University of Virginia Library

Ad Hoc Committee Defended;
Member Reacts To Criticism

By Ron Cass

Much has been written about the
Ad Hoc committee. Having read the
informed opinions tucked away in
the back of letters-to-the-editors
columns in The Cavalier Daily and
the editorial section of the unfortunately
little-read Virginia Weekly,
as well as the prominently-placed
statements by people unconnected
with the committee and unaware of
its operation, we feel that it might
be worthwhile and interesting to
the student body to learn a bit
more about the purpose and work
of the Ad Hoc committee.

Committee Formed

The committee was formed by
and composed of students interested
in seeing things done to
improve the University, not, as has
been charged, to destroy it. We are
not all left-wing radicals interested
in bringing riots to Virginia. The
members of the committee cover a
broad range of people with many
differing ideas on University life
and issues, but with one common
bond: we are all interested in doing
something. Members include two
Student Councilmen, Pieter
Schenkkan and Bud Ogle; Ron
Cass, an officer of the University
Party and the Alderman Road Committee;
Buzzy Waitzkin, a founder
of the Experimental University; Sid
Sydnor, a leader of Students for a
Democratic Society; Bob Paley, a
member of The Cavalier Daily advertising
staff; Bob Copeland of the
Stanford White Society; Steve
Squire, a teacher at the New York
State University College at Plattsburgh
on leave as a graduate history
student; and Don Bellomy of the
University Forum. While this
doesn't include all the members'
activities, it does give an indication
of their scope and perhaps dispels
the air of anonymity of which
we've been accused. Everyone on
the committee is on it as an interested
individual.

Problems Discussed

In discussing the problems encountered
by students here, we
came across one which we all felt
was of major importance to anyone
who wished to see a liberalization
of University policies in almost any
area. This problem was the feeling
of alienation students had respecting
the control of their
own lives here. The Board of Visitors
is ostensibly charged with final
responsibility in all matters concerning
the University and with sole
jurisdiction over board policies. The
Board of Visitors is also the
governing organ students know
least about. To be honest, you'd be
hard-put to find any significant
number of students even among the
"active" ones who have had any
dealing with the Visitors or any
chance to really express opinions to
the Board. One Cavalier Daily
feature article called our "demands"
misguided, saying that Visitors
are "God-parents to the University."
That gives us a real warm,
happy, homey, family feeling. But
we also think that anyone having
the powers of control the Visitors
are reputed to possess should have
of interested students. God-parents
are nice, but someone responsible
for shaping University policy,
whether directly or indirectly,
could do with a little less paternal
concern for keeping students from
shameful indulgence in the vices
grown-ups know and love so well,
and a little more understanding of
the students' problems and feelings
and, strangely enough, desires.

The author of this same article
said, "It is, as I see it, only on
important questions of malpractice
or of over-all community welfare
(such as perhaps, coeducation and
future expansion) that students
have the right to petition (not
'confront,' which seems to be a
favorite term with the Ad Hoc
committee) the Board." To discuss
all that is wrong with this statement,
much less the rest of the
article, would take more time and
space than we have. There are a
couple of points, however, which
merit clarification. First, the word
"confront" was used not in any of
the committee's literature or discussion,
but only in The Cavalier Daily
where it has appeared in captions
and articles - so let us say it is a
favorite term of yours, dear sirs.
Second, and more importantly, this
sentence indicates an attitude
which has been holding U. Va. studentry
back in the dark ages - the
students are taught to believe they
have no rights, or only very limited
ones. It is our feeling that the
University exists primarily for the
students, not the administrators,
the faculty members, or even the
Board of Visitors. While we recognize
that teaching is not the major
concern of many professors, and
while the administration and the
Board are often more concerned
with their desires, their problems,
their moralities, and their funds
than with students and their problems,
we feel this is not what a
University should be. As students,
we have the right to petition the
Board, even to talk to the Board,
on any question of importance to
us. Further, we feel that if the
Visitors are responsible for the policy
decisions here, students should
have an opportunity to meet with
the Visitors and hopefully to hash
out their differences.

Question Of Power

This brings us to the question of
power. Does the Board really have
any? Some people seem to think
that we "ad hoc boys" are pretty
stupid not to know that Dean
Williams. Chester Titus and President
Shannon really run everything
attributed to the Board. Maybe so.
But having read the Manual of the
Board of Visitors, having talked to
the Dean of Student Affairs, the
Assistant Secretary of the Board
and Assistant to the President, and
the President himself, we doubt it.
On the basis of all this research into
the subject, the point seems obvious
that either nobody knows just
how much power the Board has
delegated to various administrators
(the fact that the Board of Visitors
could exercise almost unlimited
power if they chose is indisputable)
or nobody's telling. When
asked just what he could decide
independently and what he had to
go to the Board for, President
Shannon said he did not know. The
President of the I.F.C. asked the
President of the University about
approval of the change in the structure
of the 3-3-3 Committee and
found out that the change had to
be okayed by the President or the
Board, no one was sure which.
Maybe if we talk to the Board, we
can find out just who is responsible
for what.

"Time-Out Day"

A final word of explanation concerning
the meeting on October 29.
This meeting was timed to coincide
with national "Time-out Day,"
sponsored by the National Student
Association, an organization composed
of lots of groups like our
Student Council at a lot of Universities.
But the problems dealt with
were those of U.Va. - problems
similar to those faced by many
other universities, but none-the-less,
problems dealt with as ours. The
meeting was open to all interested
students, and all who came were
given a chance to express their
opinions. And these opinions were
followed by the committee. Every
one of the 3,000 people who signed
the petition was invited to attend,
and the few who did expressed the
desire for the committee under
whose auspices the petition was
circulated to present the petition
directly to the president. The President
of Student Council, the members
of the committee, and the
students and faculty members there
all had the opportunity to express
their opinions, after which votes
were taken to determine the fate of
the petitions. We'd like to stress
that this meeting was not a bunch
of rowdies on the steps of old
Cabell as The Cavalier Daily
charged - in fact the meeting was
attended by such noted rowdies as
Dean Williams. Finally, contrary to
the appearance The Cavalier Daily's
picture conveyed (the picture
showed only the observers and not
the committee), what transpired
was not a barricading of President
Shannon's office, not a manhandling
of "bullying" or Mrs.
Lane, the President's Secretary, but
rather a persistent effort by the
members of the committee to personally
present the petitions to
President Shannon.

Keeps In Touch

Since then, the Ad Hoc committee
has kept in touch both with the
President and with Student Council,
and continues to work through
any means which may prove fruitful
to improve communications
with the administration and the
Board of Visitors. Anyone with
questions on our individual reasons
for what we have done, anyone
wanting to help in what we seek to
do is welcome to contact us. Our
names are public. The student
directory has our numbers.