University of Virginia Library

Law Student To Serve
On Board Of Visitors

By Donn Kessler
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Governor Linwood Holton, in a move
that surprised many observers, Friday
named a 25 year old University law
student, J. Harvie Wilkinson III, of
Richmond, to the Board of Visitors.

Mr. Wilkinson is the first student ever
to serve on the board.

Also appointed to the board were
Lawrence Lewis, Jr. of Richmond, Edwin
K. Mattern of Roanoke, Brownie E.
Polly, Jr. of Big Stone Gap, and Donald
. Santarelli of Alexandria.

Harrison Reappointed

Mr. Holton also reappointed to the
board John Hartwell Harrison of Boston
and Mrs. E. Parker Brown of Richmond.

None of the new or reappointed
visitors are black.

The newly appointed visitors will be
replacing five board members whose
terms expired Saturday. All will serve
four year terms.

Rogers Leaves

Leaving the board are Walkley E.
Johnson, Frank W. Rogers, who served as
Rector, and Lewis M. Walker, Jr.

Not reappointed to the board were
William M. Birdsong and J. Harvie
Wilkinson Jr., who withdrew to leave the
place for his son.

Mr. Wilkinson attended Yale University
before coming to the law school. He is the
author of the book, Harry Byrd and the
Changing Face of Virginia Politics 1945-1966,
published in 1968 by the University of Virginia
Press.

Young Republican

Mr. Wilkinson has also been closely
associated with Virginia politics on a personal
level. In 1965 he worked as an intern in the
office of Representative David E. Satterfield
III. He was also an aide in Mr. Holton's
gubernatorial campaign last year.

Mr. Holton said, in appointing Mr.
Wilkinson, that he did not intend to follow a
policy of appointing students to the respective
boards of all state institutions of higher
education.

Instead, he stated that he had just appointed
Mr. Wilkinson to the board because "he is an
exceptional young man."

Invitation

Mr. Wilkinson said he was first asked to be
on the Board of Visitors at a legislative banquet
in Richmond on February 18. Governor Holton
approached him and asked if he would serve on
the Board.

"I see myself as representing the best
interests of the University," Mr. Wilkinson told
The Cavalier Daily yesterday. "But I also see it
as my responsibility to communicate with all
segments of the student body in an attempt to
learn their interests."

No Stranger

Mr. Lewis, 51, is no stranger to the board as
he has served on it before. His last term expired
in 1967.

Mr. Lewis graduated from the University in
1942. Since 1949 he has been active in various
business activities and has developed resort
hotels in the Bahamas.

He was the leader of 160 Democratic
businessmen who last year announced their
support of Republican Holton for Governor.

In addition to his service as a visitor, Mr.
Lewis has also been a member of the Board of
Managers of the University Alumni Association
and served as its president from 1957 to 1959.

The only other newly-appointed visitor who
graduated from a school in the University is Mr.
Santarelli. He graduated from the law school in
1962 and the Graduate School of Arts and
Sciences in 1964. He is 32.

While at the University, he was on the
editing board of both the Law Weekly and The
Cavalier Daily.

Government Lawyer

Mr. Santarelli has had noted experience in
government law. An assistant United States
Attorney from 1966 to 1967, he was recently
named by President Nixon to the newly created
position of Associate Deputy Attorney General
for the Administration of Criminal Justice.

Mr. Mattern, who is 60, is a graduate of the
Georgia Institute of Technology. From 1956 to
1959 he served as a member of the Roanoke
County School Trustee Board. He is now on the
Board of Directors of a bank in Roanoke.

Dr. Polly graduated from Emory and Henry
College and the Medical College of Virginia.
Besides his work as a dentist, he is also a
member of the board of directors of a bank in
Appalachia. Mr. Polly is 35.

Mrs. Brown, who was reappointed to the
board, is president of the Virginia Federation of

Women's Clubs. She also has a son, E. Parker
Brown, attending the University Law School.

Dr. Harrison is a noted author in the field of
urology and is a Fellow of the American
Medical Association.

Both Mrs. Brown and Dr. Harrison will
be serving their last terms on the Board of
Visitors, since board members are only allowed
two consecutive terms.