University of Virginia Library

By Rod MacDonald

Liberal Council's Record On Line

There are several interesting
political trends developing out of
tomorrow's Student Council
elections as the liberal Council puts
its record on the electoral line.
There has probably not been an
election so ideologically clear-cut in
a long time, and the results should
show what direction the Council as
a whole will take next semester.

First, the contests frequently
transcend school lines. The Virginia
Progressive Party is still
concentrating on the College but is
also reported to be giving campaign
aid, probably through staffers, to
other school candidates. In similar
manner the Young Americans for
Freedom are pushing one
candidate, Bruce Tyler, in the
College and, without an open
endorsement, are seeking to help
Pedro Saavedra in the Graduate
School. The Liquifactionists are
running a candidate in the
Engineering School in addition to
their two College candidates, as are
the Yippies.

College Race

Still, the most exciting race is
usually in the College, and this year
it will be between the Jefferson
Party and the Virginia Progressive
Party, led by Joel Gardner and
Stuart Pape, respectively. The JP
has a decided advantage on a
local-machine level in its 300-plus
membership and its membership
ties to the Young Republicans, who
run the most well-oiled political
organ at the University. The JP also
has extensive fraternity contacts
and will be seeking to elect its slate.

In contrast, the VPP has no such
extensive organization or campaign
fund, and for that reason will be
running a much more issue-oriented
effort, based primarily on the
present Council's record. Last
spring the VPP ran as an insurgent,
challenging the supposedly
dominant forerunners of the JP, the
caucuses. This year it is the
incumbent and has to run on its
own record.

Opened Channels

That record, however, is fairly
good. In this semester members of
the VPP, notably Kevin Mannix,
have gained several new
prerogatives for students, including
nighttime parking for Lawn
residents, more extensive visitation
rules in dorms, and Mr. Mannix's
efforts to help first-year men get
the privilege of having cars at
school. On a broader scope the
Council adopted Mr. Mannix's
minority report on coeducation,
which was opposed by both the
University's committee on
coeducation and the Board of
Visitors, but was implemented by a
state court; it forwarded several
recommendations to the Board of
Visitors on ways to increase black
enrollment, which heretofore have
met the usual bureaucratic response
- no action. The Council, led by
President Bud Ogle, who is usually
allied with the VPP in crucial votes,
has also opened up channels of
communication with the Board of
Visitors by meeting with them at
intervals.

Last spring when the VPP slate
was elected, George McMillan, one
of the prime movers of conservative
candidates at the time, said "I hope
someone pulls out their record in
the fall election and shows that
they haven't carried out what they
promised." The fact is, however,
that the Council has accomplished a
great deal this fall, so that even
Henry Bowden, a candidate for the
JP, said "I think they've done a
good job, basically, although I
think there are areas that could
have been handled in better ways."

Mr. Bowden and his fellow JP
candidates have a tough fight
against incumbents Mannix and
Tony Sherman; but the party has
come up with some reasonable
alternatives. Last year the
conservative candidates dodged
issues, attacking the "excesses of
Council" such as the motion to ban
DKE.

Substantive Changes

This year the candidates,
such as Mr. Bowden, are coming
out for more substantive changes
such as a new Council constitution
and popular election of the
President. And the theme,
expressed in Bill Hurd's posters, as
restoring balance on the Council,
will probably draw many votes
from those students who disagree
with the steps it has taken.
Unfortunately, where the JP
disagrees with the Council is mostly
in peripheral areas, such as
endorsing Moratoriums (which
most of the JP candidates oppose)
and sending letters to Spiro Agnew
about his daughter. And where it
agrees, as on the new constitution,
many of the ideas have already
been effected.

Sophistication

The JP's actual programs reflect
a sophistication missing from
former such platforms: advocating
a dual-sticker system for first-year
men, and weekly black recruiting
visitations, for example. On the
other hand, Kevin Mannix is at
present seeking full equality of
driving privileges for first-year men
from the Traffic Control
Committee on which he sits.
Regarding first-year men, who
comprise the largest bloc of votes,
it is interesting that Bill Hurd,
figuring he will win their votes
anyway, is reportedly not
campaigning in the dorms because
his politics would alienate
voters.

Less Noticeable

The platform plank differences
appear less noticeable than the
strain of activism in the candidates,
however, and for that reason the
VPP candidates and their record
represent the aggressive faction of
the student body, while the JP
represents the group that would
probably like to quiet student
government down and be less
pushy. No doubt the Board of
Visitors, which likes to say Bud
Ogle is unrepresentative of the
students, would like to see the
more conservative JP win the
election, and no doubt Mr. Ogle
would like to see his aggressive
Presidency receive student
endorsement. For that reason this
election is very important, because
the expressed attitude of the
student body is on the line: more
of the present record or a more
conservative one for the future.