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Goerge Allen Is A Wahoo No More

One of the most unique features of the University of Virginia is its student-run Honor Code System. It's a one-strike-and-done system with a code so strict that intentionally writing one bad check or cheating on one quiz can get you permanently expelled from the school for life. Here, for the record, is how it is described by the school's Honor Committee:

By today's standard, an honor offense is defined as an intentional act of lying, cheating or stealing which warrants permanent dismissal from the University. Three criteria determine whether or not an honor offense has occurred:

Act: Was the act of lying, cheating or stealing committed?
Intent: Was the act committed willfully or intentionally?

Non-triviality: Would open toleration of such an act impair the community of trust sufficiently enough to warrant permanent dismissal from the University?

Although a student should always conduct himself honorably, a student is only formally bound by the Honor System in Charlottesville and Albemarle County, and elsewhere at any time when he identifies himself as a University of Virginia student in order to gain the reliance and trust of others. The geographic limitation is intended to prevent an overextension of the System, for the Honor System can only act effectively where it is reasonably well-known and understood.

The honor code is so deeply ingrained into daily life in Charlottesville that no graduate will ever forget it. Stick around to get multiple degrees and I suspect it starts showing up in your dreams.

Unless, of course, you are George Allen. In which case, apparently, you live your life as if it never existed:

U.S. Senator George Allen today stole a Department of Defense appropriations amendment written, printed and prepared by Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill), and then announced the amendment as his own, moments before Durbin was prepared to introduce the amendment on the Senate floor.

Allen was a graduate of both UVA's College of Arts + Sciences and its Law School. If his religious beliefs didn't teach him right from wrong, his 7+ years at UVA should have filled in the gaps. Apparently not.

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