University of Virginia Library

Dorms Pass
Constitution

First-year residents of the McCormick
Road and Observatory Hill dormitories
ratified the constitutions of the first-year
Legislative and Judicial Councils in a
referendum held in the dormitories last
night.

In the vote for the first-year Legislative
Council Constitution, the students
approved the document by a vote of 1194 to
34 with only the Bonnycastle Dormitory results
still unreported.

The students also approved the Judicial
Council Constitution by a vote of 1138 to 62
with only one dormitory vote unreported.

The Legislative Council, which will replace
the First-Year Committee of the past years, will
deal with dormitory rules and conduct
including parietal hours. Its members, who will
be elected later this month, will be able to
create any rules and regulations dealing with
dormitory life. The Student Council will be the
only other body to have to approve these rules.

The Legislative Council will still have to
abide by the rules laid down in the Terms and
Conditions Booklet of the Housing Office,
however.

The Judicial Council will deal with the
investigation and punishment of any infraction
or misconduct in the dormitory areas. Anyone
reported to have violated dormitory rules
would be brought before the council and a
punishment would be meted out after a
hearing. The council can recommend to the
Executive Committee of Counselors that the
student be expelled from the dormitories or
could hand out other punishments on their
own.

Although the Judicial Council will have the
power to mete out such punishments, the
first-year dormitory counselors will still have
the power to punish dormitory residents.
In a supplementary issue, the students voted to
have unrestricted women's visitation hours
during weekends by a vote of 1096 to 46 with
only two dormitories' votes uncounted. The
Legislative Council will have the power to
decide on the parietal hours issue later this
year.