The Cavalier daily. :: Tuesday, October 1, 1968 :: University of Virginia Library

Last spring, as a result of a
disciplinary incident in the
Alderman Road Dormitories, the
Student Council established a
Committee on Student Rights and
University Regulations, with
George McMillan, Student Council
representative from the law school,
as its chairman.

The committee investigated the
dormitory incident and reported to
the Council that there should be a
clearer codification of the rules
governing conduct in the
dormitories.

The committee also noted a
"definite need" for the
modification of procedures by the
Executive Committee on
Counselors in their handling of
disciplinary matters.

Need For Expansion

Three meetings were held last
year by the committee and it was
discovered, according to Mr.
McMillan, that there was a definite
need for an expansion of the
committee's scope. The committee
discovered that the rules and
procedures on demonstrations,
drugs and the jurisdiction of the
Judiciary Committee are vague and
incomplete.

Later in the spring, Mr.
McMillan presented a motion to the
Student Council asking that the
Committee on Student Rights and
University Regulations be
established to investigate the legal
ramifications of all student
regulations, not just those
concerning conduct in the
dormitories. The motion was passed
unanimously by the Student
Council.

Since then, Mr. McMillan has
enlarged his committee to include
three law students, one graduate
engineering student, and six
undergraduates.

Early Deadline

The committee has set a
deadline of October 14 to finish its
investigation into the rights of
students. Mr. McMillan said that the
bulk of the committee's work will
be legal research to find out which
Constitutional Rights the courts
have held applicable in student
disciplinary cases.

He told The Cavalier Daily that
the law students will investigate
the legal precedents of cases
dealing with student rights while
the undergraduate members of the
committee will compile memoranda
as to what are the current
University regulations as well as
how they currently function.

Complaints Sought

Mr. McMillan said that his
committee is interested in receiving
the complaints of students
concerning existing University
regulations and suggestions as to
how they might be altered.

Students interested in having
their grievances heard should send
their letters to any one of the
committee members or to the
Student Government Office, fourth
floor of Newcomb Hall. The law
students on the committee are
George McMillan (Chairman),
Thomas Slater, John Newman and
Michael Shumate. Russell Lafferty,
a graduate student in engineering is
also on the committee.

Undergraduate Members

The undergraduate members of
the committee are Larry Altaffer,
Chairman of the Honor Committee;
Jerry Clapp, fifth-year engineering;
Ed Hayes, President of the
Inter-Fraternity Council; Bill
MacIlwaine, second-year College?
Ridgely Porter and Pat Saul,
Student Council representative
form the College.

Mr. McMillan said that in
selecting the committee he tried to
get a group of students from varied
backgrounds.

He said he hoped the
committee's report would be useful
to students, faculty and
administration in drafting future
rules for the University community.
He also said that he hoped the
modifications the committee might
suggest will be used.

Areas Of Investigation

Some of the areas his committee
might look into, Mr. McMillan said,
are the nature of the notice which
must be afforded students, a
student's right to a public hearing, a
student's right of counsel in any
University proceeding, the
procedures used in presenting
evidence, and a student's right to
confrontation and
cross-examination of witnesses.

Other areas that will be
investigated are a student's right
against self-incrimination, a
student's right to have a record
kept of any proceeding against him,
a student's rights against an
unreasonable search and seizure, a
student's rights of appeal from any
University proceeding, and the type
of sanctions that may be imposed
on a student.

Shannon Comment

President Shannon, in writing to
Mr. McMillan, said this of the
committee's efforts, which he
endorsed: "I think it true that most
of the 'University Regulations' are
the outgrowth of specific
recommendations from various
committees and from Student
Council and other agencies of
student government.

"They tend over the years to be
adopted in response to particular
events and needs, but there is
nothing sacred about them and a
critical review of the whole body of
regulations, including, if possible,
the origins of each, is an extremely
useful thing for your committee to
do. I hope it will result in a report
of much practical value."