Student Council unanimously passed a resolution last night to endorse a student exchange program for students to attend historically black universities.
"It will start with U.Va.," Council Vice President of Administration Greg Jackson said. "It is so that students can go to Howard University, for example, and take courses that they couldn't take here."
The creation of the program was presented as a recommendation in the Curriculum Sub-Committee Report in the President's Commission on Diversity and Equity report. The report states a transfer program would "diversify the academic experience of U.Va. students and faculty and enrich the U.Va. community; potentially it would enhance the pool of students of color who would apply to our graduate program."
Since the Afro-American programs at the University are limited, the transfer program will offer courses not available at the University.
The program currently will only offer the transfer program to students, but the bill states the program could be expanded to include faculty members.
Jackson said other colleges and universities around the country have similar programs, including Clark University, Columbia University, Davidson University, Duke University and Vanderbilt University.
The bill states that once the program is in place, it will be administered by undergraduate school staff and the Office of African-American Affairs. Details of the program's management and the start date are still undetermined.
Jackson said he is enthusiastic about the passage of the bill.
"I'm excited it was passed," Jackson said. "This will give us the push it needs."
Council also unanimously passed a bill to approve the Student Legal Services budget. Council President Noah Sullivan read the bill into the record last week.
At last Tuesday's meeting, Sullivan said Student Legal Services asked Council for $9,000 for retirement benefits.
"They've been wanting it for the past five years and have been asking for it for about two years," Sullivan said.
Sullivan added that if the budget was approved, Student Legal Services at the University would receive good wages compared to other schools.
"This is something that they really want," Sullivan said.
In passing the bill and approving the budget, Council members decided the budget was worth spending $9,000 on for retirement benefits for Student Legal Services employees.
Sullivan added that the overall budget amounted to three dollars less than last year's budget.
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