University of Virginia Library

Vote For Progress

On December 16 and 17, the
students of this University are going
to be faced with choosing between
a feasible solution to a pressing
problem or a course of apathetic
withdrawal. The problem of First-Year
representation may not be of
vital importance to some, but, the
outcome of this proposed amendment
will not only affect the attempts
for equal representation on
our Student Council, but also determine
if our Constitution is susceptible
to progress. The First-Year
Committee through various debates
and weeks of deliberation has proposed
to the students that one
First-year man serve on the Student
Council as a voting member and
representative of the First-year class
with an election to be held within
the class as a whole. They have
taken the first step, but, only the
students can determine the outcome
of this proposed amendment.

Some may ask why the First-year
class is in need of any special
representation or privilege. The
answer to that is fairly obvious.
They have their own special problems.
To begin with, a first-year
man is new to the University and is
faced with the problems of orienting
himself into student affairs, the
most important being student
government. As the system stands
now this is virtually impossible. (An
interesting note: With the passage
of the latest By-law change the
first-year man is the only undergraduate
not duly represented by
one of its own members on the
Student Council.)

The first-year man is also set
apart in the fact that they are all
required to live in the dormitories
and in doing so have been set upon
with a barrage of housing regulations,
the most apparent being the
blatant discrimination observed in
rules applying to Girls-in-the-dorms.
(Ironic that a second-year man residing
in Mapin has been afforded
the privilege of female visitation
while a first-year man residing some
30 yards away in Watson is not
given the same privilege.)

The list of discriminatory practices
are numerous, to mention a
few; driving regulations, class attendance
requirements, "Caucus"
participation and governmental participation;
housing regulations, and
required course enrollment. Rather
than list the entire set of special
regulations, it must be fairly obvious
with only those practices
mentioned above that the first-year
class as a whole is in a very unique
situation. They have special problems
and therefore, need not only
representation, but, special representation.

One voting member is the
answer to this problem of representation.
Some have suggested
lowering the residency requirements
to one semester and letting
first-year men run in the school-wide
elections, First of all this does
not assure the first-year class a seat.
More importantly the representatives
elected, if any, could not
speak for the first-year class as a
whole and could not effectively
represent their opinions and solutions
to the problems facing this
class. Some even fear the other
extreme of "packing" the Council
with first-year men. Being as the
first-year class has the largest single
voting block it is conceivable that
there would be 9 first-year men on
the Council. This would completely
destroy the effectiveness of our
Council. Weighing all arguments
fairly, the only acceptable and
feasible solution to this problem is
the one proposed.

Your vote is disparately needed.
We must have the largest voting
turn-out in the University's history
in order to have this amendment
put into our Constitution. The facts
are before you, the rest is up to you
as a responsible voting member of
this University. Vote for first-year
representation....VOTE FOR
PROGRESS'