University of Virginia Library

Letters To The Editor

More Student Involvement Needed

Mr. Bardenwerper's article on
the problem of student leadership
(C.D., Feb. 16) seems to be yet
another symptom of the problems
of student government. Leadership
is definitely there: the problem lies
in the apathy of the student body,
not in its leaders.

With students involving
themselves in many new areas of
University policy, there has been a
tendency for student manpower to
be "spread thin." The student
council spring offensive is just an
attempt to get more of the students
here involved in these problems, so
as to provide a real opportunity to
affect the policies.

The Union of University
Students, growing out of last May's
strike, has been active in many
areas of University policy, & the
Alderman Road Council is finally
having some success in dealing with
the Housing office. But how many
students have been actively
supporting these efforts, or any
other such attempts to make our
voices heard? Not many.

The "sad state of an outdated
overburdened Alderman Library"
was brought to light largely through
the efforts of the student council
Library committee. But how much
can Monty Harris do? Council
members Willie Ivey, Tom Collier,
and Maryanne McDermott have
been working with the increasing
problems of racism at U.Va., but
there is only so much that they
alone can do. Kevin Mannix has
sent out petitions to limit the size
of next year's entering class and
fought frequent battles with the
University Bureaucracy, but he
can't do everything. These are but a
few examples of efforts that are
simply not getting enough support
from the student body itself. Too
frequently we blame the problems
on student council and student
leadership. But how many people
have actually bothered to go to a
council meeting? Never even
enough to outnumber the members
themselves.

It is time for the student body
to decide if it really wants a voice
in the policies and actions of this
University. If it does, it had better
get involved right now.

Political Mouthpiece

It is a recurring source of
annoyance to me that I have
involuntarily subsidized the
propagation of the editor's political
opinions which spew forth on the
Cavalier Daily's editorial page.
Passing over the question of why
this particular person's political
opinions should be so glorified.

I ask why, by all that is
Jeffersonian, should I be forced
through the comprehensive fees to
contribute to a publication that has
made itself a political mouthpiece
(e.g. characterizing Mr. Nixon as
liar (last year), "monster" (last
semester), and the Vietnam war as
"lost" (last week).

May the same libertarian
wisdom which caused the Harvard
Crimson to become self-supporting
manifest itself soon at the
University.