The recently elected members of Student Council, who assumed their new roles Tuesday night, will continue to deal with concerns related to the possible perception of a Conflict of Interest for Council members with regard to fundraising appropriations.
According to Student Council president Darius Nabors, Student Council does not have a policy in place that regulates Council members' involvement in other CIOs for which Council allows fundraising options.
"I wouldn't say that there's a specific policy but generally speaking ... to be fair with any group [with which] you're dealing," Nabors said. "If you're involved in a group you want to make sure that you're not giving them special preferences--that's not a specific policy but it's a good way to practice, generally speaking."
Nabors said Council lacks regulation for member involvement because it would limit the effectiveness of Council.
"The biggest thing I say is that we don't want to hinder groups from having access to Student Council and we don't want to hinder our members from being involved in the community," Nabors said.
Council's procedure is similar to that of other groups around Grounds, specifically the Arts & Sciences Council, said David Reid, former president of the Council.
"Now, of course, people who are involved in Arts & Sciences Council are involved in other organizations," Reid said. "But, it cannot be part of the decision making process."
Former Student Council President Noah Sullivan said in many cases, creating a bylaw or stipulation for conflict of interest could cause more problems than it might solve.
"I don't think conflict of interest rules really ever stop conflict of interest from coming up," Sullivan said. "The more you try to sanitize it, the harder it is to see if corruption is going on--people can sort that out themselves as voters."
Greg Jackson, former vice president for administration, acknowledged that during his time in office, he did sign checks to groups he was involved with on Grounds for fundraising, specifically in reference to concessions sales by CIOs at sporting events. However, he did not see these instances as situations where conflict of interest played a role.
"I wouldn't say it's a conflict of interest because [the groups involved in fundraising] are from a wide span of groups within the University community," Jackson said.
Jackson said the concessions program, which was new in his term in office and had not been tested, was an "open application" program and every CIO had equal opportunity to apply. However, he added, it was not unusual for Council members' groups to be represented.
"The groups that Student Council members were involved with were usually more reliable in following through with fundraising opportunities," Jackson said.
Jackson said most of the controversy related to conflicts of interest stemmed from lack of understanding.
"There was some concern from people that didn't understand the process of the program," Jackson said. "The groups that ended up filling in weren't always groups that I was in."
Nabors said as of now, it is too early to tell if conflict of interest will be a major concern for the new Council, but there are still no plans to regulate against it.
Read More
Department of Education reverses course, awards Federal Executive Institute to U.Va.
By Ford McCracken | 17 hours agoThe ED had previously awarded the institute to Charlottesville City Schools.
Students reflect on the life and legacy of Pope Francis
By Bertie Azqueta | YesterdayAt the University, students shared a range of perspectives on his legacy of reform, inclusivity and his impact on the global Catholic community.
What does the University’s contract with dining service Aramark entail?
By Brandon Kile | 2 days agoThe Cavalier Daily submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the University for its contract with Aramark to understand the specific terms of the agreement.
