Editor:

The Chronicle’s Jan. 29 article “Student Code Written in Gray, Not Black & White” has gotten me thinking. As pertinent and applicable as the article was (and it was), I can’t help feeling that a major issue went unaddressed. To talk about existing loopholes in, and the fairness of U policy is all well and good, but what about the accountability of those students who went back on their word? Do you have nothing to say about students who violate contracts?

There is a word that describes people like that: dishonorable. I don’t mean because they went to Tijuana and got plowed. I’m talking about the fact that they said (signed a contract to the effect) that they wouldn’t, and still did.

Honorability is sadly becoming less and less important in our society, but it is still a great indicator of a person’s integrity. Now, if 18-year-olds get their kicks off of going south of the border to tank up, then I say more power to them. My problem comes from them using an ASUU-sponsored trip to do it, when they know it is against the contract they signed. I say go on your own if you must, but why sign your name to an agreement and then totally disrespect it?

I may be reading too much into it, but what does behavior like that say about any contracts those student make in the future, such as a marriage contract or business agreement? Are those contracts negligible too?

Or maybe it’s no big deal that they said yea and did nay. Maybe honesty is overrated. Maybe this whole ethics thing is one big fat joke. Or then again, maybe those few students did something that was just plain wrong, no buts about it.

Dan Roberts

Junior, Psychology