The University welcomes about 3,450 first years into its undergraduate student body this weekend. Those will not be the only fresh faces appearing on and around Grounds during the upcoming year, however. An unusual number of newcomers also will occupy influential leadership positions within the University and Charlottesville communities. To ensure that the University continues to benefit from steady guidance and well-targeted policies, it is crucial that students get to know their new leaders, as well as the specific responsibilities with which each of them is charged.
Although no longer technically a new name, President Teresa A. Sullivan is embarking on what will be only her second academic year at the University's helm. Tasked with providing overarching policy recommendations to the Board of Visitors, Sullivan already has advanced at least one proposal that directly responds to student concerns. She secured a modest wage increase for the University's lowest paid workers, reflecting the influence of the student-led Living Wage Campaign. These activists recognized Sullivan - whose academic background is in labor sociology - as a natural ally to their cause and reached out to her in a successful attempt to influence University policy.
Sullivan also crafted an enrollment plan that will add 1,400 undergraduate and 100 graduate students to the University by 2019. Perhaps most noteworthy, however, are the personnel decisions that Sullivan has made or is in the process of making. She named Michael Strine as the University's executive vice president and chief operating officer in May, and later this fall she is expected to select a new executive vice president and provost. These two positions oversee a variety of administrative decisions that touch nearly every aspect of student life at the University.
As Strine begins his tenure as the chief administrator of the University's non-academic operations, students should be aware of the impact his decisions will have on their University experiences. A good picture can be drawn based on the accomplishments of his predecessor, Leonard Sandridge, who was integral to the creation of two of the University's crown jewels - John Paul Jones Arena and AccessUVa. The arena was named Pollstar's Best New Concert Venue shortly after it opened in 2006, and it has since hosted major acts such as The Rolling Stones, Lady Gaga and Muse. As for AccessUVa, the Princeton Review recently ranked it as the top financial aid service provided by a public university. These two initiatives show that the type of work Strine undertakes will be key to the University's efforts to provide a socially and culturally rich experience to its student body, as well as to its continued outreach to underrepresented demographic groups.
Another vital leadership position that has a new occupant is the rector of the Board of Visitors. Serving in this role is Helen Dragas, who oversees the 16-member body that approves all personnel, financial and enrollment decisions at the University. Dragas and her fellow Board members - five of whom are new appointees - will have the final say on everything from the tuition students pay to the class sizes they encounter.
Finally, students should prepare for substantial turnover in the Charlottesville City Council. This is the elected body with arguably the most influence on the life of students at the University, and three of its five seats are up for grabs this November. This means that students eligible to vote in Charlottesville will have a chance to determine who will decide the tax rates they pay when they go out to eat, the amount that is spent on bicycle infrastructure and whether the Free Trolley is able to begin operating past midnight on the weekends.
Altogether, these recently arrived and incoming authorities will determine the type of school and city that students experience while enrolled at the University. Although administrators and councilmen must take into account the interests of many different constituencies when setting policies, students can expect a much more adequate response to their needs if they know to whom they should address their praise and criticism when important decisions are made.
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