In a continuation of its discussion last week, Student Council passed resolutions calling on the University to set standardized religious accommodations for students participating in fasting holidays during their General Body meeting Tuesday. Additionally, a resolution recognizing an annual “Day of Peace, Love and Joy,” to honor the lives of D’Sean Perry, Lavel Davis Jr. and Devin Chandler — three Virginia football players killed in a Nov. 13, 2022 shooting on Grounds — passed, as did legislation approving 28 new CIO’s.
Second-year College Rep. Ian Travis proposed legislation broadly requesting standardized academic accommodations for students observing Yom Kippur — a Jewish holiday in which observers fast for a 25-hour period — having initially proposed it last meeting as an amendment to a resolution calling for standardized accommodations for Ramadan.
The amendment that sought to add other fasting holidays to the Ramadan bill last week was broader than the scope of the legislation, as the original bill was drafted with the support of the Muslim Institute for Leadership and Empowerment — a University program with the stated mission of helping students become socially conscious leaders — and designed for students observing Ramadan in particular.
Following Travis’ resolution, which was passed by the representative body, second-year College Rep. Dalton Haydel proposed a separate piece of legislation requesting the same accommodations in respect to Good Friday, a Catholic holiday in which observers engage in a day-long fast. Both resolutions call for standardized academic flexibility for students participating in religious fasting.
“I wanted to make sure that in [the University’s] academic syllabi, there are specific accommodations for students who are celebrating Good Friday … [The resolution] was purely to make sure that students of all faith backgrounds could more fully access accommodations, because it had been a struggle among students of different faith backgrounds,” said Haydel.
Both resolutions would allow for students to be able to get accommodations for their religious needs without relying solely on sick days and unexcused absences. Haydel said that these accommodations would avoid making students struggle to balance their health and religious practices when considering how to use the sick days allotted to them in their classes. Haydel’s resolution specific to Good Friday was also passed by the representative body.
Travis said that although it is unclear right now what these accommodations will look like and how they will be implemented, he hopes that these resolutions will set up negotiations with University administration and be brought to the faculty senate for approval.
Following this discussion, Valentina Menloza Gonzalez, Student Council president and fourth-year College student, proposed legislation to declare Nov. 13, 2024 as a “Day of Peace, Love and Joy” to honor the lives lost in the Nov. 13, 2022 shooting — former Virginia football players D’Sean Perry, Lavel Davis Jr., and Devin Chandler. Student Council passed the same legislation last year to honor the one-year anniversary of the shooting.
“Student Council wants to formally have a way to honor them,” Gonzalez said. “We do this through proclaiming a day for peace, love and joy on November 13, 2024 to remember, celebrate and embrace the values of D’Sean, Lavel and Devin and spread [them] across the University and the University community.”
Jackson Sleadd, College Rep. and second-year College student, asked if there could be a moment of silence or message honoring the victims of the 2022 shooting at the beginning of each general body meeting closest to the date of Nov. 13 annually. Andreas Masiakos, chair of the representative body and fourth-year College student, offered to talk about Sleadd's idea one-on-one at a later time.
Beyond legislation, Darden Rep. Ellie Marsh raised concerns over the accessibility of Student Council’s forms for Contracted Independent Organizations looking to receive funding, particularly in regards to slow Student Council response times. Ryan Bowers, vice president for organizations and fourth-year Mcintire student, agreed and said that a more efficient method for groups to request CIO status and funding is needed.
Jason Almas, chair pro tempore and fourth-year College student, specifically mentioned that Presence — the software that the University uses for CIO and event request forms — is confusing and asked if Student Council could do anything to address this. Bowers said that the contract with Presence expires at the end of this academic year and that they will be switching to another more stable platform to host Student Council forms.
Beyond the discussion of CIO form accessibility, Graduate School Rep. Adam Friedman-Brown brought up a new change made to the Event Management Forms page on the U.Va. website. Brown said that previously, if a group requested to host an event with alcohol, an alcohol form would have to be filled out. She said that there is now an additional security form that must be filled out whenever alcohol is at an event, which allows for the University to decide whether or not there will be University police present. According to Brown, if there are more than two officers needed, the event hosts will have to pay an extra $250.
Friedman-Brown raised concerns about these changes being made within the context of last year's encampment, where police — including state officers in riot gear — forcibly cleared the protest, arresting 27 protesters.
“We're all very worried about what this [rule] might mean. Essentially, UPD has this ticket to be able to choose to have police officers at random events, as long as, again, they're on campus with alcohol … Considering the recent events of early May due to protests, this is quite concerning,” said Friedman-Brown.
Friedman-Brown did not propose a specific course of action to address these changes, but said he hopes to provide a follow-up when more information is known.
During the representative reports portion of the meeting, second-year College Rep. Jackson Sleadd announced that progress has begun to improve bus shelters on Grounds. He said that University Parking and Transportation is planning to add a bus shelter and rework parts of the sidewalk by the Newcomb parking garage, and that they will be using 30 thousand dollars to build and revitalize bus shelters over the next two years.
In the same session, Bowers proposed legislation approving 28 new CIOs. Student Council will reconvene Tuesday for its next General Body meeting.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article mistakenly stated that Brian Ng, chair of external affairs and second-year College Rep., asked if there could be a moment of silence or message honoring the victims of the 2022 shooting at the beginning of each general body meeting closest to the date of Nov. 13 annually. Jackson Sleadd, College Rep. and second-year College student, made this request to the General Body. The article has been updated to reflect this change.
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