Student Council unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday to help eliminate difficulties many transfer students face in applying to interdisciplinary majors and other special academic programs at the University.
According to the Resolution to Support Fair Treatment of Transfer Students in the Application Process of Academic Programs, some transfer students are concerned about the degree of fairness they are subjected to in the application processes to these programs.
College Rep. Tom Gibson said the passage of the bill is just the first step in trying to improve the issue.
"We just passed this bill, but it's not over," he said.
In the following weeks, Council members will meet with professors and administrators to talk about improving the quality of life for students.
Gibson said transfer students are at a disadvantage in the application process because they have not had the opportunity to take University classes taught by University professors.
"These programs are biased toward students who have been at the University the entire time," said Gibson, a fourth-year College student who transferred to the University after a year at the University of Florida.
Council passed the bill to highlight what seems to be an issue for transfer students across the University.
"We are targeting an issue that students feel is an issue," Gibson said. "It has been hard for me to prove anything because every program is different. But in a school where it is very competitive in the first place, we are trying to make it a more level playing field."
Legislative Affairs Committee Chair J.R. Slosson, who was Council's transfer student representative last year, said the issue could become even more pressing in the future.
"The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia has estimated that enrollment demand at institutions of higher learning in the Commonwealth will increase by approximately 56,000 students by 2012 while enrollment growth at U.Va. should be comparatively moderate," Slosson said. "This kind of enrollment growth in the Commonwealth may mean that more highly-qualified applicants may have to take the route of transferring to the University after a year or two elsewhere, so it's increasingly important that we are ensuring equal access to academic programs for all of our students"
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