Student Council passed a bill to streamline its current committee structure Tuesday night, reducing the 16 existing standing committees in the presidential cabinet to nine.
According to the bill, the new structure will combine committees that have similar goals and handle related issues.
"This legislation will allow committees to be more flexible and take up issues normally given to ad hoc committees and efficiently allocate limited Student Council funds," said Will Sowers, Council vice president for administration and a co-sponsor of the bill. "One of our hopes is that these new committees will be able to work with student organizations and allocate programming resources to them not given to them through the appropriations process."
In the new structure, the Diversity Initiatives Committee will take on responsibilities currently allocated to the Religious Affairs, International Student Affairs and Women and Gender Affairs Committees -- committees which will no longer maintain autonomy.
The newly-created Student Life Committee will include duties currently fulfilled by the Housing, Dining and Technology Committees.
The Buildings and Grounds Committee will be responsible for matters related to master planning, building projects and environmental affairs, as well as issues currently handled by the Disability and Access and Parking and Transportation Committees.
Additionally, former ad hoc committees for mental health, violence prevention, dance, environment and child care will be placed under larger standing committees.
Ad hoc committees for the Mix, child care, dance, violence and health will no longer be under the supervision of the Council executive vice president.
The executive vice president will oversee the Constitutional and Bylaw Review Ad Hoc Committee and other internal ad hoc issues.
A few Council members expressed concern about the process through which the new structure was formulated.
"I think it is inconsiderate to change up the committees without consulting the committee chairs," Architecture School Rep. Greg Moore said. "This is a reason for concern."
Council Chief of Staff and President-elect Noah Sullivan said he was satisfied with the way the new structure was developed.
"Going back to last year, I expressed that I felt that these committees overlap and that things could be streamlined a bit," he said. "For the next administration, this structure will make things more efficient without losing focus."
The committee restructuring will come into effect for the first time under Sullivan's administration.
College Rep. Tom Gibson said he was pleased with the bill.
"Committee restructuring is the best piece of legislation I've seen all year," he said.
Read More
U.Va. Faculty Senate overwhelmingly adopts a no confidence vote in Board of Visitors
By Xander Tilock | Yesterday"The Faculty Senate expresses no confidence in the Board of Visitors for not protecting the University and its president from outside interference," the resolution read.
Faculty Senate Executives hear from Rector Sheridan and Vice Rector Wilkinson
By Xander Tilock and Grace Traxler | 2 days agoRectors were in attendance for part of Wednesday’s emergency meeting and were asked about the interim president selection process.
Student leaders weigh the future of self-governance after Ryan's departure
By Brendon Bordwine | 3 days agoThe University has a historical tradition of student self-governance, which allows students to take part in decision-making processes.
