University of Virginia Library

Council Cites 'Day Of Action'
To Protest Rapid Growth

By RICHARD JONES

In response to a growing dissatisfaction
with expansion at the University, the
Student Council last night unanimously
endorsed a series of actions for Tuesday,
October 19th, to illustrate the burden to
be carried by University facilities under
current growth plans.

The Council has unanimously
endorsed a statement requesting that "the
University immediately halt the expansion of
enrollment until facilities adequate to serve the
student body and maintain the quality of
student life are provided."

The statement continues saying that
"improvements in the areas of housing, food
services, library, recreational facilities, and
transportation are an integral part of the
improvements in the area of academics."

Council President Tom Collier has called for
"endorsement of this statement by every
organization in the University." Eleven
organizations have endorsed the statement.

According to Chris Kerr, college
representative to the Council, "we want to
freeze the size of the University or maybe even
cut down on the size of the entering class."

Unanimous Endorsement

The Council also unanimously endorsed
another statement stating that "the
administration of Edgar F. Shannon has sought
to diversify and thereby evade responsibility for
an issue which causes a deterioration in the
quality of student life."

It continues saying that the "Council of the
University, realizing the importance of the
expansion issue, now publicly registers its
profound dissatisfaction and disapproval of
these measures."

Phil Chabot, chairman of the Council
Committee on Expansion, said that "until last
Wednesday we were under the assumption that
the committee on the Future of the University
would look into the whole question of growth.
We worked all summer on that assumption."

Academics Only

He added that "we were informed last
Wednesday that it would only handle the
problem of academics This means the
committee will ignore housing, food, and
transportation problems, the issues which
concern the student the most."

The Council met in a closed session Sunday
evening and organized meetings for every day
of this week. Mr. Kerr said that "these meetings
were to explore every avenue of recourse and to
maintain solidarity in the Student Council."

Today at 4 p.m., representatives of the
Council will meet with all counselors, and they
will later meet with the First Year Committee,
and the Upperclass Residential Counselors.
"The Student Council hopes to receive
endorsements from as many University
organizations as possible," according to Mr.
Chabot. He added that "these endorsements
will give footholds in many parts of the
University for our statement."

Media Invited

Mr. Collier also announced that "the news
media will be invited as witnesses to all the
different actions in order to show them the
student concern and what the University will be
like in the future."

Andrew Potler, fourth-year representative
from the college, stated that "this is not a
radical response but a radical change." Mr. Kerr
added that "this is the time the University may
act as a community."

Photo by Lovelace Cook

Tom Collier

"News Media Will Be Invited"