The University Board of Elections announced Monday night that students overwhelmingly voted to pass all three Student Council-related referenda.\nThe first referendum, which sought to amend Article V of Council's constitution, passed with 76 percent of votes.
"The amendment will allow for the amendment proposal process to be more clear and fair for students who are interested in proposing amendments," said outgoing Council President John Nelson, who sponsored the referendum. "I think it'll benefit our procedure and clarifies our current constitution."
The referendum will give the UBE the authority to determine the criteria for submitting amendments. The Honor Committee and the University Judiciary Committee also gave similar authority to the UBE through their own referenda.
The Green Initiative Funding Tomorrow fund referendum, which sought to create a sustainability fund to support 'green' project proposals by students, faculty and staff, also passed with 76 percent of the vote.
"I think the vote shows student support for the green fund initiative [which] gives Student Council leverage going forward to create the fund and look for ways of allocating money towards that," Nelson said.
Environmental Sustainability Committee member Ian McClenny said this is only one small step toward a more sustainable University.
"Tentatively, we need to gather our arsenal and talk to facilities management and professors involved in environmental sustainability to see how that money is going to be allocated," he said.\nMcClenny noted that the Committee will solicit student opinions in April through an open forum dialogue during Earth Week.
"That's the next big thing - making sure we have the best way to allocate money to the fund," McClenny said. "We want this program to have longevity."
Committee Co-Chair Michelle Henry said the Committee will continue to work with the Office of Student Affairs to iron out the details of the fund.
"We're going to start talking with Vice President [of Student Affairs] Pat Lampkin and figuring out where this could go - whether or not it's going to be a U.Va. fund account or if it's going to be directly part of the student funds that are already in place and how we can allocate those moneys," Henry said.
The third and final Council-related referendum, which was sponsored by 'Hoo Crew, operated as an opinion poll to determine the design of the 2010 football T-shirt.
Second-year College student Ellen Falci's 'A New Era' T-shirt design won against designs from fourth-year College student Debby Chen and second-year College student Lauren Taylor. In addition to bragging rights, Falci won a trip for two to the
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