University of Virginia Library

By Tom Gardner

Over-Represented
Graduate Schools

The second issue raised by the
Student Council vote against the
coeducation suit is the continuing
problem of motions relating primarily
to the College being vetoed
by the over-represented graduate
and professional schools. The fact
that every representative from the
College of Arts and Sciences (Graduate
and Undergraduate) voted for
the coeducation motion and every
other representative vote against it
displays more than simply a difference
between pro-feminists and
anti-feminists or between liberals
and conservatives. While the College
representatives voiced the sentiment
of the students who will be
most affected by the decision, that
sentiment was cancelled by the
votes of representatives from
schools which will be least affected
by the decision.

This situation is not unprecedented
and it has been more
common than not that motions
involving particularly College concerns
have been vetoed or aborted
by the representatives from other
schools. The problem would not be
quite so acute were representatives
elected on a one-man, one-vote
basis. The Council is so malapportioned
now, however, that a Student
Council member from the
College (Undergraduate) represents
an average of from 400 to 600
more voters than most of the
representatives from other schools.

'Decision' Structure

I do not mean to suggest that
the other schools should not be
represented in a University-wide
"decision" making structure
(though I might suggest that some
schools like Graduate Business
should not exist). Even if the
Student Council were reapportioned
to accurately represent the
University population, the College
should still have its own voice. It
makes much more sense, for instance,
both practically and in
terms of democratic theory, for the
nomination of student members to
committees of the Faculty of the
College of Arts and Sciences to be
determined by representatives from
the student body of the College of
Arts and Sciences rather than by
representatives from Law, Medicine,
and Graduate Business.

In these changing times, with
the increased size and diversity of
the University and the imperative
for progressive change, it is difficult
to imagine that the College students
will continue to tolerate this
archaic "rural" structure. Each
year's entering class brings a sharper
social awareness and a more radical
force for a truly democratic University.
Whether the issue is women's
rights, racial equality, or student
power, students in the College are
bound to be more and more
insistent upon having a clear
channel through which to be heard
without having their collective
voice muffled by an entrenched and
unrepresentative student establishment.

*****

Gradualist Plans

In my last column, in referring
to the gradualist plans by the
Administration and the Board of
Visitors for coeducation, the
"Board's decision" should have
read:

This makes the 1954 Supreme
Court "Brown" decisions "all deliberate
speed" provision look like an
edict for revolutionary rapidity.