University of Virginia Library

Council Requests Radical Leaders

Council then sent a letter to President Shannon
asking that representatives from three other
student groups be invited to attend Mountain
Lake: the Black Students for Freedom, the
Experimental University, and the Virginia Weekly.
Council felt these were a needed supplement to
the traditional power structure groups already
invited; all members of the Council, the presidents
of all the schools, the chairman of the judiciary
committee, the president of the University Union,
the president of the IFC, chairman of counselors
and representatives from the daily student paper.

President Shannon's response stated that
"because the (student) electors seem to have
selected leaders with a broad range of interests, the
invitation list appears to have included students
active in the organizations you have mentioned. I
see, however, that Annie Sue Ford, one of the
black students elected to the Student Council, is
not returning this year and has declined my
invitation. I have therefore asked Mr. George
Taylor, President of the Black Students for
Freedom, to attend the conference in her place."

Mr. Shannon knew much earlier, we suspect,
that Miss Ford would not be able to attend. Why
had he not asked George Taylor earlier? Even if
Miss Ford had attended the Mountain Lake
meeting, Mr. Taylor should have also been invited
to represent the views of his special interest group.

There is a touch of irony in the fact that
George Taylor, who was busy with Black
Orientation, sent a replacement, second-year man
John Thomas, who made tremendous impact on
the discussions at Mountain Lake.

Mr. Thomas spoke eloquently and with
conviction on the needs and problems of the black
man at the University of Virginia. Every member
of the conference was impressed with what he had
to say. Yet if student council had not written to
President Shannon he would not have been there.
Here is a primary example of the need for active
student participation in the decision making
processes at the University. And there are others.

During the course of one discussions, David A.
Shannon, Dean of the Faculty of the College, told
of a committee he was appointing to study the
organization of a black studies program. When
asked by Mr. Thomas if he or any other members
of the Black Students for Freedom had been
contacted about serving on the committee, Mr.
Shannon admitted that he did not even know of
Mr. Thomas' existence until the conference. Again,
the same necessity of students directly determining
who should represent them.

The autocracy can work against the faculty,
too. As Dean Shannon so aptly put it once, "I was
not elected and that's part of the problem." There
are times when faculty members themselves seem
to have no voice in matters that concern them.
Take the selection of the five man advisory board
on promotions in the college, for example. Dean
Shannon appoints the members.

The combined faculties also seemed to be left
in the cold when it came to Mountain Lake. There
were only two faculty members there who were
not in one way or another administrators. And
they were chosen to come because they were
members of a committee of the University Senate,
a somewhat mysterious faculty governing body
which meets bi-annually and is well infiltrated
with administrators.

Student power and its many roles in the
University seemed to creep out of much of the
rhetoric tossed around at Mountain Lake. A few
more words on it and then some discussion of
other issues raised.

Most of the discussion on student participation
centered around student representation on the
more than 50 administrative committees which
report directly to President Shannon. Many of
these committees do not contain much interest for
students. But there are several which have a
tremendous impact on student life, such as the
Admissions Committee, the Future of the
University Committee (which is preparing another
report on coeducation for the Board of Visitors),
the Master Plan Committee, and the ROTC
Committee.

The history of student representation on these
committees is a rather dismal one. In the past
President Shannon selected student members from
suggestions submitted by various deans and from a
list submitted by Student Council. In the past
Council lists had been rather haphazard, unrepresentative
and inadequate. This past year a long list
of names was submitted by council but not after
quite a bit of prodding from President Shannon. In
fact some of the list was complied by new council
president Bud Ogle.