University of Virginia Library

Students Considering
New Senate Proposal

—Ed.

By Peter Shea
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Revision of the present University
Senate has become a popular theme here,
gaining support from members of all
branches of the University.

At the start of the academic session,
an ad hoc group of faculty members and
students interested in the idea of
revamping the Senate met a number of
times and drew up a preliminary set of
guidelines for the reform.

That group listed seven "goals" that
should be set for a revamped University
Senate. Foremost, the Senate should,
according to the preliminary proposal, "function
as an elective body representative of the
entire University," through which the "opinion
of the University may be expressed, communication
improved, and innovative ideas brought
to bear on University problems."

Exercises Powers

The proposal stressed that the Senate should
retain and exercise its current powers but that
it should also act as an advisory body to the
President. The major change that the ad hoc
group proposed was the admission of students
to the Senate, setting 20 per cent as a possible
level.

About one month ago, a student committee
was formed to study possible revision of the
University Senate. The committee, chaired by
Student Council President Bud Ogle, had as
members Chuck Hite, Publisher of The Cavalier,
Daily, Councilmen Ron Cass, Ed Finch, and
Jim Roebuck, ex-Councilman Bill McManus,
Whitt Clement, Chairman of the Honor
Committee, Law School President Ed Wells,
Judy Wellman, Editor of the Virginia Weekly,
Phil Harper, a second-year man, and first-year
man Mike Morgan.

The committee is currently working on a
draft Constitution for a revised University
Senate and has developed a number of specific
proposals.

101 Senators

In one proposal the committee is studying,
the University Senate would be composed of
101 members. This plan would allocate 37 seats
each to the faculty and students and would
assign 27 seats to the administration.

Of the administration seats, ten would be
filled by members of various staffs such as the
library and medical staffs. The other 17 seats
would go to the President, Provost, and all
present ex officio members of the Faculty
Senate.

The draft Constitution offers three options
for the method in which the faculty could
appoint its members to the University Senate.
The methods offer a choice of apportionment
by department, by school, or on the basis of
tenure.

The committee also has studied various
procedures for the election of student representatives
to the Senate.

One possible election process which the
committee considers among the best would
provide two Senate seats for each of the
schools, including the School of General
Studies. The President of the Student Body,
elected at large by all- University students,
would automatically fill a seat, under the
students' tentative proposal now being considered.

Others Apportioned

The apportionment of the remaining 14
seats would be covered in the By-Laws of the
University Senate, so the procedure could
readily be changed as the enrollment in the
different Schools varied. One possible method
would give nine extra seats to the largest
School, two seats each to the next largest, and
the fourth would get one additional representative.

At the present time, if this method were
adopted, the College would have 11 votes, the
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the
Engineering School would be given four votes
the School of Law three and the others only
two.

The elected students could be chosen by a
direct vote by the student body of each school
or by the vote of the student governing body of
the school involved. All students would serve
one-year terms as would the other elected
Senators.

The student committee's tentative Constitution
under study describes the University
Senate as "a policy-making body which may
consider all matters of University-wide concern,
all matters affecting more than one faculty or
school."