University of Virginia Library

Council Refuses Appeal
To Cancel Demonstration

By PETER H. SHEA

Rejecting an appeal by President Edgar
Shannon that the proposed demonstrations
against expansion be cancelled, leaders of the
Student Council decided Saturday that "the
actions planned for Monday night and Tuesday
should proceed" as scheduled.

The decision to hold the "University
Tuesday" demonstrations, made after nearly 24
hours of deliberation, was relayed to Mr.
Shannon in a letter from Student Council
President Tom Collier. The letter stated that
Council Vice-President Peter Gillespie and other
members of the Council concurred with Mr.
Collier in the decision.

The decision followed a meeting Friday
afternoon between Mr. Collier, Mr. Gillespie,
and Council member Phil Chabot, chairman of
the Council subcommittee on growth, and Mr.
Shannon in which he termed the proposed
actions as "confusing and harmful to our
efforts to secure new facilities and increased
state support" for the operation of the
University.

In a letter to Mr. Collier released publicly
during the meeting, Mr. Shannon said "No
matter what the intent behind such actions,
they will be construed as irresponsible
demonstrations. I therefore, call upon you to
abandon this hasty project..."

William Elwood, a special assistant to the
President, and Peter Shea, editor-in-chief of
The Cavalier Daily, also were present at the
meeting.

Communications Gap

In the Friday afternoon session, Mr.
Shannon expressed his anger that the Council
leaders did not consult him personally about
the planned protest. Mr. Collier later responded
that while be did not contact the President
personally, discussions with most of Mr.
Shannon's top aides were held throughout this
week and that he "naturally assumed that when
we dealt with your designated representatives,
we were in communication with you."

Most of the Friday meeting was devoted to
discussion of Council's request that the
Committee on the Future of the University be
designated as "a single group charged with
investigating all aspects of growth and
expansion at the University."

The Council representatives at the meeting
disputed President Shannon's claim that
Vice-President David Shannon, chairman of the
Committee on the Future, "made it perfectly
clear to you that his Committee on the Future
of the 'University will give extensive
consideration to the rate of growth and future
projections, taking into account the implication
of the physical facilities and faculty staffing."

Instructions Clarified

Mr. Chabot, a member of the Committee on
the Future, said the Provost stated specifically
that the committee would take into account
only academic considerations and that it would
not deal with growth and its effects in other
areas.

President Shannon offered late Friday
afternoon to clarify his instructions to the
committee, which would include consideration
of physical facilities. Mr. Collier advised the
President that he would not even consider the
cancellation appeal until he had received a
written copy of the committee's new charge.

President Shannon and his aides Jerry
Gardner and Mr. Elwood, worked on the new
charge Friday night, and copies of the
President's letter to Vice-President Shannon
were delivered to the Council office about 1
a.m. Saturday.

Committee Obligations

In his letter to the Provost, the President
instructed the Committee on the Future "to
make a thorough study and evaluation of
enrollment estimates through the academic year
1980." The Committee should seek to
determine the University's enrollment in order
for it to continue its academic improvements
bearing in mind its obligations to the
Commonwealth."

The new charge instructed the committee to
consider the physical facilities available or
expected to be available to the University such
as housing, food services, classrooms,
laboratories, libraries, offices, transportation
and parking.

Primarily Academics

However, President Shannon's letter
repeated his instructions that, "In its long-term
estimates of enrollments, the Committee must
pay primary attention to academic
considerations, which may have to be modified
by physical and budgetary exigencies as they
can be foreseen or develop."

The letter to Vice-President Shannon urged
the committee to work closely with other
committees studying the effect of growth on
non-academic areas, and to "draw directly upon
these Committees for information and guidance
in their particular areas of expertise."

In his letter telling President Shannon that
"University Tuesday" will continue as planned,
delivered Saturday evening. Mr. Collier listed
several reasons underlying the decision.

Collier's Reply

"Your letter to Vice-President Shannon,"
Mr. Collier stated, "offers the hope that the
Future of the University Committee may
become the body that we have sought for a
year and a half: a single group charged with
investigating all aspects of growth and
expansion at the University.

"However," he continued, "your charge
must be read in conjunction with your
statement in the covering letter to me that the
'primary responsibility of the Future of the
University Committee is academic.' Thus, the
charge is susceptible to the interpretation that:
(1) the Committee's primary concern is
academic development opposed to physical
facilities and (2) Physical limitations will
continue to receive only secondary
consideration, both in the Future of the
University Committee and elsewhere.

"More specifically, you charge the
committee 'this year' to examine enrollment as
it relates to 'academic improvement' and
responsibilities to the Commonwealth.
Responsibilities to students regarding the
quality of their environment are 'also' to be
given some consideration."