The Cavalier daily. :: Thursday, April 10, 1969 :: University of Virginia Library

A new system of government for
the Alderman Road upper class
dormitories with the goal of
"providing optimum living
conditions" in the residential
complex, went formally into effect
yesterday.

Rick Lunglhofer, president of
the Alderman Legislative Council,
announced that the Alderman
Residential Council, which is
composed of the legislative council
and the Alderman Judicial Council,
has completed its "transition
period" and has assumed full
powers from an array of former
dormitory organizations, including
the Alderman Road Committee, the
Alderman Road Social
Organization, and the
Girls-in-Dorms Committee.

As opposed to the Alderman
Road Committee, which was a
committee of Student Council, the
new Residential Council is an
autonomous body within the
University's student organization,
and has assimilated greater powers
than its predecessor.

Run-Off Election

Mr. Lunglhofer defeated Jim
Dean, in a run-off election for the
presidency of the Residential
Council's legislative branch held last
Wednesday, by a vote of 160 to
140. The other officers of the body
are Pete Rogati, vice-president, and
Brad Jordan, who was elected
secretary-treasurer in a run-off race
over Cliff Weekstein.

Council's Function

Mr. Lunglhofer said he felt the
"Legislative Council's chief
function right now is to set about
providing optimum living
conditions - to make living in the
dorms as free as possible without
infringing upon the rights of any
other resident."

He said that in pursuance of this
goal, the legislative council will
carry out a major review of all
existing rules governing the
Alderman Road dormitory
complex, but added that he felt
most such regulations have been
established with the intent of
protecting the residents. "I think
we should recognize the limitation
as to what we can do in this area,"
he cautioned.

Mr. Lunglhofer said that the
legislative council has already
adopted a liberalized set of parietal
rules, which will serve as
"maximum guidelines" within
which each suite in the upper class
dorms can establish their own
visiting hours.

The new rules regulate the hours
in which female visitors can be in
any part of the residential suite,
including the students' rooms. The
hours are as follows: weekdays, 2
to midnight; Friday, noon to 4
a.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 a.m.;
Sunday, 11 a.m. to midnight.

Under the Residential Council's
procedures, the new rules do not
require the approval of the Housing
Office but only that of the Dean of
Student Affairs Williams.

Mr. Lunglhofer said that the
legislative council will also adopt a
new "code of conduct" for
residents of the dormitories at its
meeting next Monday night.

He explained that five standing
committees have been established
in the legislative council, in
addition to the Social Committee,
which is headed each year by the
legislative council's vice-president.
Three of these committees are
essentially "gripe groups:" the
housing committee, which will both
study legislation concerning living
regulations and will review the
Terms & Conditions of the
dormitories; the Buildings and
Grounds committee, which will
study proposals concerning the
external environment of the
dormitory complex; and the Food
Service committee.

Two other groups, the conduct
committee and the parietal
committee, will be "mainly
fact-finding" bodies, and will deal
with the organization's
constitutional changes and visiting
rules respectively.

"We're going to be more of an
interpretive body in judging cases
which come under the rules of the
legislative council," said Rick
Stakem, the chairman of the
Alderman Judiciary Committee, in
describing the judicial branch of the
Residential Council.

Discipline

The judiciary committee is
assuming the disciplinary duties
which were formerly the
responsibility of the counselors in
the Alderman Road dorms, and Mr.
Stakem said "the major theme is
going to have to be student
participation."

He said he did not mean by this
that the initial organization need
become a "Gestapo organization,"
but asserted that the new
governmental system of the
dormitories is actually a "trial run."
"Everyone will watch this model,"
he said, "It's keeping with the times
and is a way for students to prove
themselves to the University and to
themselves."