At their meeting last night, Council unanimously passed both a bill amending Council's attendance policy and a resolution that respectfully recognizes the death of Commerce School Dean Ellen Marie Whitener, who died March 22 from meningitis.
The bill that amended the attendance policy in the Council's bylaws established new attendance policies for Council members at their regular Tuesday meetings.
Council tabled four bills for a week to be voted on next Tuesday as is standard procedure.
The first of these bills is a resolution recommending revisions to the online course evaluation data collection procedure.
Council also tabled a resolution to implement other forms of student identification instead of using a student's social security number.
"The system is kind of old," Council Vice President of Administration Greg Jackson said.
The bill, sponsored by Jackson, Vice President of Organizations Rebecca Keyworth and College rep. Ezana Teferra, stated that Social Security numbers are not safe forms of identification.
Jackson brought second-year Engineering student Mark Hopke to the meeting to talk about possibilities for changing the form of student identification.
"One possibility involves switching over to the system that U.Va. uses to identify foreign students," Hopke said.
Hopke added that the University has a number system for international students.
"It could be all straight ones, for example," Hopke said. "It is nothing in relation to social security number. It is just an ID reference number."
Jackson said passing this bill would just be a first step in improving the security of student identification.
Council will vote on the bill Tuesday.
The resolution that provided for a reserved student-fan group also was laid on the table. The bill would show Council support for the fan group the Hoo Crew in their quest for reserved seating at basketball games.
"It was approved and supported by the Virginia Athletics Association, and now [the Hoo Crew] is just waiting on our approval," College rep. Kelly Mulfinger said.
Council President Noah Sullivan said he wanted to take another week before voting on the bill.
"I am not sure if anyone else thinks this is a great idea," Sullivan said. "I just want to make sure we are going in the right direction with this."
Council also will vote on a resolution that would raise awareness of University Suicide Prevention Resources next Tuesday.
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