THERE are a lot of things about the University that surprise me. Having spent my undergraduate years in the withering - and seemingly interminable - winters of upstate New York, beautiful weather that lasts well into November is somewhat of a pleasant novelty for me. And having a student population that shares my affinity for argyle is an equally surprising plus.
Perhaps the most surprising feature of the University for me, however, is the degree of autonomy that the students possess with regard to their own organizations and activities. I came from an institution that allowed students a high degree of control regarding their own affairs, so I am familiar with a fair amount of student involvement, but even so, the degree of student self-governance at the University is truly unique.
Before I go any further, let me be absolutely clear that I strongly support the University's current approach to student self-governance. As someone who has been drawn to student leadership throughout undergraduate and graduate school, I think that a tradition of self-governance is one of the best ways to instill responsibility in students. Indeed, the University administration, by encouraging students to take responsibility for their own governance and conduct, demonstrates its firm commitment - both symbolic and actual - to treating its students like adults.
Still, I cannot help but be surprised.
I imagined that many on the undergraduate side would take this remarkable freedom to run their own affairs for granted. After all, at least to my untrained eye, generations of University students have lived with this system and, on the whole, have been happy with it. Yet our practice of self-governance represents an odd outlier rather than the undergraduate norm.
For many universities, protection of the institutional brand name often can be a major factor in de-emphasizing student self-governance and insisting on greater administrative control of student conduct and organizations. This desire for more institutional control often can be justified on the basis that students still are adjusting to their release from the parental leash and are prone to abuse their newfound freedom. And, indeed, we have all heard stories about hazing, scandals in student government and general rambunctiousness on the part of college students. My point is that there is a fair argument that finds that placing the responsibility of their peers in the hands of students is somewhat risky.
The University is obviously aware of these risks. Nevertheless, its response has been appropriate. The University, counterintuitively but correctly in my view, realized the best way to combat the scourge of student immaturity is to thrust responsibility on them, and let students, through their own example, demonstrate they can be trusted with real authority.
One might think the University's particular brand of student activism might cause friction with the faculty. At many institutions, it is the faculty or a joint faculty-student panel that tends to adjudicate student offenses. Certainly, as far as student academic conduct is concerned, our faculty do not have the power that many of their counterparts have at other schools.
Indeed, when discussing the nature of student-faculty relations, Politics Prof. Larry Sabato has pointed out that student self-governance actually benefits the student-faculty relationship. "Frankly, I suspect that Virginia's particular culture helps the faculty," he said. "It removes from them the burden of having to be the disciplinarian, which can help student perceptions of their professors." And it would appear that the beneficial, open nature of student self-governance reaches beyond general student-faculty relations to characterizing how
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