University of Virginia Library

Constitution Shelved
By Student Council

By Tom Adams
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

After more than an hour of
discussion last night the Student
Council sent the proposed constitution
back to the Council's Constitutional
Revision Committee after
several straw votes indicated that
the Council members were evenly
divided on the question of popular
election of the Student Council
President.

Monday night the Council held a
special session to consider the draft
of their proposed constitution and
to make any changes that were
deemed necessary. A page and a
half of the six-page constitution
was gone over during the two hour
meeting Monday, but last night the
councilmen did not even complete
another page before debate over the
election of the Council president
showed a definite strong difference
of opinion on the matter among the
Councilmen.

Council Limit

At the Monday night meeting, it
was decided to limit the size of the
Council to 35 members, only if
University enrollment was more
than 14,000 students. The proposed
constitution included a provision
to go immediately to that number
with a maximum of 47 representatives
if enrollment was more than
14,000 students.

The size of the Student Council
now is 22 members.

The proposed constitution specifies
that both the president and
vice president of the Student
Council would be popularly elected;
and it was sought to have this
changed.

Sam Robinson objected to the
popular election, saying that candidates
from a large school, such as
the College of Arts and Sciences,
would have a definite advantage in
a popular election.

Gene Angle also spoke against
having the two top officers of the
Council popularly elected, claiming
that the idea was an "offshoot of
the Student Coalition" and that it
was based on the "premise that the
student body needs a spokesman."

Additional Power

Charles Majors said he thought
that the additional power the
officers would have if popularly
elected would put them above the
rest of the Council representatives
and "factionalize" that body.

Bud Ogle, speaking for the
popular election of the president
and vice president, said that the
issue was whether the Council
wanted to gain more authority or
remain as it is. In answer to Mr.
Angle, he pointed out that the
decision to include the popular
election of the two Council officers
was made by the Constitutional
Revision Committee long before
the Student Coalition began its
activities.

Walker Chandler, who is a
representative of the College, said
he did not think a candidate from a
large school would have an
advantage over one from a smaller
school. "If a hick runs from one of
the outlying schools," he said, "all
the hicks in the college will still
vote for him....it's as simple as
that." He did agree with Mr.
Doggerell's statement that a person
from the College would probably
have more "friends."

After the debate had continued
for some time, Mr. Ogle suggested
that the constitution be sent back
to committee to see if they could
work out the problem. His plan was
accepted.

In other business, Ron Hickman
announced that the Board of
Visitors will be holding their annual
meeting at Mary Washington
College this weekend and that he
and Vice President Jim Roebuck
had been invited to attend the
meeting of the Student Affairs and
Athletics Committee of the Board.
He said that Student Council
motions dealing with student representation
on the Board and coeducation
would be presented at that
time.

Later on at the meeting a
motion was passed that directed
Messrs. Hickman and Roebuck to
ask Chase Stuart Wheatley his views
on "massive resistance in accordance
with a motion that was passed at
the Council's last meeting.

Shannon on T. V.

A letter was sent to Mr.
Wheatley yesterday asking for
written clarification on that issue.

Mr. Hickman also reported that
President Shannon has made a two
minute and nineteen-second long
advertisement at the University's
Radio-Television Center asking for
donations to the summer
transitional program.

Mr. Clay Delaney of the Track
Advisory Council sent a letter in
response to a motion passed at the
Council's last meeting asking that
group not to hold their cocktail
party for fund raising for the
planned track and field this month
at the Farmington Country Club, a
segregated private club. Mr.
Delaney regretted to say that it is
too late to make alternate plans for
the cocktail party.

Mr. Ogle presented another
motion asking that the group hold
their party at the Howard Johnson
Motor Lodge, which he said was
available. He also included in the
motion a statement admonishing
the Council for ever having
considered Farmington in the first
place for the party and to not
consider its use in the future.