University of Virginia Library

Candidates Answer Questions

Grad School Elects Officers Tomorrow

Elections in the Graduate School
of Arts and Sciences will be held
Wednesday and Thursday. Ballot
boxes will be placed at Newcomb
Hall, Alderman Library, Cabell
Hall, Gilmer Hall, and Chemistry
Building.

The Cavalier Daily submitted
questions to the candidates for
president and student council representatives
of the graduate school.

The questions asked presidential
candidates were:

1. Do you feel present Honor
System orientation for graduate
students is an adequate one?

2. Do you feel that the Honor
Committee maintains too absolute
a stand of "right and wrong?"
Do you feel there should be degrees
of punishment corresponding
to degrees of guilt?

PRESIDENT

Stuart Rochester

History 2; Special Master's
Scholar (1966-1967); DuPont Fellow;
Assistant Editor of "Essays
in History; History Club, Loyola
College, Baltimore.

1. No. The majority of first-year
graduate students at the University,
coming from other colleges
and presumably intent on getting
down to serious study, would
rather not be bothered with an
Honor System orientation in the
first place. They are generally
cynical or skeptical of the system,
and to gather all of them together
in one hall for an orientation
session and to spout on the sanctity
of tradition and the nobility of
ideals-which has been the customary
procedure-is, inevitably, to invite
snide remarks.

The orientation should be
handled in smaller groups, with
speakers taking a more realistic,
low-keyed approach which stresses
the practical benefits of the system
rather than its cherished principles.
It is my understanding that
a committee headed by the incumbent
Graduate School president,
John McNeal, is presently
considering such proposals.

2. No to both questions. It
seems to me that a system of
multiple standards or "degrees
of punishment" works to the advantage
of one likely to be convicted
under the present absolute
standard and to the disadvantage
of one likely to acquitted. Such
a system may have the effect of
preventing some expulsions, but it
would also encourage convictions
in some borderline cases.

However, light the penalty, conviction
on an honor offense carries
with it a certain stigma and
often irreparable damage to an
individual's reputation and self-respect.
For that reason, I prefer
the present absolute standard
where convictions are based on
decisive evidence and where one is
required to be sure beyond a reasonable
doubt that the accused is
guilty. This single standard of
judgment and of guilt, to my mind,
is the best possible safeguard
against the system's becoming mischievous
or abused.

Michael J. McQuillen

History 2; History Club, B.A.
Canisius College.

1. I definitely feel there is room
for improvement in the Honor
System orientation. One plan
which could prove useful, and
which is presently under consideration
by the Honor Committee, is
to break up the graduate students
at the orientation into groups of
about twenty, thus allowing fuller
and freer discussion.

2. While it can be argued that
there are no degrees of honor
I nevertheless feel that consideration
should be given to a plan that
would make the penalty system a
little more flexible. For instance,
introduction of a penalty such as
suspension might be helpful in
those cases where the degree of
guilt ascribed to the offender would
not warrant expulsion.

The questions asked the three
candidates for Student Council
were:

1. Based on your observations
do you feel students actively participate
in University decision-making?

2. What particular issue would
you as a councilman like to see
the Council act upon?

3. What do you think of Council's
recent stand on racial discrimination?

STUDENT COUNCIL

Robert W. Pringle

Teaching Assistant School of
General Studies; History Club;
Virginia Mason Davidge Fellowship;
A.B. Bucknell College.

1. No. I feel that students should
have complete control of the
Judiciary Committee and the
Student Activities Committee as
they do of the Honor Committee.
At the present time, Dean Runk
has the final control of decisions
made by the Judiciary Committee,
while on the Student Activities
Committee, faculty and administrative
personnel have a numerical
majority.

2. It seems to me that the monastary-like
atmosphere of the University
of Virginia detracts from
both its academic and social potential.
I feel that to create a more
healthy and broad-minded environment
for graduate study, the Student
Council should strive for the
creation of total co-education.

3. I think that the latest decision
was a good step towards
the creation of racial equality at
the University of Virginia and the
construction of an environment
more conducive to the attraction
of Negro students.

James Roebuck

Executive Board, University of
Virginia Young Democrats; treasurer,
History Club; B.A. Virginia
Union University.

Robert Yuknke

Associate Editor of the Virginia
Weekly; B.A. Canisius College.

The following statement represents
the views of both James
Roebuck and Robert Yuhnke. We
drafted this statement jointly since
we are running together on one
ticket. If elected, we plan to work
as a team to bring active, concerned
leadership to Council from
the Graduate School.

1. No. Of course, there are some
areas of University decision-making
where students should not intrude,
but in the areas outside the
classroom that involve students
most, student participation should
be much greater than it is. The
two most significant of these are
1) student activities, and 2) student
actions. It is our feeling that
students, through their duly elected
representatives, should be given
complete authority over the control
and funding of student activities.
Council should levy an activities
fee which would be set by it and
distributed by it among the student
activities without administrative
veto.

The Student Activities Committee
should be limited to a strictly
advisory function. A corollary
of this policy would demand a
re-affirmation of the principle that
all student activities must receive
Council recognition before being
permitted to use University facilities
or receive funds. We also feel
that in view of the growing needs
of an expanding student body,
Council should seek measures to
increase funds available for student
activities.

We feel University control over
student actions is excessive and
is often exercised arbitrarily without
institutional safeguards to protect
the rights of students. We
therefore urge Council to call upon
the President to appoint a committee
including students among
its members to review and submit
recommendations for revision of
the entire administrative disciplinary
system. Specifically, we think
that the University should limit
punishment to the infraction of
administrative regulations and
should not punish students for the
violation of any other codes or
statutes. Administrative regulations
should be defined and punishments
specified. The Judiciary
Committee should be given real
authority to try offenders and the
arbitrary review of cases by one
man should be eliminated. Procedures
involving students should
also be eliminated. Procedures involving
students should also be
established for periodic review of
these regulations.

Another area that involves students
intimately is the dorm counseling.
In view of recent controversies
and complaints by students
we feel that the Council's Housing
Committee should conduct an
investigation of the system.

We also encourage the continued
expansion of the recently adopted
policy of appointing students to
participate on the major decision making
bodies of the University.

2-3. Since our area of special
concern is closely related to the
topic of question three, we will
answer them together. We strongly
support the latest positions adopted
by Council concerning both the
rule barring the use of segregated
facilities and Council's statement
on behalf of open-housing in Charlottesville.
But we also feel that
much more can be done both by
the University and the Community.
We believe that immediate steps
must be taken by Council to urge
the administration to face its responsibilities
to improve race relations
both within the University
and Charlottesville Community as
a whole. We urge that positive
steps be taken to recruit black
students with special emphasis on
predominantly black educational
institutions. We believe that a representative
number of black faculty
members should be sought. We
urge that the athletic department
seek more actively to recruit black
athletes. Steps should also be taken
by Council in conjunction with
the administration to insure that
all off-grounds housing be open
to students regardless of race.
Further, Council should insure
that non-discriminatory pledges be
obtained from all patrons on the
Date Housing List.