Rochester’s Communal Principles: Honesty

At the University of Rochester, we have these six ideals called our communal principles: Fairness, Freedom, Inclusion, Honesty, Respect, and Responsibility.

Recently, I had the opportunity to interview the Dean of Students, Dean Burns, about our communal principle of Honesty. What was originally scheduled to be a 30-minute interview ended up being an hour-long conversation about honesty, what it implores us to do as students and members of the greater community, and how it relates to everyone's daily lives.

Honesty does not simply lead us to tell the truth. There is more to being an honest person than just never lying. Being honest motivates us to have what Dean Burns described as having "an affirmative obligation to being truthful." If we are acting in the spirit of the communal principles, in most cases, we have an affirmative obligation to be open and forthcoming with the truth of the situation. For example, if one is asked if they committed a crime, they can say no without being dishonest. But if they know the person who committed the crime and do not divulge the information, are they actually being honest? Are their actions in tune with the communal principles? It seems that in most cases, just being truthful isn't enough.

This point really rang true to me. I can't even begin to describe how many times there have been unnecessary conflicts resulting from people, including myself, not being forthcoming with the truth. I'm sure this will hit home with many of you reading, too. Think about it. If everyone acknowledged their affirmative obligation to being honest about important issues, so much of the conflict we see on a daily basis would be mitigated.

Overall, the conversation was great. It is great to have a renewed focus on all of the communal principles. No one actively wants to be unfair, dishonest, disrespectful, or any other contradiction to the principles, but it is often the case where our actions are not in alignment with such. By constantly reminding ourselves of such, we improve not only ourselves but the community as well. Which is what it is all about, really—being an exemplary participant in the community that is the University of Rochester and beyond.

Another quick note on why the University of Rochester is awesome: the Dean of Students took an hour out of his day to do this. It shows a great emphasis on student life beyond just embracing it in spoken word. To be a great leader, you need to model the ideals you hold dear, and to have a great campus, your leaders need to model the ideals of the institution. I'm proud to be a student at such a University where the faculty and staff exemplify such ideals with every little interaction.