University of Virginia Library

'Student Presence'

Nearly everyone was confronted in
childhood with a group of kids on the block
who went to the vacant lot, built a ramshackle
clubhouse and painted on it "No girls
allowed," or perhaps if they were a little
older, "No Elm St. kids allowed." Behind its
own closed doors Thursday the faculty of the
College of Arts and Sciences is going to
consider the report of its committee charged
with determining whether the faculty's own
"No Students Allowed" sign is going to come
down, at least partially.

The Committee on the Presence of
Students at Faculty Meetings, chaired by
Fredson Bowers, was obsolete before it began
its deliberations. It was formed after a motion
passed by last year's Student Council, which
requested that reporters of the student press
be admitted to meetings of the College
Faculty. Before the Committee began its
work, however, the new Council passed
another resolution, requesting that faculty
meetings be open to all students. Believing
that passage of the press resolution by the
faculty would only impede the passage of its
subsequent open meeting resolution, College
Council members recommended that the
Committee on Student Presence reject the
original proposal and get on to the open
meeting resolution, which we hope will also
be passed soon.

The Committee eventually split up into
two groups. One, a majority composed of
Messrs. Bowers, Abbot, and Harned asked to
be discharged of any responsibility and
recommended that a committee be established
to look into the question of open meetings.
The other, composed of Messrs. Battestin and
Kolodziej, recommended that the faculty act
immediately on the press question and
appoint a committee to study the feasibility
of open meetings.

Council may be right in feeling that after
admitting press to the meetings the faculty
will delay consideration of the open meeting
question; but to us, it would appear that the
committee proposed by both the majority and
the minority will take its own time
considering the matter, no matter what the
disposition of the press question. Had the
original committee chosen to broaden its
scope, Council's position might have proved
the strongest tactically, but the majority and
minority reports make this unfeasible now.

What students are faced with now is a half
a loaf or none situation. If the majority report
is passed, students will have only a new
committee. If the minority report goes
through, students will have the same
committee, in addition to press representation
for the upcoming faculty meetings on
curriculum and other matters.

Our reasons for asking entrance to faculty
meetings have been detailed here before. They
are contained in the report distributed to the
College Faculty by Mr. Bowers. Suffice it to
say that we support the minority report of the
Committee on Student Presence at Faculty
Meetings and we urge faculty members to
attend Thursday's meeting and vote for its
adoption. We will be with you in spirit.