STUDENT self-governance. Its utterance causes some students to smirk, politicos to grin, the Office of Admissions to gleam and alumni to sigh in pleasant reflection. Student self-governance is one of those often-heard buzzwords every Wahoo seems to associate as one of the core assets of the University community. Due to increased participation and student faith in leadership organizations, leaders are in a position to more effectively improve student life on Grounds.
As First Year Council president, I have come to appreciate how the effectiveness of student government is contingent on the support of the students represented. Former Student Council president and government and foreign affairs professor Larry Sabato recalls a golden age of participation in student government in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when it was easy to gather thousands of student signatures for petition drives or even to hold large demonstrations on the Lawn. Sabato muses that students were so active because the era was "yeasty" with both national and University concerns that directly affected students. The late 1970s, however, marked a shift away from student faith in their student government organizations, and the University rarely again heard rousing dining hall table top speeches of its student leaders.
Today, student government involvement is climbing, but in a different manner. Few would claim to have seen Student Council President Joe Bilby make an inspirational speech from the top of a table in Newcomb Hall, or to have noticed Council President-elect Abby Fifer lead a march on Carr's Hill in favor of more comprehensive health care for graduate students. Instead, today's leaders use negotiation and build close relationships with the administration. These efforts have met with such success that more students desire to become involved in the University's leadership.
Bilby agrees that student involvement is at an all time high, but he notes the perennial drop-off in participation that all student organizations face the second semester. Bilby claims this occurs because students actually over-participate in student activities and spread themselves too thin. The level of activism and involvement in leadership organizations on Grounds is reaching a new height. The student body is so active that it has trouble sustaining activity throughout the year.
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The class of 2001 is the first to see a class council every year of its tenure here. Recently created second and third-year class councils offer a tangible example of an increase in student self-government. Now, 60 to 80 more students enjoy direct leadership roles in shaping their respective classes.
Also critical to student government is awareness among all students. The recent honor referenda forced students to think hard about maintaining the community of trust. In the weeks preceding the vote, debate could be heard around Grounds on the referenda. Honor Committee Chair Thomas Hall agrees that whether for or against the proposal, students were aggressive in reviewing the referenda. Many credit the honor proposals for the 2,000-person increase in turnout for the elections this semester and a 400 percent increase in graduate student turnout from last year.
The achievements of this year's Council should be credited for the huge surge of student interest to become involved. Eleven students vied for the three contested seats on Council's executive board. This year's Council left behind the moniker of a do-nothing, politico self-promoter and moved into the prestigious spotlight of ambitious, student-serving, out-for-the-good-of-the-University leadership organization.
Important issues such as the living wage for University employees, offensive language in the Good Ol' Song, construction of a new student center, courtside basketball seats for students and the University's divestment from corporations in Burma have sparked a great deal of discussion among students. Tonight Council will debate and likely vote whether or not to support the controversial proposal to assign students randomly to McCormick or Alderman Road housing. By addressing these concerns, student leadership organizations like Council are codifying a rebirth of student participation and self-government.
Though the days of widespread petitioning and national activism have faded into distant memory, student involvement is on the rise. Fortunately for today's students, new highs in participation have made leadership organizations more successful than ever before in their efforts to improve student life. It falls on the newly elected leaders of these organizations to build on this surge and help show the incoming classes what sets this institution apart from any other university: the quality of our student leadership.
(Preston Lloyd is a Cavalier Daily viewpoint writer.)
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