University of Virginia Library

Vote No On Constitution

With fall elections taking place tomorrow
through Thursday, we feel the interest
generated by some of the issues in this
campaign has shown that there is far more
student concern about student government
here than has been thought.

We feel the most important vote to be
taken will be that on the new Student
Council constitution. By petition and response
to several comments, we have been
shown that the students do care about their
form of government.

We urge those students to vote tomorrow
through Thursday, and vote against
ratification of this constitution. By so doing,
they will enable it to be returned to the
Student Council for further study and modification.

Arguments have been proposed that this
would be a strong government if ratified;
yet we feel that nothing in the constitution
shows any promise of this. In fact, the new
constitution is so vaguely worded that it
could be construed whatever way one desires.
With a president who could act on
his own accord without consultation, we
doubt if this vagueness is a good idea.

It has also been said that the new constitution
would give the Council the power
to take more action. Again we doubt this
point, since the new legislature would be a
vastly more disorganized body with 50
members, since the officers could easily
be elected with far less than majority
support, and since no methods are even
offered for the election of those officers. In
short, the constitution says far too little
about what the extra power would be,
and from where it would come.

The Council itself voted to drop the
constitution for the time being in order
to study it later; yet a group of students
forced it on the ballot in its present incomplete
form. This action forced valid
amendments into the background.

Jacques Jones, one of the supporters
absent when Council voted to drop the
constitution, has said that were he and another
supporter present the vote would
have been different. Nonetheless, we feel it
would not have been different enough to
prevent the Council from voting it down
by a still-large margin.

Once again, we urge that all students
vote on this vital issue. More important,
we urge those students to vote against ratification.
Such action would bring this incomplete
document back to where it might
be extensively studied. In the end, Council
could propose a student government that
could be a true asset for the student body
rather than a hindrance.