THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 5, 1994 TAG: 9411050645
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KIRSTEN WILLIAMS, CAMPUS CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Short : 45 lines
University of Virginia student leaders have dropped disciplinary charges against a law student who complained to newspapers about the school's handling of a cheating case.
The student, E. Jackson Boggs Jr., was charged in September with violating a rule prohibiting ``intentional conduct which violates the rules of confidentiality, or which obstructs the operation of the Honor Committee.''
If convicted by a student jury, he could have faced penalties ranging from a reprimand to expulsion.
The charges were filed by the executive committee of the Honor Committee, but on Sunday, Boggs appealed to the full honor panel to override the executive committee and drop the charges.
The panel agreed, later calling the charges ``baseless.''
``The decision represents a sweeping rejection of the action the executive committee had brought,'' said Brad Glassman, a U.Va. graduate student who represented Boggs in the appeal. Boggs could not be reached for comment.
The charges stemmed from Boggs' resignation from the Honor Committee over the summer. He complained to campus and daily newspapers that university administrators tried to pressure student honor leaders into holding a retrial for a student convicted of cheating.
The student, who was represented by a Washington law firm, won a retrial, and his cheating conviction was overturned.
Boggs' case has sparked debate on the definition of confidentiality in honor proceedings.
Jimmy Fang, the chairman of the Honor Committee, was one of the members who initially brought charges against Boggs. He acknowledged: ``We weren't actually dead set that a breach of confidentiality had occurred. Rules governing confidentiality are so vague now that it's hard for anyone to understand what they mean.''
But Glassman disagreed. Boggs' position, he said, is that ``the bylaws, as written, are fine, but they're just being abused.''
KEYWORDS: UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA HONOR CODE by CNB