University of Virginia Library

Discuss Council's Role

Graduate Candidates Support Coalition

The recent controversies over
the Graduate School elections that
prompted the invalidation of the
first election because of several
irregularities, showed that one of
the largest factors responsible for
the SNAFU was the lack of
publicity. The Cavalier Daily decided
to give the new election greater
coverage, we therefore print statements
of all candidates running for
Student Council in the Graduate
Arts and Science elections.

1. What is the biggest problem
for the Student Council and its
biggest role in meeting it?

2. What is your attitude toward
the Coalition and its aims? Do you
think they are doing not enough or
too much or about right?

3. What constitutional changes
should the Council make to increase
its effectiveness?

Judy Allen

1. The number one issue at the
University is the prevailing apathy
among the students, both
undergraduate and graduate.
Student Council hasn't been able to
get these people involved. The vast
majority are willing to sit back and
accept any decision handed down
from a higher authority. Student
Council has become too removed
from these students, and as a
representative body, the Council
cannot ignore these people.

2. The Coalition has been an
interesting and effective experiment
at the University to get all shades of
opinion involved in constructive
change. Tradition as an ideal should
not be discarded; the patterns of
the past can provide direction for
the future. The University in
today's society cannot react to
social pressure or change as it did
ten or fifteen years ago. It must
adapt with the times. The Coalition
was the first student organization
to recognize this fact.

3. The constitution, as it now
stands, provides an adequate
framework for an effective Student
Council. The limitations on the
Council's influence and actions
appear to be derived from lack of
student interest and involvement,
rather than a failure in the
constitution.

Robert L. Burke

1. The most pressing challenge is
to find ways to implement
constructive changes at the
University without enduring the
turmoil that has disrupted
universities and colleges in other
parts of the country. I don't think
the Council can do this alone but it
can make visible the kinds of
programs necessary to improve
University life. Under no
circumstances would I tolerate the
disruption of the University and I
certainly would not act under
duress to any faction promoting
disruption. At the same time I
think the Council and faculty
members, along with other groups
at the University, have a
responsibility to insure that
legitimate grievances are met so
that we can meet head-on the
demands of right-wing troglodytes
in Congress and the State
Legislature for curtailing academic
freedom. Ultimately, however,
whatever we agree on must be sold
to Richmond and the voters of
Virginia and this is not an easy task.
We can't do this unless more
students become active in outside
politics. Influencing votes and
attitudes outside the University is
ultimately more effective than
passing resolutions in the comfort
of the Council chamber but the
former takes a lot of patience and
legwork.

2. I am in agreement with most
of the Coalition's goals and
objectives. I particularly endorse
the Coalition's efforts on behalf of
University employees and for
increased Negro enrollment at the
University. The former could be
assisted indirectly if students would
assist the labor movement in
repealing 14B of Taft-Hartley and
the coercive right to work laws. I
support the Transition Program and
believe it could be extended if
Richmond and the University
would pay their fair share of the
costs. I do not, however, believe
that an arbitrary figure on Black
enrollment should be established
particularly if academic standards
have to be lowered to accomplish
this. I am also opposed to the
addition of $2.50 to the activity fee
for the Transition Fund without a
referendum by the entire student
body. I cannot favor the plan for
athletic scholarships for Black
students but this is only because I
have never been able to see the
merit of any kind of athletic
scholarship. Admittance to a
university should be based on
academic promise and
accomplishment. Financial
assistance should be based on need.
With a well-financed program of
scholarships for needy students and
the Transition Program for those
with academic promise, I believe
that we can attract more Negro
students to this University without
employing artificial standards.

3. I suppose that the direct
election of Student Council
President would be helpful but, too
often, I've been in organizations
that have a phobia for rewriting
their constitution. I would simplify
the thing as much as possible and
never let it be a procedural stickler
for delaying meetings or
implementing programs and
suggestions.

Sue Ford

1. Perhaps the most significant
task before the Student Council
this year has been that of urging the
University onward into the 20th
century in the sphere of social
responsibility. This task has shown
itself in a number of areas. I cite
only the most important: The
Student Council has proposed a
measure after measure that would
effect a more representative student
body, i.e., more black,
disadvantaged, and female students.
Getting blacks, disadvantaged
whites, and females at U.Va. is the
challenge.

2. Personally, I could not be
more pleased that the liberal
contingent among the student body
has come up with eleven
constructive proposals to improve
conditions at the University. Have
they gone too far? I dare say that
changes proposed and effectively
implemented at some institutions in
some other parts of the country
have been much more
thoroughgoing, the techniques
utilized have been much less
moderate than the suggestions of
the Student Coalition. The
Coalition's activities have been mild
and exceptionally creditable.

3. What is crucial here is not the
structure of Council or of the
constitution, but the willingness of
students and administrators alike to
bring about necessary changes. I
don't think the problem is a
popularly elected Student
Government president, or such. The
most significant factor is attitude,
and there is an opportunity for
students of a liberal persuasion to
work toward essential realities here
at the University. I urge the
electorate to give us the chance.

Brian Hampton

1. The most important issue is
increasing the level of student
participation in policy making
within the University. The Council
should be an active force in
pursuing this goal and serve as an
intermediary between the students
and the administration. For
example, there are some student
representatives on faculty and
administrative committees. The
Council should try to positively
recruit persons for these positions
rather than allow the continuation
of the present casual method by
which such important
representative positions are filled.

2. I have actively supported the
goals of the Student Coalition and
approve of the moderate means
that have been used in pursuance of
these goals. The Student Council
should actively support the
Coalition in its efforts to introduce
much needed change. The Council
and Coalition must be more active
at the state legislative level, uniting
with other student and interest
groups on such issues as raising
employee wages and making
changes in the Board of Visitors.

3. It would be desirable for the
Council to have a constitution
which gave greater autonomy from
the Administration. Furthermore,
the issue of a popularly elected
Council President is worthy of
consideration. I do not feel,
however, that constitutional
changes have as great an impact as
the willingness of the Council
members to be an active force in
University life. The constitution
may limit action, but a new one
would not, of itself, end the
institutionalized apathy of many
Council members.

Bud Ogle

1. The University's biggest
problem is institutional myopia.
Manifest in many forms
(tradition-bound efforts to BBTOU;
only half-hearted commitment to
equal educational opportunity for
women, black people, the poverty
stricken; narrow departmental and
disciplinary specialization; lack of
responsibility for community
problems and employment
conditions; the sharp declination
between faculty and student body),
the Council can help meet this
problem by implementing
Jefferson's revolutionary dream — a
united committed faculty and
student body seeking knowledge
in order to serve.

2. I have been an active member
and impatient critic of the
Coalition. It has not done enough.
One cannot do too much to
promote justice and equal
opportunity As both Martin Luther
King and Barry Goldwater
affirmed, it is a question of what
kind of extremists we'll be — for
what is, or what right to be. The
University has discriminated against
blacks, women, and poor people for
too long. We must move beyond a
talking coalition of "student
leaders" to a working coalition of
employees, faculty, and students
creating a just and open University
in fact, not just rhetoric.

3. The Student Council should
move from counseling the
administration about student affairs
to governing student life and
participating in government of the
University. The Council will only
be more effective as it contributes
to responsible education — for
scholarship and citizenship.

James Roebuck

1. It is my hope that in the
coming year the Student Council
can become a more meaningful
instrument for articulating student
opinion, especially for graduate
students. Council must be willing to
take the initiative in defining and
supporting goals for the University
community — to be willing to take
positive steps to achieve the
broadest possible advancement of
student interests. I see as the most
important area for action the
continuation of efforts to broaden
the University's commitment to the
recruitment of black and
disadvantaged students.

2. I have actively supported the
Student Coalition and agree with its
aims. It has served a necessary role
in making the Charlottesville and
state communities aware of the
problems of race relations within
the University community. The
basic question which now remains,
however, is what more meaningful
action can be taken to achieve the
Coalition goals between the types
of demonstrations which have
occurred on the Grounds this spring
and the occupation of a building
which the majority of the Student
Body would not support.

3. It is clear that the present
Student Council constitution needs
to be generally reviewed and
revised. The single most important
constitutional change which the
Council could make would be to
provide for the direct election of the
President of the Council. Further I
would like to see the addition of a
recall provision in the constitution.

Thurman Wenzl

1. As individual students have
responded to the need for positive
change in the larger community
Student Council must make it clear
that the administration and faculty
must also be committed to these
problems. The University is already
involved in the larger community,
and indeed is the cause of some of
its most acute problems. As the
largest employer in Charlottesville,
the University is directly
responsible for the low wage levels
and the shortage of reasonably
priced housing. One might say that
the larger political structures of the
state are really responsible for these
problems, but the central role of
the University in training the
political and economic elite of the
state brings the question home. Not
only does the larger community
suffer from the University's
discrimination against women,
blacks and poor whites, but our
educational and social milieu is
harmed.

Early this spring the Student
Coalition served a useful purpose in
mobilizing student opinion behind
a broad collection of liberal
proposals. Even at this early stage
the administration showed its lack
of real concern by an
unsympathetic response to these
not very threatening proposals.
Here the fundamental weakness of
the Coalition showed itself — it was
apparently more strongly attached
to an inoffensive style than to the
need for fundamental changes in
University policies. Student Council
must independently become a
potent enough force to rival the
strength of the traditional forces (as
represented by the alumni) in the
balancing done by the
administration. Imagination will be
necessary for us to be taken
seriously — resolution passing and
requests to the Board of Visitors
will no longer suffice.

3. Constitutional revision may
be the method chosen by Council
to assert this independence and
diminish the role played by
students in enforcing University
regulations. The willingness of
students to interpret vague
administrative phrases like "actions
which tend to discredit the
University" and "ungentlemanly
conduct" and thereby impose
sanctions on other students may be
troublesome. In any case we need
an independent Student Council
willing to take the initiative in the
struggle.