University of Virginia Library

Council Asks Should Faculty Honor Code

By Barry Levine
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

In last-minute action before next
week's elections, the Student Council
Tuesday night approved the placing on a
separate ballot of a referendum on the
extension of the Honor System to faculty
and administration.

The motion, which passed 12-6, would
provide the Council with an indication of
student opinion.

The referendum question will read:
"Do you feel the principles and provisions
of the Honor System should apply
to the faculty and administration as well as to
students?"

Ed Wells, Honor Committee member,
expressed to the Council the Committee's
preference of a careful sampling of student
opinion instead of the referendum.

Whitt Clement, Honor Committee chairman,
told The Cavalier Daily that an opinion poll
would provide for a more accurate indication of
student sentiment, rather than only "the
estimated 60 per cent who normally vote in
such elections."

He said that the Honor Committee is
concerned with the remaining students whose
opinion would not be measured in a referendum.

The Honor Committee, according to Mr.
Clement, has recently completed a study of
various methods of sampling student opinion,
but has not yet arranged for the institution of
the study's recommendations.

The Council maintains that a referendum
would show the opinion of a sufficient segment
of the student body, that it has the
responsibility of remaining aware of University
opinion.

In what was termed "a vital step," the
Council overwhelmingly passed the resolution
of the Traffic Control Committee recommending
the institution of all car privileges for
first-year students possessing a 2.0 average in
their second semester.

The Committee's recommendation, the
result of a long-standing debate, called for the
inclusion of the topic in the agenda of the
Board of Visitors meeting this weekend.
Placement on the agenda is necessary for
consideration.

However, Council Secretary Kevin Mannix
learned that Acting President Hereford has
referred the matter to the Committee on
Students rather than recommend consideration
to the Board.

In a letter to Mr. Hereford, Mr. Mannix
wrote: "I understand that you do not plan to
recommend the adoption of the Traffic Control
Committee's proposal that first-year men with a
2.0 average be allowed to register cars in their
second semester.

"...I believe that the proposal considered
last spring (which was also referred to the
Committee on Students) was much broader in
its effect in that it would have allowed all
students, regardless of their academic record, to
have cars.

"The proposal now being made is much less
extensive in scope; at the most, four hundred
automobiles would be brought into Charlottesville
by first-year men, according to a survey
made of that class.

"Actually, the number of cars brought in is
likely to be closer to three hundred. This would
represent an increase of three to four per cent
in the total number of cars at the University.

"This is of utmost importance to first-year
men; as it is, they feel isolated from the upper
classes and feel that they are treated as
second-class students.

"I realize that there are many aspects to the
situation, but it is the students who will have to
adjust to less student parking spaces, and they
are willing to assume the burden."

Because the Committee on Students cannot
meet before the Board's meeting this weekend,
and with the next Board meeting being
February 6, the issue could not be debated
before second semester at the earliest.

In other action, Council also requested Mr.
Hereford to consult with the Deans of the
schools "about the merits of suspending classes
on Wednesday, March 4 so that the entire
University of Virginia...can discuss the Future
of the University."

Two unusual occurrences interrupted normal
Council business. Council President Bud
Ogle hesitatingly relayed the request of a
high-school student concerning her civics
project. Accordingly, the Council quickly
recommended the admission of Red China to
the United Nations.

The meeting was later briefly interrupted by
a group of students carrying red flags marked
"Yippies," who marched into the meeting,
announced, "We're the Yippies," and marched
out. They left a decapitated toilet at the door.