Board of Visitors minutes :: April 6, 1973 :: University of Virginia Library

The Student Affairs and Athletics Committee of the Board heard arguments by Mr. Larry S. Carlisle and his attorney, Mr. Waverly Parker, on April 5, 1973, and received from Mr. Carlisle and Mr. Parker certain documents as exhibits.

Upon the recommendation of the Student Affairs and Athletics Committee, the following resolution was adopted:

WHEREAS, The Rector and Visitors, by its resolution of 5 June 1970 concerning student activity fees, established procedures by which persons aggrieved by the approval or disapproval by Student Council of allocations from the Student Activity Fund might prosecute appeals, such resolution indicating that if no appeal was taken from the decision by Student Council approving an allocation then the allocation would be made;
AND WHEREAS, Mr. Christian S. White and others, not including the petitioner Mr. Larry S. Carlisle, on or about 28 November 1972, in accordance with the procedure established by the Rector and Visitors, appealed from a decision by Student Council approving an allocation of funds to the Gay Student Union, but did not appeal other allocations, such allocation to the Gay Student Union being later approved by the Student Activities Committee but thereafter denied by the President and also by the Rector and Visitors in its resolution of 2 February 1973;
AND WHEREAS in paragraph (5) of such resolution of 2 February 1973, the Rector and Visitors instructed the Student Activities Committee to re-examine the allocation of all funds made during the 1972-73 session and to halt allocations "to organizations not meeting the requirements of the 1970 guidelines" as interpreted by the Rector and Visitors in its resolution of 2 February 1973;
AND WHEREAS, Mr. Christian S. White then asserted that the Rector and Visitors had applied new guidelines to deny funds to the Gay Student Union which had not been applied equally to other organizations, and asserted further that this conferred upon him and his colleagues standing to attack allocations made to organizations other than the Gay Student Union in the Session 1972-73 even though he and his colleagues had failed to adhere to the reasonable appellate procedures established for this purpose by the Rector and Visitors and President, which procedures could have been utilized by him and his colleagues had their complaint been timely;
AND WHEREAS a majority of Mr. White's colleagues then withdrew from this new attack upon the allocation of funds, Mr. White then being joined by the petitioner, Mr. Carlisle and others, who had participated in the appeal from the allocation of funds to the Gay Student Union; and Mr. White and his new Colleagues then sought to intervene in the inquiry by the Student Activities Committee ordered by the Rector and Visitors in its resolution of 2 February 1973, such intervention being denied by the Chairman of the Committee upon the advice of Counsel;
AND WHEREAS in order to permit Mr. Carlisle to state on his own behalf and on behalf of other petitioners objections to the Report of the Student Activities Committee when this report was made to the Student Affairs and Athletics Committee of this Board, Mr. Carlisle with Mr. Parker as Counsel was invited by the President, with the consent of the Committee Chairman, to appear before the Committee, and did appear, raising objections to allocations to a substantial number of organizations based upon his construction of the guidelines of the Rector and Visitors as applied in its resolution of 2 February 1973, and deposited with the Committee a written statement of his objections with exhibits;
NOW BE IT RESOLVED:
(1) That the Rector and Visitors in its resolution of 2 February 1973 applied its guidelines of 5 June 1970 in denying funds to the Gay Student Union and applied no new guidelines for this purpose;
(2) That Paragraph 1 of its resolution of 2 February 1973 is intended by the Rector and Visitors to describe general limitations upon its power which have for many years been imposed by constitutional, statutory and common law, all of which could have been ascertained by counsel and some of which were argued by Mr. Dickey, one of the counsel for the appellants in the Gay Student Union case, but which are now described by Messrs. Carlisle and Parker as "new"; and that Paragraph 2 of the resolution deals principally with substantial political and substantial social activity, both of which were the basis of principal arguments offered by appellants in the Gay Student Union case but which they now describe as "new", although previously, and correctly, asserted by Messrs. Parker and Dickey as existing guidelines.
(3) That under these circumstances it would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious to allow an appeal by the present petitioners, White, Carlisle et al when reasonable procedures for appeal provided by the Rector and Visitors were not utilized and when individuals and organizations relying upon these procedures would be denied their reasonable expectation of certainty to funds allocated. A careful scrutiny by the Student Activities Committee of these allocations under careful instructions by the President and Board is reasonable. Permitting a wholesale attack upon these allocations by persons hostile to the organizations receiving them without applying to these attacks the procedural requirements applied to other students is unreasonable.
(4) That for the reasons set forth in paragraphs (1), (2) and (3) the petition of Mr. White, Mr. Carlisle and others to deny allocation of funds to student organizations for the Session 1972-73 is denied, which denial constitutes final administrative action upon this petition;
NEVERTHELESS BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Rector and Visitors desires assurance that its instructions in Paragraph 5 of its resolution of 2 February 1973, as supplemented by explanatory instructions by the President in his letter of 6 February 1973, have been executed. In particular the Rector and Visitors desires that the constitutions of organizations which might, by reasonable expectation, engage in substantial social activities be carefully examined and allocations of funds denied in appropriate cases and further-more desires that no organization be funded which discriminates in membership based on race, religion or sex (except in those forms of athletic competition in which discrimination by sex is reasonable). To this end, the Rector and Visitors returns its report to the Student Activities Committee for further inquiry by it and transmits with this report copies of the statement and exhibits submitted to the Board by Mr. Carlisle and Mr. Parker, such statement and materials to be used as the Committee deems expedient. The Committee will report its findings to the Student Affairs and Athletics Committee at the next regular meeting of the Rector and Visitors.