Encouraging diversity and community engagement are among the most important issues student representatives from various CIOs say they want student leaders to tackle after being elected to office.
University Democrats President Sam Tobin, a third-year College student, said he sees addressing how Housing and Residence Life can be more accommodating to transgender students, increasing voter participation and bridging the gap between student government and minority communities as priority issues for student government to handle.
“A lot of people in the minority community do not feel like they are part of the U.Va. community,” Tobin said. “There is a divide there, and I am looking to student government and student leaders to take initiative to create conversations, to create places for discussion and push for policies that will make us a more inclusive, united University that is proud of our diversity.”
College Republicans President Jay Boyd, and fourth-year College student, said he agrees diversity is an important issue but said ideological diversity is an aspect of a healthy community which is often overlooked.
“One of the most important things to me is that when we talk about the word ‘diversity,’ we immediately think race or ethnic background or socioeconomic background, but I think it’s really important for all of us at U.Va. to maintain an ideological diversity as well,” Boyd said.
Boyd said a college needs to foster a variety of opinions.
“There is some bias in some of the departments here as I’m constantly having my opinions challenged, and we have to make sure that everybody has their opinions challenged equally because that’s part of the notion of a college,” Boyd said.
Third-year College student Aryn Frazier, president of the Black Student Alliance, said she believes student government should also be looking at diversity in terms of faculty as well as increasing the yield of black students who decide to attend the University.
Frazier also said student leaders can do a better job communicating with constituents.
Frazier said she feels it is important for the student government to issue “regular updates, informing people what they’re doing but also collaborating on their own initiatives as well as the initiatives of various groups on Grounds.”
Fourth-year Commerce student Jason Jones, president of the Queer Student Union, said certain groups of students are “overrepresented” in the decision making process, and student government is responsible for reaching out to groups who may not feel as comfortable reaching out to them.
“I think that membership in certain CIOs or specific organizations, for example, fraternal or sorority organizations, might increase a student’s likelihood of participating in the voting process or participating in things like Student Council,” Jones said.
Jones said a student leader should be inclusive.
“I think that trying to do a little bit more outreach to groups that might not feel as comfortable participating would be something that I would expect a student leader to do,” Jones said.
John Al-Haddad, a representative of the Arab Student Organization and fourth-year College student, said he is concerned about a gap between student government and minority groups, specifically the Middle Eastern Leadership Council, or MELC.
“One of our concerns was the gap between Honor and MELC and our student body not being as educated enough about Honor initiatives and what Honor does,” Al-Haddad said. “From what I understood, Honor was interacting with a lot of the other minority groups on Grounds but not as much with Middle Eastern leadership.”
Al-Haddad also said he wants members of the student government to highlight the importance of multicultural elements of the student body, work with the declining minority numbers at the University and deal with issues like Islamophobia.
Third-year Commerce student Claire Creighton, president of the Inter-Sorority Council, or ISC, said she thinks student leaders should focus on embracing and encouraging multicultural sensitivity.
“I think there are really powerful strides to be made in this arena so that all U.Va. students feel that they are part of a community of inclusiveness,” Creighton said in an email statement.
Creighton also said groups should be recognized for their philanthropic efforts.
“Any strides that can be made for student organizations working together for collective improvement of the University through philanthropy is something the ISC has seen a lot of success with and would love to extend into all networks of the University,” Creighton said.
Fourth-year Batten student Alex Gregorio, a member of the Jefferson Society and Student Council representative, said there are three things student leaders should prioritize: having enough student space on Grounds to accommodate all CIOs, having enough funding to support them and making sure the student body is engaged.
“U.Va. loves to talk about student self-governance, but at the same time it’s been difficult because a lot of people feel apathetic, voter turnout is at an all-time low,” Gregorio said.
Addressing voter apathy is also an important issue, Gregorio said.
“I’m using that as a proxy to say that a lot of people don’t care about Student Council, Honor or UJC, or at least don’t care enough to vote,” he said. “So I think trying to energize voter participation and trying to get people to care about these organizations is an important thing.”
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