Student Council passed a proclamation during Tuesday’s general body meeting that will allow it to work with the Student Government Association of the College at Wise to ensure that decisions made between the student governments of each institution are mutually beneficial.
“The dually elected representatives of each student body hereby recognize the importance of embracing a strong working relationship to ensure that decisions made throughout the University of Virginia are in the best interest of the students who reside on Grounds and the students who attend [Wise],” the proclamation states.
Student Council representatives additionally approved directors to each committee of the administrative branch for the 2025-26 academic year who are responsible for overseeing the internal operations of Student Council.
The College at Wise is located in southwestern Virginia with a population of just under 2,000 undergraduate students and is independent of the University. However, the University remains the parent school to the College at Wise and the Board of Visitors acts as the final governing body to any decisions made by the College at Wise Board.
Tuesday’s proclamation was co-sponsored by Clay Dickerson, Student Council president and fourth-year College student, and Imane Akhanous, Student Council chair of the representative body and fourth-year College student. According to Dickerson, the two student organizations have been in communication ever since William Rudeseal, SGA president and fourth-year Wise student, visited the University in Feb. 2025. Student Council drafted the proclamation to give more voice in University matters to the College at Wise SGA.
The proclamation was additionally co-sponsored by the College at Wise SGA and establishes that the two organizations will work together to maintain open communication going forward, including that members from the Student Council will visit the College at Wise and members from the College at Wise SGA will visit the University in the spring.
Dickerson said he believes the difference between the two schools is that Wise students do not have decision-making power at the University. He emphasized his desire to sponsor this proclamation as policies passed by the Board affect students of the College at Wise just as much as University students.
“These students at Wise don’t necessarily have a seat at the table, and there’s no way to guarantee they ever will,” Dickerson said. “By developing this memorandum of coverage, we can ensure that if we can’t give them a seat, we can at least ensure that they will have a voice.”
This agreement between the Student Council and the College at Wise SGA was posed to Student Council representatives as a proclamation rather than a resolution. According to Student Council bylaws, both resolutions and proclamations put forth dates, causes or events that the representative body feels passionately about but resolutions are used to express views the Student Council has no binding authority over. Dickerson said he did not only want to put forth something nonbinding as this was a cause he said he deeply cared about.
“A resolution can be passed and nothing can occur … I feel as [though a proclamation] is a more genuine and sincere commitment to [the college at] Wise,” Dickerson said.
Second-year College Representative Lucas Addison supported the proclamation, saying he has personal ties to Wise students and graduates who attest to feeling “isolated.” Third-year College Representative Ian Travis agreed with Addison and added that he is excited to be able to visit the College at Wise later this fall semester.
“I think I'm in a very similar boat [to] a lot of people [who] don't know of Wise,” Travis said. “I think [it’s a great step to] increase the education around Wise at [the University] ... people in Wise [have] a great perspective to bring into our community.”
Fourth-year College Representative David Dzil spoke out against the proclamation and said he was concerned regarding the second-to-last “whereas” clause that states that the agreement between the two organizations be terminated at any point by either the SGA president or Student Council president. Dickerson explained that the clause gives the incoming Student Council president the option to continue or end the agreement, depending on whether maintaining the relationship is a priority for them.
“I think that’s [what is] so beautiful about reasonable governance,” Dickerson said. “There’s the idea that we can flexibly govern and serve our communities.”
The proclamation passed with 22 ayes and 1 representative — Dzul — in negation.
Dickerson additionally provided Student Council representatives with an update regarding a meeting he had with interim University President Paul Mahoney, Jason Trujillo, interim vice president and chief of staff to the president, and interim advisor Mary Kate Cary, Thursday, Aug. 28.
Dickerson said one thing he expressed to Mahoney was Student Council’s concern regarding the lack of student representation in the search committee for the University’s tenth president, hoping Mahoney would pass those concerns along to the Board of Visitors.
Student Council passed a vote of no confidence in the Board Aug. 8 because of that lack of representation and because the Board had not responded to Student Council’s requests for a meeting to take place between the two organizations. According to Dickerson, the Board has not responded to requests to have direct meetings with Student Council members since the no confidence vote.
In a later interview with The Cavalier Daily, Dickerson said he also asked Mahoney what students can expect in terms of future funding. Dickerson said he was curious how a potential University fallout with the Department of Justice would affect students — as the DOJ sent seven letters to University administration between April and July 2025 questioning the University’s observance of federal law in the admissions process — and how Mahoney’s funding to students might be different than former University President Jim Ryan.
“With each president comes a new set of discretionary spending money,” Dickerson said. “There will likely be a new shift in priorities and [I wanted to understand] his priorities because he isn’t President Ryan.”
Dickerson said Mahoney responded that time will tell what happens with DOJ funding but Trujillo recommended Dickerson reach out to schools like Columbia University and Brown University — which have both lost federal funding — to understand how their student leaders dealt with the loss.
In March 2025, Columbia lost $400 million in grants after the DOJ, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Education and U.S. General Services Administration declared Jewish students at Columbia were facing harassment. Brown had their funding frozen in July 2025 by the Trump administration for similar treatment of Jewish students and for considering race in the admissions process.
A resolution to appoint directors to the Student Council’s administrative branch for the 2025-26 academic year was also passed during Tuesday’s meeting. Princess Wuraola Olubuse-Omisore, Student Council vice president for administration and graduate public health student, spoke on the resolution she sponsored. Directors were appointed to the Finance, Marketing, History, Data Science, Alumni Relations and Membership committees.
“I interviewed each of these people with a pretty excited feeling,” Olubuse-Omisore said. “They really are all a great fit for their positions.”
Second-year College student Bertie Azqueta will be director of finance, third-year College student Belcy Emerson and third-year Commerce student Hannah Wang will be co-directors of marketing and third-year College student Dani Sarno and third-year College student Kylie Sharp will be co-directors of history. Fourth-year College student Brooke Beenhouwer will be director of data science, second-year College student Aidan Goldberg will be director of alumni relations and fourth-year College student Luis Ruano-Campos will be director of membership.
Student Council will reconvene for a regularly scheduled general body meeting Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
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