The Cavalier daily :: Tuesday, October 29, 1968 :: University of Virginia Library

Over 3,000 signatures of the
"Open Board of Visitors' Petition"
will be handed to Student Council
President Rick Evans today
between 12:30 and 2 p.m. on the
steps of Old Cabell Hall.

"As many of the signers of this
petition as possible are urged to
show their support of an open
meeting of the Board of Visitors by
attending this affair," Mr. Evans
urged yesterday. The Student
Council also endorsed the motion
at its meeting last week.

The petition, circulated around
the Grounds last Thursday and
Friday, was worded as follows:
"We, the undersigned members of
the University of Virginia
community, petition the Board of
Visitors to discuss in an open forum
issues of interest with students,
faculty and administration at the
University."

Petition Committee

The ad hoc committee
sponsoring the petition was formed
last Wednesday to make the next
meeting of the Board public to the
entire University since the "issues
in question at that meeting
intimately involve every student on
the Grounds," said Buzzy Waitzkin,
chairman of the committee.

Some of the issues in question
were listed by the committee and
include: parietal rules, dormitory
self-government, restructure of the
3-3-3 Committee, girls in fraternity
houses, co-education, admission of
Black students, car policy, cut
policy and vacation cut policy,
better student administration
communication and future plans
for the University."

Unrestricted Discussion

"The committee does not
restrict discussion with the Board
of Visitors to these issues and, in
fact, encourages students to suggest
as many controversial points as
possible to obtain a better
cross-section of student interest,"
Mr. Waitzkin added.

At last Tuesday's Student
Council meeting, a motion
concerning the issue was suggested
by Pieter Shenkkan. It read as
follows: "...that the Student
Council state its support of efforts
to obtain Board of Visitors
participation in an open forum
discussion of issues of interest to
members of the University
community. The Student Council
further urges all members of the
community to attend the general
meeting October 29 from 12:30 to
2 p.m. in front of Cabell Hall to
discuss these issues." This motion
passed unanimously.

Evans' Support

Rick Evans showed his support
for the petition yesterday by
saying, "although the format of the
confrontation between the students
and the Board of Visitors is not the
issue, it is important to note that
this movement demonstrates that
students are showing a desire to
govern themselves and to
communicate their ideas to the
Board of Visitors."

Mr. Evans pointed out that
movements to open up such
policy-making bodies as the Board
of Visitors have succeeded at
Colgate and the University of
Pennsylvania.

Other Requests

It was explained by Mr.
Waitzkin yesterday that the ad hoc
committee supporting the petition
plans to ask the administration to
do several things in regard to the
Board of Visitors meeting.

"First, the committee is
interested in making public the
agenda of the Visitors' meeting.
Second, the committee requests
that before the meeting is held that
an open forum be planned to allow
all members of the University to
meet with the Board of Visitors.

"The third request is that
representatives of the student body
be allowed to attend the Board
meeting.

Agenda Disclosed

It was found yesterday that the
agenda of the quarterly Board of
Visitors meeting are made public to
The Cavalier Daily and the Student
Council. When questioned about
this Mr. Waitzkin commented that
he did not know this was so
"because neither organization has
chosen to make this agenda
public."

Mr. Waitzkin has said earlier
that he hoped that the response this
committee would get from the
administration would be a
"demonstration of good faith by
the administration that the spirit of
Mountain Lake is neither dead nor
elitist in nature."

The nine gentlemen involved in
the ad hoc committee are Ron Cass,
Buzzy Waitzkin, Bob Baley, Bud
Ogle, Don Belamy, Bob Copeland,
Sid Sydnor, Steve Squire, and
Piter Schenkken.