As executive editor, I spent a lot of time becoming familiar with the workings of Student Council and the Honor Committee. I was completely blown away by the amount of information I did not know about these student bodies. Even after spending a year at the Cavalier Daily copy editing and writing opinion columns, and reading the paper nearly every day, I still had to do a lot of research and ask a lot of questions about any issue pertaining to the University's student self-governance organizations. And I am still vastly uninformed about many things within Council and the Committee that did not come up during my term. From this I learned two things: the students who are part of these entities, especially the ones in charge, know their constitutions and by-laws backwards and forwards. And they are pretty much the only ones on Grounds who can say that. Most students simply do not pay a lot of attention to Student Council or the Honor Committee until a controversy arises, and even then they become focused on one issue and fail to learn more about the body and its general workings at the University.
Student Council and the Honor Committee are important parts of the University that can no longer afford to be ignored by so many students. In order for student self-governance to be effective, students need to understand how their bodies of government function. And after a semester as executive editor, I know that still I do not fully understand this. The best way for students to better understand how Council and the Committee work is to become involved in the writing of their constitutions. One of my favorite Thomas Jefferson quotes stipulates "Every generation needs a new revolution." At the University, where student self-governance is held so dear, all students should become involved in the governance of Council and the Committee. In order to do this, it is necessary to hold a constitutional convention every four years in order to rewrite the rules by which the bodies of student self-governance are run at the University. This will give every generation of University students a chance to remake these institutions to fit their needs, as Jefferson intended.
This would obviously be a very large undertaking. One reason no one in the United States government has taken Jefferson's advice is that it is a difficult and unwieldy proposal, and it is easier to stick with the status quo. But it undoubtedly less effective to change rules one at a time when most constituents don't know what the rules are to begin with. Because of the magnitude of such a task, it should occur every two years, with Council and the Committee revisions alternating every other year like the Olympics. If this proposal seems ludicrous, I would encourage you to take a closer look at these institutions. Find out how much there is to know about them and how little of it you actually know or understand. My point is not that Student Council or the Honor Committee is doing such a terrible job that they need a complete overhaul. Personally I think they do a great job with what they have. And if students are satisfied with the way these bodies currently run, there is no reason not to support maintaining the constitution as it is for another four years. Or maybe keep the majority of it, and change a few things that need updating. My point is that students should have a chance to become involved in a very important aspect of the University: the structure of student self-governance.
Most of what I learned at the Cavalier Daily is how little I knew about the University I love so much. But I also learned that the best things at the University happen above ground, and you have to get out of the basement to become a part of it all. The Cavalier Daily provides a valuable service by keeping tabs on the University and student administrations. We are lucky to have an independent news organization to fill this need; not every university does. The Cavalier Daily actually does have an annual meeting to update and amend its constitution, and this is definitely a key factor in its continued success. I am always amazed that the paper continues to come out every day, as it has for the past 120 years, and I know how much effort all the staff puts in to get this paper into your hands. It is for the most part a thankless job, so I would like to take this opportunity to thank the 120th staff of the Cavalier Daily, and to say goodbye to the basement one last time.
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