The Cavalier daily :: Tuesday, February 29, 1972 :: University of Virginia Library

A decision to delay full
implementation of the revised First Year
Resident Staff program was announced
Friday by Vice President for student
Affairs, D. Alan Williams.

Mr. Williams announced the decision
in a letter to Irby B. Cauthen, Jr., Dean
of the College of Arts and Sciences. The
letter stated that the decision was made
"following extensive discussion" among
staff members of the Office of Student
Affairs, the Executive Committee of
Counselors, and Mr. Cauthen's office.

The letter also stated that the present
First Year Counseling program will
continue and that the Executive
Committee of Counselors will be allowed,
as in the past, to make revisions and
realignments "to meet the anticipated
needs of the 1972 First-Year class."

Mr. Williams added to this that a
"reconstituted Committee on Resident
Staff" will be asked to examine the
First-Year program and make
recommendations in time for discussion
and implementation on Feb. 1, 1973.

This committee will be constituted of
members of the Executive Committee on
Counselors and representatives from the
Upper Class and the First-Year Resident
Programs. Included with these will be
representatives of the Counseling Center
and Hank Allen of the Consultative
Resource Center along with Mr. Cauthen
and other academic deans.

The position of Resident Advisor for
each Association will also be retained and
a committee will be formed to develop
and recommend a clear definition of the
role of the Resident Advisor.

Photo By Jay Adams

D. Alan Williams

Vice President for Student Affairs

Mr. Williams's decision was announced
only one day after the Executive
Committee of Counselors had voted 9-8
to adopt the new counseling program,
which had been submitted by Associate
Dean of Students Chester R. Titus.

A new office, Head Resident, was also
included in the new system. The Head
Resident would have provided overall
supervision and guidance for resident
staff and residents in an assigned area.

Mr. Titus's planned revisions had
caused dissatisfaction among several
members of the Executive Committee
and several Resident Advisors.

Reactions to Mr. Williams
announcement were favorable around the
University. In a statement released
yesterday, Mr. Cauthen said, "I am most
appreciative of Mr. Williams's agreement
to postpone some features of the
proposed first-year Resident Staff
Program for the immediate future."

Mr. Cauthen also pledged the College
Dean's office would cooperate fully in
the forthcoming consultations.

Associate professor of law, Charles
Whitebread, who is a member of the
Resident Advisor Program, indicated
delight and satisfaction in the announced
delay.

Mr. Whitebread also said he was
pleased that the new Committee of
Resident Staff will contain members from
many parts of the University.

Photo By Jay Adams

Irby B. Cauthen

Dean of the College

The new program had included a
rearrangement of the system's structure.
Resident Advisors would have been
abolished and a graduate assistant
program would have been initiated.

According to Mr. Williams the
Executive Committee of Counselors is
looking forward to working with the
Associate Deans "in providing to
First-Year students on their halls and in
their suites even more extensive academic
advising than in the past."

In earlier events, in the Raven Society
sponsored debate Tuesday night, Feb. 22,
Mr. Cauthen introduced a letter signed by
him and other association deans, which
proposed the delay.

The letter stated in part that "we do
not see the system as sacrosanct, but we
urge full consultations in any proposed
changes to it."

The letter also expressed concern over
the effectiveness of the program in
fulfilling "the social and academic needs
of a student." A desire to know of more
ways in which to advise academically was
also shown.

Delay in the implementation of the
program was urged "until a wider
consultation has been made, until we
have more advice, gripes, compliments and
facts on which to build until we have made
more efforts to bring about a program
that will encompass both the social and
the academic life."

Photo By Jay Adams

Chester R. Titus

Associate Dean of Students