Manoj Srivastava <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 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 -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
