University of Virginia Library

Towards Student Input

The poor attendance by fourth-year men
at a recent meeting for all majors in the
English department is symptomatic of the
problems involved in the very broad issue of
student participation in University affairs.
There were probably many causes for the
poor showing by those students who should
have been highly motivated to attend a
departmental meeting. Many were probably
not informed of the meeting, and of those
that were, many may not have been aware of
its potential importance. A large number did
know that the meeting would select a
representative to the English Department
council but simply believed that this sort of
representation was token and accomplished
nothing. Or perhaps because of the heavy
emphasis being placed on graduate courses,
they felt that their representatives' opinions
would be slighted anyway. Some probably
just didn't care.

Whatever the reasons for the poor
attendance, we would urge those who did not
attend to do so at a meeting which has been
rescheduled for Monday night. If they feel
they aren't being represented properly, or
need more representation, they should say so.
If they feel curriculum reform is needed, this
meeting is the place to bring it up. Contrary
to what many may think, the academic
councils of many departments are not entirely
unsympathetic or intransigent when it comes
to student opinion. Many changes made in the
English curriculum this year were directly
influenced by the recommendations of student
representatives.

It is discouraging that many departments
within the college have no formal student
input concerning curriculum and other academic
matters. We would hope that these
departments would soon consider setting up a
formal structure for this input and that the
other departments consider improving existing
channels.

This sort of student participation is not an
unheard of idea at the University. On a larger
scale in the college, five of the nine faculty
committees have students on them this year.
The Law school, medical school and architecture
school all have student representation,
often on an equal basis, on faculty committees.
The college, then, seems to be lagging
behind in the area of student input on
curriculum matters. The departmental councils
provide an excellent opportunity for
initial reform in this area.