University of Virginia Library

Faculty Report Recommends
Compromise Representation

By Bill Fryer
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Limited student representation at
College Faculty meetings will soon be
allowed if approved at next week's
faculty meeting.

The Dean's Committee on the
Presence of Students at Faculty Meetings
has recommended that students on
faculty committees and representatives
from the Student Council be allowed to
attend and speak at the monthly
meetings.

Fred A. Diehl of the Department of
Biology is planning to introduce a
supplementary resolution in which he
recommends that "certain sections of the
faculty meeting hall be reserved for any college
students who may wish to attend the meetings
and are willing to maintain proper decorum
during the meetings."

The Committee grew out of a controversy
that was climaxed in the spring of last year by a
"sit-in" at one of the regular faculty meetings.
Students involved at that time were concerned
about the secrecy of faculty promotion
procedure and the general closed nature of
faculty proceedings.

David A. Shannon, Dean of the Faculty,
appointed Ralph Eisenberg of the Department
of Government and Foreign Affairs as chairman
of a committee to study all of the dimensions
of allowing students to attend the meetings.

Mr. Eisenberg noted that in the course of
considering the proposals, the committee held
an open meeting with students, a meeting with
interested a meeting with the By Laws
, and frequent closed meetings.

The Committee collected information from
other schools, colleagues and from students on
an individual basis. The members of the
committee, in their report, "do not consider
students inherently irresponsible: we do not
thing their desire for increased participation in
the affairs of the University necessarily
dangerous or absurd: we do not see any reason
to believe that individually they would be more
obstructive at faculty meetings than some of
our colleagues are."

The committee feels that it is important for
the faculty to know the student needs and
desires, but that for wise decisions it is
necessary to be careful to preserve the capacity
of the general meeting.

The committee specifically recommends
that all members of regular and special faculty
committees be entitled to be present and to
speak, without vote, at plenary meetings of the
faculty. The members of the committee felt
that information the students could provide
might be valuable to the general faculty and
that not to allow these students to attend
would make their presence on these committees
almost fiction.

Open Meeting

The report also recommends that all
committees of the faculty considering matters
that are of interest to students hold at least one
meeting that is open to the attendance and
participation of the general student body of the
College.

Since students have been allowed on faculty
committees, there has been some difficulty over
the appointment procedure. The committee
proposes "that the faculty delegate to the
Student Council the responsibility for selecting
students who are to serve on faculty
committees, the faculty itself designating the
committees and the number of students per
committee."

The committee hoped Council's choices
would be representative of the diversity of
opinion in the student body, but that the
responsibility of selection should rest
ultimately with the student.

The study group also proposes that the
Student Council be permitted to have two of its
college representatives attend and to speak at
the plena meetings, without vote.

In making the overall report the
committee rejected some of the proposals of
the Student Council. The members felt that
resolutions which affected students should not
be submitted to the Student Council for
approval since it is ultimately the faculty's
responsibility to make decisions in faculty
meetings.

No Room

The committee also refused to open up
meetings to the general student for either
participation spectators. With a projected
increase of faculty members in future years the
committee felt that there would simply just not
be enough room.

Mr. Diehl, although in total agreement with
the committee's proposals, has filed a
supplementary report. In defending his
resolution to open up the meetings to the
general students, he sates that " common
goal is effective education in an open academic
community. Therefore, it would seem
reasonable to allow interested students to
obtain first hand knowledge of how the
decisions which are made by this faculty are
reached."

The whole matter will be decided next
Wednesday as the College Faculty meets to
decide all of the resolutions.

In October the faculty passed a motion
allowing one representative from the two
student newspapers and two student radio
stations to attend faculty meetings to report
"without the aid of cameras or tape recorders."

Ten Students

There are currently ten students serving on
eight faculty committees, compared to 53
faculty members.

The Dean's Committee on the Presence of
Students at Faculty Meetings was established in
October in response to a Student Council
motion asking for open meetings. In addition to
Eisenberg and Diehl. Arthur Kirsch, Bernard Mayo, and Roseblum served
on the Committee.