Cynics among us might claim Student Council has been with us for decades of schooling and yet no one knows what it does. At the University, what Council often does not do is achieve quorum, the two-thirds minimum of votes necessary to move meetings forward each Tuesday.
The story is told of the 1973 term of then Student Council President Larry Sabato, whose tour of Alderman Library for state legislators laid the budgetary foundation for Clemons Library. But even his crystal ball could not have predicted what our Council did Monday by determining their meeting had not met quorum a day before it happened.
The representatives we endorse — Eric McDaniel, Marco Segura and Apurva Pande — all showed up to their interviews. Segura brings three years of experience as a representative; he spoke honestly about the current Council’s flaws and made mention of impeachment as a means to better attendance. Segura said current representatives escape through a system of proxies, and impeachment could ensure that representatives who miss meetings do not go unpunished.
Speaking of speaking, as Chair of the Marketing & Communications Committee, McDaniel was the brains behind the second coming of Speak Up UVa, which is generally regarded as the best Council initiative out there. Pande is the sitting Outreach Chair on Second-Year Council, and so comes as an outsider to the Student Council table. But there are plenty of empty seats open at Council meetings for a person with her insight and aptitude.
Before anything else, remember to vote Neil Branch for vice president for organizations and Philip Williamson for vice president for administration. These two candidates were among the most impressive we talked to — and we talked to quite a few.
Branch, though not currently on Student Council, knows more about the appropriations process than any person who could be. He explained the changed funding formula developed by the current VPO, and its resulting costs and benefits. Branch — get this — also made the effort to file a Freedom of Information Act request to receive appropriations numbers from the last two Council terms; he received some of those figures just before sitting down with us. All day Saturday, Council candidates were talking about his request, which snatched budgetary numbers from the jaws of obscurity. In so doing, Branch showed a dedication to financial transparency which reveals not only the strength of his commitment, but just how difficult the current process of retrieving information is and why it needs changing. Having run a clean race, Branch was the first to break through the red tape and now stands alone as the winning option.
VPA candidate Philip Williamson was the most articulate person we interviewed, a good quality for someone looking to improve Council-student communications. Williamson certainly has the drive; he commutes from the province of North Grounds to attend Council meetings each Tuesday. He thinks a similar perseverance is needed for emerging Council initiatives, through funding and support, to succeed. “Rome wasn’t built in a day, and a good University program isn’t built in a year,” he said. Williamson is currently the Law School’s representative on Council and a member of the Student Bar Association, and served a variety of student government roles as an undergraduate at Ouachita Baptist University. He has so much experience that he could give some to the rest of us and still be without question the most qualified VPA candidate.
In our book, making it to every meeting or vote counts for something. Council can’t make quorum, but you should nevertheless show them up by voting in elections next week.
He is condescending and ineffectual. His ideas are consistently poor, and he does not show up for meetings as this article would have you believe. In fact, he was probably the only council member for whom impeachment was discussed (if only informally). As a member of student council I can say with confidence do not vote Marco for anything.
Report this comment
Agree/Disagree:
3 
4
So how does that differentiate him from the rest of UVA student governmnet, or UVA faculty for that matter?
Report this comment
Agree/Disagree:
0 
3
The Cavalier Daily has a good point in criticizing Student Council for failing to meet quorum yesterday. This is an issue being addressed internally, and we are working on a better method for enforcing attendance.
However, there is a shift in scope of the argument, essentially that “no one comes to Council meetings.” I invite anyone to sit in on our open-to-the-public meetings, which occur Tuesday evenings during the school year at 6:00PM in Newcomb South Meeting Room, and observe for themselves the behavior of Representatives, Committee Chairs, Committee Members, and students there to voice an opinion.
“Quorum” is a function of the Representative Body, comprised of 28 students from all schools. If 9 of those students contact the Representative Chair beforehand and cannot find a last-minute Proxy from their own school, then it has failed to meet quorum. While this is an unusual occurrence, it does happen on occasion. Nevertheless, this is hardly a picture of the multitude of “empty seats” as the author describes. In fact, many people have to sit on the floor during meetings, because there aren’t enough chairs lining the walls.
To Sean, I would be happy to explain in detail how many ways Student Council touches your life. In the meantime, feel free to browse our website, http://www.uvastudentcouncil.com, or the “completed” ideas at SpeakUpUVA.com; we have reached over 100 completed ideas in this administration alone.
Report this comment
Agree/Disagree:
0 
0
In response to “Don’t Vote Marco,” I’d just like to say that although it is the case that his attendance has been less this term than last, he is someone that does show up more the most, and is very impassioned about Student Council, and particularly the advocacy issues they choose to take up. Consider his work on the Dream Act referendum last term if you would like to see his level of enthusiasm. He also represents a not only a minority voice on the rep body, but also one that is actively involved in Minority groups around Grounds. His insight is hugely helpful, and his experience means that he will have zero learning curve for the position.
Report this comment
Agree/Disagree:
5 
1
There are people who show up almost all of the time, people who show up some of the time, and people who show up none of the time. Marco is firmly in the sometimes category.
Report this comment
Agree/Disagree:
1 
0
In no relation to their endorsements, because that is the CavDaily staff’s every right to choose who they wish to endorse, the FACT remains that we have actually only failed to meet quorum at a meeting TWICE this year. As the person in charge of attendance I can say that with the utmost certainty (since I emailed the author of this article with our spread sheet myself). The lack of quorum also only relates to one half of what Student Council does and I wish the reporter would have thought twice before passing judgment on our entire organization and the people involved in one foul swoop.
Report this comment
Agree/Disagree:
1 
1
Correction: the managing board did not receive our attendance numbers, another CavDaily staffer has. That aside, facts remain.
Report this comment
Agree/Disagree:
0 
0
Attacks on the character of other students are a serious matter. They have to be grounded in fact and done out in the open. This should be true in broader society, but it MUST true in the University Community. The use of slanted facts and crude language are not acceptable. Furthermore, hiding behind a veil of anonymity while carrying out such a personal attack is little more than cowardice. I am sure that all the members of council have their flaws. However, attacking Marco (due to what seems to be a personal vendetta) only reveals your own flaws. Stick to discussions of policy and tangible matters like attendance. Leave the name calling at home.
Report this comment
Agree/Disagree:
0 
0
Endorsements should be given after much consideration. Attendance is easy to verify and should be the first item checked out in reference to a candidate prior to endorsement. Showing up sometimes is not acceptable. Do your homework, Cav Daily.
Report this comment
Agree/Disagree:
0 
0
While I’m not going to engage in ad hominem attacks related to one representative’s attendance record, I do think several of you are missing a big point.
If Student Council’s mission is to represent students and improve the quality of live at the University, isn’t StudCo shooting itself in the foot if it can’t even get quorum to hold a meeting? The fact that it only happened twice in the past year is irrelevant; if members of StudCo took their jobs seriously and legitimately wanted to help others, then something like this wouldn’t even happen once.
Today’s StudCo seems to be a far cry from the Sabato days, when his administration helped get a library built. I think it’s safe to say that had a pretty big impact on the lives of students. What has StudCo done in the past year to match that? Revive Homecomings? Give me a break.
Report this comment
Agree/Disagree:
0 
2
How about finally building that Day Care Center that PVCC donated the land for?
Report this comment
Agree/Disagree:
0 
4
RE: Common Sense.
As someone who deals with transparency and marketing as my primary job on StudCo, the assertion that we do very little is one I hear quite often. I think in the past, that has certainly been a very valid complaint. And no, we haven’t gotten any libraries built. But the primary focus of this administration is two-fold:
1) Take student input, and turn it into tangible, immediate benefits to students:
Library construction, like all construction, takes time. And the University and President Sullivan have been doing a great job as far as infrastructure, new buildings, and increasing the capacity and resources of the institution go. These grand, overarching projects are not something we as a Council need to be putting time into right now. As stated, this is being taken care of by those better equipped. (That being said, google the results of “UVa Day”.) Instead, we have worked to build an infrastructure for student voices to be heard.
Please, if you are interested in what Student Council has done this year, go to http://www.speakupuva.com and check out the “Completed” section. We just topped our 150th completed suggestion to improve the school. This has been something I have been very passionate about, and I am overjoyed about the way it has turned out.
Also check out the Student Council blog at http://www.uvastudentcouncil.com/news-events/. It is updated almost daily with news about all of the events and initiatives we are currently working on, and has a huge volume of archived post so you can see what we have done in the past.
Here are some of my favorites:
http://www.uvastudentcouncil.com/student-services/initiatives/cavalier-education-program/
http://www.uvastudentcouncil.com/2011/12/fromthedur/
http://www.uvastudentcouncil.com/2012/01/uvaday-2012/
http://www.uvastudentcouncil.com/2011/12/alternative-funding-sources/
http://www.uvastudentcouncil.com/2011/12/tantalizing-top-5-a-semester-in-review/
The moral of the story is: it really gets under my skin when people say we haven’t done anything. I am in a unique, privileged position in that I get see all of the beautiful, inspired work that everyone one on Student Council does (my wonderful committee markets it), and the sheer volume, not to mention the immense quality, of all of the work that passes through my hands is overwhelming. The last thing any one can say is that we are a do-nothing organization.
Oh, and bringing back Homecomings was awesome. Mr. Ben Powell is a god among us.
Report this comment
Agree/Disagree:
2 
0