Week's aims to celebrate, advertise honor

The steps of South Building will host today the kickoff of Honor and Integrity Week, an event aimed at increasing awareness and support of the University's honor system.

The week will begin with a symbolic ribbon cutting by Chancellor James Moeser and Bernadette Gray-Little, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, at 11 a.m. today.

"The purpose of Honor and Integrity Week is to get the campus thinking about and discussing issues dealing with honor in their daily lives," said Stacy Bennett, honor system outreach coordinator. "We hope to get people not only to support the honor program, but also to make better decisions in their daily lives."

Students will have the opportunity to pledge to follow the Honor Code every day this week from noon to 2 p.m. in the Pit.

Student Attorney General Carolina Chavez underscored the importance of increasing knowledge of the honor system.

"The honor system is a part of Carolina tradition," she said. "We want to bring it to the forefront of everybody's minds, because it is close and dear to our identity."

The honor system also is sponsoring an essay contest to get students more involved. The essay must be 500 words or less and answer the question: "Why is it important to strengthen the values of honor and integrity in the Carolina community?"

Essays must be submitted by 5 p.m. Tuesday to room 3505 of the Student Union.

Various campus groups also will perform in the Pit. David Callahan, author of "The Cheating Culture: Why Americans Are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead," will be speaking about dishonesty Tuesday afternoon.

An "honor in the workplace" discussion led by Lindsay Bessick of Carolina Leadership Development, Winston Crisp of the UNC Law School, Thomas Bowers of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and Bruce Anderson of the ROTC program will address issues of honor relevant to the speakers' fields.

"From the discussion, I hope that people will get a better understanding of the pressures that journalists face, and I'd suggest that these pressures are what lead journalists to cut corners," Bowers said.

Bowers added that he thinks the vast majority of journalists are committed to honest standards, and that he hopes to use the discussion to make students aware of the importance of honor and integrity.

"No matter what the temptations, students under pressure need to know what their base values are."

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.