University of Virginia Library

Dignity

I read with pleasure The
Cavalier Daily's endorsement
for Phil Chabot. Knowing Phil
personally, I can heartily
concur with everything that
was attributed to him.

Having served two years on
Student Council, Phil has come
to know well the weaknesses
and strengths of Council, and
he has now proposed to do
away with the political
appointees of the current
committees and open them up
to any and all interested
students.

On the same issue, that of
increasing Council's efficiency,
Mr. Rinaca has stated he would
like to "reduce the Council's
bureaucracy." That is not a
concrete proposal, such as
Phil's. Rather it points to the
fact that Mr. Rinaca doesn't
seem to have done much
thinking about what he
actually plans to do next year
if elected.

This impression is further
strengthened when we read
that Mr. Rinaca has blindly
accepted the Administration's
dictum "if we cut first-year
enrollment back we'll have to
cut the number of out-of-state
students accepted." Since the
student body seems clearly
opposed to this idea, Mr.
Rinaca is hardly the man to
support for this election.

This latter statement also
points to the fact that Mr.
Rinaca is likely to blindly
accept all that the
administration of this school
puts before him. Tom Collier's
support for Mr. Rinaca makes
him further suspect, since Mr.
Collier has hardly put up a
fight against the administration
this year. Mr. Collier's last
action was to ensure that the
students would not strike,
which is a big plus for the
administration who can now
claim that they controlled and
quelled the students
themselves.

In contrast, Phil Chabot has
pushed calendar reform so
steadily and with so much
energy that next year we are to
have a reformed calendar in
spite of heavy faculty and
administrative resistance to its
implementation. Also, the
article in yesterday's The
Cavalier Daily which quoted
Mr. Cauthen as saying that a
calendar without reading days
is "academically wrong" shows
that the issue is not settled,
and I am confident that Phil
will devote his energies toward
including reading days.

Mr. Rinaca also finds it
necessary to have a running
mate. This is perhaps because
he was not on Student Council
this last semester and needs Mr.
Sabato to inform him of all
that has occurred. Mr. Chabot,
having served steadily during
the past two years, is already
well-acquainted with all that
has occurred. Phil is running on
his own merits, and he prefers
to be elected on what he alone
will do, not on what he and a
running mate will do.

In closing let me say that it
is clear to me that Phil Chabot
is the man that we need for
Student Council President if
we are to retain our dignity
before the administration.