so to defend their families from an armed-force invasion sent from Washington, D.C., to burn their homes, farms, fields, factories, warehouses and schools. If those underequipped, undertrained, underarmed and underfed defenders of the commonwealth do not deserve to be honored, then none of us do.
PAM SCOTT
CALLAWAY
Don't create more traffic nightmares
REGARDING your April 13 Horizon section article, "Readers offer ideas on improving traffic flow around the region's largest mall; the experts respond":
In the first response to the question of getting across Hershberger to Aviation Drive, Robert Hofrichter, chief traffic engineer for the Virginia Department of Transportation, suggests bypassing the left exit and turning toward Towne Square Boulevard at Rutgers Street.
As they say, "You can't get there from here.''
There is no way to get to Aviation Drive from Hershberger. The only way that would work would be to put a U-turn in the middle of the Rutgers/Hershberger intersection. Anyone using that intersection on a regular basis knows how busy and congested it is now without following up with that suggestion.
Look at the second problem: ``Can't get to Wal-Mart from Sam's.'' Someone goofed. Sam's is at Towne Square.
I use the Aviation Drive exit frequently to gain entrance to Towne Square Kroger, Lowe's and the upper portion of the Towne Square area, mainly as a way to avoid the intersection at Rutgers and Hershberger. Only if I am driving west on Hershberger to the intersection or north on Rutgers do I use that intersection. Otherwise, I avoid it like the plague. The congestion is terrible.
KATHRYN L. PUGH
ROANOKE
LENGTH: Medium: 88 linesby CNB