The Cavalier daily :: Wednesday, October 1, 1969 :: University of Virginia Library

After an hour of nit-picking debate,
the Student Council unanimously passed
a motion to send to President Shannon a
letter commenting on the Rotch
Committee Report and Mr. Shannon's
response to it.

The original letter, scarcely
recognizable after the Council finished
with its vocabulary changes, was drawn
up by the Council's Equal Opportunities
Committee.

Following the pattern of the
committee's original draft, the letter
adopted stressed the necessity for a
change in the image of the University.
The letter charged that the type of
recruiting done by the Alumni
Association in many areas only enhanced
the image of the University as a "rich
boy's school."

In order to ameliorate this problem,
the letter suggests that undergraduate and
graduate students should assist the alumni
and Admissions Office in recruiting both
in-state and out-of-state students.

Black Students

The letter stressed the need for using
black students, undergraduate and
graduate, in an effort to increase the number of
black students recruited. These student
recruiters, the letter urges, should be "properly
compensated."

The letter also said, "We concur with the
Rotch Committee recommendation that black
men and women be employed to recruit black
students and feel that this recommendation
should be put into practice immediately.

"We reemphasize the Rotch Committee's
strong recommendation that more black men
and women need to be hired to work in the
Admissions Office."

The letter also urged that the policy towards
scholarships and "Work-Study Program aid" be
re-examined, in order to supplement the
formula funding now in effect.

Admissions Goal

Finally, the letter asks that the Admissions
Office set as a goal that approximately 20 per
cent of the entering class of 1970-71 be black
students. The letter explained that this figure
was not to be construed as a quota but as a
realistic and reasonable goal.

The tone of the entire meeting was
established early in the evening when, with its
members jockeying for better positions, the
Student Council had its Corks and Curls picture
taken. Councilmen Tom Gardner and Tony
Sherman eventually outwitted the
photographer and were able to sneak in
upraised clenched fists into their poses.

Alterations

During the discussion about the Equal
Opportunities Committee letter, much of the
time was spent altering entire paragraphs,
sentences, and even individual words.

When a voice vote could not decide the
pressing problem, a show of hands was
necessary to determine whether one line would
read "some of the recruiting" or "much of the
recruiting." Those supporting the latter were
victorious, but the losers took the defeat
bravely.

Earlier, a debate raged between Council
President Bud Ogle and Sam Robinson.

The discussion concerned a letter sent to Mr.
Ogle by the Student's Society of McGill
University in Canada. The society letter asked
the Council here to support the Canadians in a
dispute over the Canadian Arctic island waters.

Apparently, the waters in question are rich
in oil and the United States is anxious to have
the waters declared international territory. The
society wants the waters to remain, as it claims,
Canadian property.

The dispute arose over the society's claim
that Canada had never won a boundary dispute
with the United States.

Mr. Robinson, disagreeing vehemently, cited
the 1842 Lumberjack War, claiming our
neighbors to the north had gained considerable
acreage from the settlement.

Mr. Ogle, spouting out his opinion, said that
there was not a single river involved in the
dispute but two, and that Canada had not
gained any territory but had lost some.

According to an unidentified Honors History
student, this rift led to the famous
Webster-Ashburton treaty in which both sides
agreed to a settlement that satisfied the two
antagonists.

The verity of this report is uncertain,
however.

Fortunately Tabled

Fortunately, the debate was ended, at least
temporarily, when Charlie Majors questioned
the procedure under which the motion had
been brought up. With the Council agreeing
that the motion had to be tabled for at least
one week, the debate ended.

The question was also raised whether to
correct the spelling of President Nixon's name
(who was to receive the Council's letter
supporting the Canadians) from "Nixson" to
the more conventional "Nixon."

Tune in next week for further details.