The University’s Board of Visitors met over the course of the 2015-16 school year, beginning in mid-August with their annual retreat and most recently in late April.
Among other things, the Board of Visitors considered expanding housing options for upperclass students, hiring 90 new faculty members, raising tuition 2-3 percent for the upcoming academic year, constructing new tennis courts, expanding the Elson Student Health Center and providing new space for the Batten School.
Fourth-year College student Daniel Judge served as the student member of the Board of Visitors for the past year and discussed significant improvement in connecting students with board members and allowing for more communication between the two groups, including a new University-wide newsletter about upcoming meetings and past minutes.
“At the June meeting, students presented directly to the board during the Advancement and Communications Committee meeting,” Judge said in an email statement. “Additionally, we were able to host several Open Forums, so students could speak about issues directly with members of the board.”
Judge also made dorm visits throughout first-year residence areas to discuss the Board of Visitors and student issues and said many student organizations hosted him at their meetings to discuss the issues they cared about.
“I was able to successfully advocate for student issues like increased resources for [Counseling and Psychological Services], the departmentalization of the African American and African Studies program and first-year class enrollment and housing,” Judge said. “There is still plenty of progress to be made in these areas, but it was great to see significant progress.”
Additionally, Judge said he sought to increase bonds between the University and the University at Wise.
“The Student Government Association president at U.Va.-Wise spoke at one of our board meetings and we were able to work on a number of student issues together,” Judge said. “I hope the relationship between our student bodies continues to grow stronger.”
Second-year Law student Phoebe Willis will serve as the new student member to the Board of Visitors in the upcoming academic year. She received an undergraduate degree from the University in 2013.
Willis discussed her desire to continue Judge’s work and to build a website over the summer for people to see her schedule, send her suggestions and request meetings.
“I would like to expand the concept of weekly office hours to include visiting different locations each week and attending the meetings and events for as many organizations as possible,” Willis said in an email statement. “My goal is to be an active student member, seeking out student opinion from all student communities and making myself accessible to everyone.”
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