University of Virginia Library

Council President, Dean: Terms In Retrospect

By Tom Adams
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Rick Evans attended his last
meeting of the Student Council as
its president last Tuesday. He had
held the post for two semesters,
during almost the whole of 1968.
He left the job tired but "not
disgusted."

Mr. Evans told The Cavalier
Daily on Saturday that what
pleased him most about his year as
the Council president was that that
body "accomplished enough and
involved itself enough in student
affairs to alert the student body of
its existence." He pointed out that
this was by no means accomplished
by himself alone. He said that "a
great many other people" did more
than he to bring this about.

He hastened to point out that
the Council had only come
"halfway" to making the student
body aware of its actions and that
it needed to continue its efforts.

Maintain Student Interest

To keep the students' interested
in the affairs of the Student
Council, he said, the Council must
"remain active enough and
interested enough of student
desires and aims to keep them from
going outside it in getting results
from the administration."

"When they stop getting
results," Mr. Evans said, "students
will look for other methods that
will probably not be as successful
to achieve their goals."

Larger Council

He cited the need for an
enlarged. Student Council to
"involve more people in student
government."

He also said that more
organization and preparation was
needed by students on every front
so they would be better prepared
than the administration. "Though
they (the administration) are not
very organized, they are still several
steps ahead of us."

Constrained President

Mr. Evans pointed out that the
way the office of president is set up
in the Student Council, he is
constrained from "speaking his
mind" as freely as other members
of the Council. He said that this
had some benefit, as it kept the
president from becoming too
extreme and it helped to unite the
Council.

But, he said, it "takes some of
the fervor and dynamism out of his
actions when you limit him." He
said that the president needs this
when he is dealing with the
administration.

Declined Running

Mr. Evans could have run for a
third term as president, but he
chose not to. Many members of the
Council doubt whether he could
have won anyway.

Drew Upton, in today's issue of
the Virginia Weekly, says that
"Student leaders, Rick Evans,
George Shipley, Ed Hayes, and
several others, are viewed as
relatively straight cats who are
timid when dealing with the
Administrators." This is a fair
assessment, perhaps, of the student
view of Rick Evans.

But any student who alienates
members of the administration as
much as he did cannot be termed as
"timid." He waited for three hours
at the last meeting of the Board of
Visitors to gain admittance. This
came after a sharp exchange of
letters between himself and
President Shannon.

Demanding Of Members

One reason why Rick Evans was
not as popular with members of the
Student Council is that he was as
demanding of them as he was of
administration officials. There are
only a few Council members who
are hard-working and have initiative
and the rest did not respond
favorably to this sort of treatment.

Can the Student Council, using
the existing channels of
communication, accomplish its
goals? This remains to be seen. But
for another semester, Rick Evans
will be there, as a member, trying.