Student Council discussed its role in supporting the recently-formed Buddies on Call program at its general body meeting Tuesday. The organization plans to offer students a resource to find another student to walk them home at night.
Council considered several options of support for the organization, including creating the ad-hoc committee within Council — giving it CIO status with a designated Council committee to provide support — and not giving it formal recognition until it was better organized.
Representative Body Chair Abraham Axler, a second-year College student, said though Council support of Buddies on Call began with casual guidance, he believes more involvement would be beneficial.
Axler, along with Buddies On Call founder Jack Capra, a first-year College student, interviewed candidates for an executive board for the organization, which will be set by Thursday. Buddies on Call will hold meetings with members of the University administration at that time.
Vice President for Organizations Kyle West, a third-year Commerce student, said he was concerned about the liability the organization’s supporters could face. He said if the organization were to fall under Council's jurisdiction, Council itself might become legally liable for anything that might happen to students using Buddies on Call. Without Council's support, the liability might fall exclusively on the group's organizers.
“If they’re a CIO, all the legal liabilities lie on that first-year,” he said. “We felt for that student’s safety, it had to have more establishment.”
West also expressed apprehension in regards to the program’s sustainability. A similar organization, Safe Walk, was introduced in 2010 but eventually fell apart.
Council President Jalen Ross, a fourth-year Engineering student, said this is one of the only times the majority of the student body has come to agree on something — in this case, the need to increase safety on Grounds — and that the window for action was short.
Student Concerns Committee Representative Blake Calhoun, a fourth-year College student, said the program needs to be implemented sooner rather than later.
“Someone’s going to have to be walked home tonight, tomorrow night, and the more we wait on the bureaucracy the longer it’s going to take,” she said.
Council held an informal vote on prospective support for the program, in which a majority agreed Council should have at least some kind of involvement in Buddies on Call.
Student Council also passed the approval bill for new CIOs, denying CIO status to AcHOOstics, a proposed all-female, all-Greek acappella group, and approving CIO status for Givology at U.Va. and Greens to Grounds, an initiative to bring fresh food from local farms to students.
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