University of Virginia Library

Say 'No' On Semantics

Today and tomorrow that pesky creature
known as the ballot box will once again
descend upon the Grounds in the hopes that a
few caring students will take time out to feed
it its favorite entree, a piece of mimeographed
paper with a multitude of often obscure
names and (even more often) randomly
placed "X"s marked on it.

This election, however, will provide the
ballot box with a special treat: its favorite
dessert, commonly referred to as
"referendum." Unlike this year's entree, the
dessert is a weighty matter and should be
prepared carefully by students before they
feed it to the ballot box.

What the referendum proposes is "That
Student Council shall be prohibited from
disbursing funds collected from mandatory
student fees to any organization or
publication which takes a stand on political
issues or which undertakes to effect political
change." The sponsors of the referendum
maintain that "this referendum cannot apply
to organizations and publications that obtain
their funding by going through Council's O&P
Committee," admit that "Council's O&P
Committee already has the strictures
preventing the funding of groups deemed
political," and argue that the purpose of this
referendum is to determine whether Student
Council has the right to affiliate itself with
the National Student Association, The
National Student Lobby, and other such
"political" groups through the funds from its
private budget.

But if this is what the referendum is
supposed to determine, we must ask why it is
not worded accordingly?

We might agree with the sponsors of the
referendum (as do several members of
Council) that student funds should not go to
blatantly political organizations such as the
National Student Lobby any more than they
should go to the Young Republicans or
Young Democrats, but the phraseology of the
referendum as it stands is so ambiguous, the
implications of its acceptance so far-reaching,
that we strongly encourage students to vote,
and to vote against its passage.

The problem is clearly one of semantics.
The student who votes in favor of the
referendum has no way of knowing what he is
really voting for. Despite the sponsors'
reassurances that the referendum does not
jeopardize the funding of organizations such
as the Legal Environment Group or the
Virginia Law Weekly, can there be any doubt
that, if the referendum passed, someone
would argue that these organizations do
indeed fall within the scope of the
referendum because they are, in an abstract
sense, at least marginally political?

What is important to remember is that
Student Council, by its very nature,
represents students, and thus its actions will
be guided by student opinion. It is currently
preparing, in conjunction with the
Department of Sociology, a comprehensive
student survey to be conducted in February
to determine how students want their money
to be spent. The results of this survey will be
far more revealing, far more specific, and far
more valuable than the acceptance of a vague
and over-broad referendum voted on by only a
minority of the student population. Indeed,
to pass the current referendum, however
admirable the intentions of its sponsors may
be, would do nothing but complicate and
perhaps undermine the greater and better
defined efforts of Council to extract student
opinion on allocation priorities and
limitations.

Vote "No" on the referendum.