ENTERING the final day of University elections, some likely have engaged in last-ditch efforts to protect the unblemished sanctity of things like Honor (one should never leave this word un-capitalized, for that degrades Honor as well). Columnists have traded barbs primarily about the informed retraction referendum. "You're destroying my system!" cries one side, clutching a Beanie Baby of Thomas Jefferson. "Get with it!" screams the other side, wearing leather motorcycle jackets.
Despite the publicity this proposal likely has garnered, one election holds much greater impact on the daily lives of students at our fair University. This is the Student Council position of Vice President for Organizations (VPO). The reason why this position holds such a great deal of influence over students' regular lives is simple: money. Specifically, I refer to Student Activity Fees.
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Every student entering Mr. Jefferson's Academical Village of Happiness and Free Thought is required to pay a $39 Student Activity Fee every semester. The operative word in the previous sentence is "required." All students must pay this fee, regardless of those students' beliefs in the efficacy of or philosophy shown in the monies' use.
The funds enter a general pool from which various groups and organizations are supported. While most attention naturally focuses on whether or not a particular student organization receives support, the fund underwrites certain non-student-run organizations, like Student Legal Services.
Regardless of one's beliefs in the requirement that students must pay these fees, relevant members of the administration, to their credit, have entrusted Council with distributing the bulk of student activity fees. The Council uses an Appropriations Committee to accomplish this task. Here lies the importance of the VPO.
In effect, the appropriations process and the Appropriations Committee are under the purview of the VPO. Aside from typical figurehead responsibilities, like acting as spokesperson for the Committee, the VPO has two responsibilities that carry a great deal of importance.
First, the VPO decides which organizations qualify for Student Activity Fee support. The "CIO Treasurer's Manual," the guidebook for seeking organizational funding, lists basic objective criteria that an organization must meet to be qualified as a Contracted Independent Organization, the kind of organization that may receive funding.
The Manual also lists categories of groups that may and may not receive funding. Ultimately, the VPO is "responsible for the qualification of groups," meaning that this officer decides if an organization fits into the correct categories to ask for student funding.
Once an organization is able to enter the funding process, the Appropriations Committee deliberates on the amount the group should receive.
This is the second power of the VPO: she appoints this committee's Chairperson, subject to Student Council approval. Given that different people naturally will have different inherent biases as far as what kinds of groups are more important, and thus more deserving of student funds, the VPO's selection of Chair indirectly shapes what types of organizations receive greater funding.
As already mentioned, the distributed student funds originate from a pool coerced from the student body. In effect, the Student Activity Fee acts as a tax on students to support various organizations. Those students who do not like how their money is spent have the option to request a "partial refund" of the fees, (U.Va. Financial and Administrative Policy XV.D.2) after the money has been allocated. They, apparently, may not refuse to pay the fee at the beginning of the semester.
Thus, students may most effectively influence where their required student activity fees are spent by carefully considering the candidates running for the VPO position.
The candidates, Kelly Polk and William Sowers, have profiles listed at The Cavalier Daily's Web site. Each one has his or her own contrasting characteristics that should provide fairly distinct choices. One candidate uses the personal pronoun "I" and its derivatives 21 times in 18 sentences. Another uses an outline to answer a short answer question. One seems overly apolitical, while the other is closely aligned with a political group on campus. Both emphasize their prior experience with campus activities.
Unless one expects to be the target of an Honor investigation in the upcoming years, the VPO has the greatest impact on the daily lives of students and on the general culture of the University. Students should select their candidates for this position with care. It is, after all, the students' money.
(Seth Wood's column appears Wednesdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at swood@cavalierdaily.com.)