Student Council discussed the preliminary results of a survey of student preferences for the next University president at their weekly meeting Tuesday night.
The meeting also marked the end of the term for fourth-year Batten student and outgoing Student Council President Emily Lodge, as well as several other members of the executive board.
Third-year College student Maeve Curtin, the Student Council liaison to the Charlottesville City Council, gave a presentation to Student Council members on the results of a survey of the student body which Student Council recently conducted to determine what qualities and qualifications students hope to see in the next University president.
University President Teresa Sullivan announced in January that she will step down from her position when her contract expires in the summer of 2018.
The survey was conducted in an effort to include more student input in the presidential search process after several Student Council members were unsatisfied with the number of student members named to the search committee. The 22-member search committee includes just two students — Phoebe Willis, a graduate Law and Darden student and the student member of the Board of Visitors, and Aryn Frazier, a fourth-year College student.
Curtin said the survey had garnered 450 responses so far, but encouraged members to continue sharing it in the hopes of gathering as much data as possible, emphasizing they only had the preliminary results.
“We have enough to feel confident to write a report to give to the advisory committee,” she said.
Curtin said the survey received responses from a fairly representative sample of the student body in terms of classes and in-state versus out-of-state students.
Approximately 67 percent of the responses came from in-state students and approximately 33 percent came from out-of-state students.
Curtin then moved on to discuss the responses to the questions about students’ priorities for the University as a whole and for the next president in particular. First up was students’ priorities for the University.
“The biggest thing is quality of professors,” Curtin said. “The other thing is financial aid, which I think makes sense with the rising cost of tuition that we’ve seen continuously over the years.”
Quality of professors was the most popular response among students, followed by financial aid came in second and diversity as a very close third.
The survey also asked students what background or experience they hoped the next president would have.
A background in student affairs was the strong favorite among students, with university administrative experience and diversity initiatives experience also receiving many votes.
“People, more than even wanting the president to have a traditional academic background, really felt strongly that someone should have experience working with students,” Curtin said.
Finally, Curtin went over the most popular qualities students said they’d like to see in the next president.
“Transparency and responsive to students’ needs ranked far and away the highest,” she said.
Those two qualities were indeed heavily favored by the respondents, though “inclusive,” “personable” and “compassionate” all received many votes as well.
In the legislative session before the general body meeting, Student Council passed two resolutions thanking Lodge and Mackenzie Hodgson, a third-year Engineering student and vice president for organizations, for their contributions to the organization and to the student body as a whole.
Third-year Curry student and representative Brett Curtis read out the two resolutions, SR17-14 and SR17-15, to publicly thank the two for their service.
“MacKenzie has dedicated countless thankless hours working to serve the student body and bettering the lives of thousands,” SR17-14 read, thanking Hodgson.
Curtis then read SR17-15, thanking Lodge: “Emily has spent her entire University career dedicated to student self-governance, always with a smile on her face.”
At the end of the meeting, Lodge said she was grateful for the Council.
“It has been the biggest privilege to be your cheerleader,” she said to the Council. “You all are phenomenal and selfless in your service to this University.”
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