Council considers response to Dragas' reappointment

McDaniel says body has "enough support already shown" to ask Dragas to resign

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Student Council held an informal session at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Chemistry Building to discuss possible responses to Gov. Bob McDonnell's reappointment of University Rector Helen Dragas to the Board of Visitors.

Dragas, who led an attempt last month to oust University President Teresa A. Sullivan, switched gears last Tuesday and voted with a unanimous Board to reinstate the president. On Friday, McDonnell reappointed Dragas to a second four-year term. She will remain Rector of the Board for the next year.

Twelve Council representatives attended the informal summer meeting, with several more joining by phone. Third-year College student Eric McDaniel, Council's director of university relations, said the sparse attendance made arriving at a strategy difficult. "Because there were so few of us, we didn't want to make a decision on behalf of the whole representative body," McDaniel said.

Opinion about Dragas' reappointment was split. Third-year Batten student Neil Branch, Council's vice president for organizations, said he wanted Dragas out.

"Will people ever fully trust this Board of Visitors while Dragas is at the helm?" Branch asked at Sunday's meeting. "I believe Dragas has violated the community of trust… I believe that we need to ask her to resign."

Representative Body Chair Alex Reber instead said Dragas had acted in accordance with "the accepted norms of policy."

Just because a person makes a mistake doesn't mean they should be crucified for it," said Reber, a fourth-year Engineering student.

Council President Johnny Vroom said "action is necessary" on the part of Council because of the body's obligation to represent student opinion. "Ultimately I think our responsibility is to students… because in my mind we're the most important stakeholders at U.Va.," Vroom said.

Vroom called for data collection to empirically gauge student sentiment about the Board and Dragas' reappointment. McDaniel said Council would release a poll to the student body within the next few weeks. Council's Executive Board plans to issue a statement in the coming days responding to Dragas' reappointment.

"We have enough support already shown to go forward with a statement asking [Dragas] to depart the University," McDaniel said.