It's time to turn in your get-out-of jail-free card.
The University Judiciary Committee voted unanimously Sunday to dissolve the Student Legal Defense Fund, putting to rest a service that provided bail to University students for more than 30 years.
Those in favor of abolishing the fund said it has become an underutilized resource in recent years.
"There just isn't really a need for this service anymore," outgoing Committee Chair Alexis Gregorian said.
Several factors contributed to the elimination of the fund. Carter Peatross, chair of the now-defunct Student Legal Defense Fund subcommittee, said the recent decrease in the number of secured bonds issued by the Charlottesville/Albemarle Magistrate's Office has rendered the fund unusable. The fund can only be utilized for secured bonds, which require cash to be paid up front.
In addition, Peatross said while the number of requests for the fund has increased since the service was revamped in 1999, very few students actually were qualified to use it. In the past four years, only two students have qualified.
Students who are arrested for a non-violent Class 6 felony or misdemeanor can use the fund.
Peatross said many students who wish to use the fund do not qualify because they are intoxicated and must remain in prison overnight anyway.
"We just think there's less students who are qualifying," Peatross said. "The money could be better used elsewhere if there aren't students who qualify."
Gregorian added that the time and money spent to maintain the service, including a monthly pager fee, was another consideration.
"It's costing us about $300 a year," Gregorian said. "In the grand scheme of our budget, it does add up."
According to Eli DeJarnette, Student Council vice president for organizations, the elimination of the fund is not permanent because it can be reinstated if it is needed in the future.
"With UJC and Student Council pushing for it, it shouldn't be too hard to find $10,000 in one year's allocation," DeJarnette said.
Committee Chair-elect Angela Carrico said she agreed with the Committee's decision to dissolve the fund.
"I think it's a great service to the University, but in practice it just wasn't working out," Carrico said. "It wasn't an opportunity to help the students."
First-year judge Dan Hecht voiced some concern about abolishing the fund. Hecht said while he respected the Committee's decision, he thought there were other options that could have been explored, such as decreasing thebudget for the fund and moving the responsibility to Student Legal Services, a program that provides assistance in legal matters to University students.
"The fund wasn't in a lot of use, so I think something definitely needed to be done," Hecht said. "But I think the Committee was too hasty in abolishing it."
The fund was created in the 1970s in response to the large number of University students who were arrested for protesting the Vietnam War. The $10,000 fund, which came from the student activities fee, could be used for bonds up to $1,000.
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