University of Virginia Library

Council Ideas
Look Good
On Paper–
But Will They
Take Shape?

(The following article is the final in a series by Cavalier Daily
Editorial Board member Sam Barnes. In this issue Mr. Barnes
considers proposals for future Council actions. - Ed.)

During a year as Council President Jim Rinaca has seen many
ideas flourish in success or smolder in failure. With this
experience Mr. Rinaca should be quite capable of estimating
what Council can or can not expect to get accomplished in the
near future, so we asked him to assess what he thinks should be
the major new goals and concerns for Council.

University Committee Structure. Committees generally serve
as advisory boards making suggestions to higher administrative
levels. Mr. Rinaca said that he thinks the committees are "all
too often dominated or chaired by administrators whose duties
involve the areas which the committee supposedly advises.
Therefore in many cases strong or critical reports to the
President are not forthcoming.

Mr. Rinaca also said that if the committee is chaired by an
administrator in charge of the same area of concern as the
committee, it is "highly unlikely" that many important
questions will be brought up, since the chairman may then leave
recommendations to the judgment of his own department.

A decision must be made as to whether the "committees are
to be real instruments for deciding and coordinating policy
within the departments or are to be merely a means of creating
the impression that faculty and students do have some say in
the University's operation," he said.

Although some committees are effective and operate with a
manner and authority that assures them administrative
compliance, too many others do not. Mr. Rinaca added.

"Council should therefore actively seek to minimize
administrative control of committees and maximize the general
authority of the committees." If these goals could be
accomplished more rapid change could be expected in areas in
which the administration has been lagging, Mr. Rinaca said.

University Self Study. The University participates in a self
study program every ten years as required by the Association of
Southern Universities and Colleges. With the upcoming study
the University has a chance to rigorously evaluate its programs
and plan new directions for the University in the next ten years,
Mr. Rinaca said.

The University Steering Committee has already guaranteed
student participation in the evaluation, including making a
student chairman of one of the 12 major committees.

"It is Council's job to direct all the students participating in
the self study to take the initiative in seeing that the unresolved
problems facing students are fully incorporated in the final
reports to the reviewing committee. This task will require
persistence coupled with imagination," Mr. Rinaca said.

Council Organization. Council must once again study its own
organization and committee structure. Mr. Rinaca suggested
that Council increase the number of work groups "to cover
more and diverse problems with which individual Council
members have a certain level of expertise."

He added that although there was much more that he had
hoped the committees might accomplish this year, he thought
that there was a better overall performance from committees
than during his two previous years on Council. The additional
success can probably be attributed to the committee structure,
using co-chairman to share the responsibilities, he said.

Council does need to broaden its efforts in the committee
area, but it also needs to gain more positive results from the
existing committees. The lists of committee accomplishments
for the past year, which should probably show up as one of the
most significant channels for Council action, just wasn't that
impressive.

Mr. Rinaca's interest in the self-study program is also
well-founded, as it should provide an excellent forum for
student concern and complaints over University programs.

One might doubt, however, just how much students will be
able to influence the final recommendations of the study
committees. The University committee structure, as Mr. Rinaca
said, too frequently has student representation in name only,
with the administrators running the whole show. To have truly
effective student input on the evaluation, Council must
anticipate the same administrative dominance and fight for
student respect and consideration among committee members.

As for the University committee structure, Mr. Rinaca's
suggestion to "minimize administrative control" of the groups is
his best-sounding idea yet. It could significantly cut down on
the bureaucratic red tape committee members must face when
trying to influence administrators who have conflicts of interest
between their committee work and their departmental
duties.

The new Council officers will have more ideas to add to the
list, so Council should have plenty of work ahead. It needs the
people who are willing to do the work, though, and that's where
students outside the Council can help most — by taking Council
elections seriously, choosing the people they believe are most
likely to benefit Council and voting for them in elections
tomorrow and Thursday.