Student Council convened for its first meeting of the academic year Tuesday. At the meeting, representatives confirmed a rules and ethics chair and raised concerns regarding graduate student participation and input on the Council.
The Representative Body voted to reappoint J.D./PhD candidate Benvin Lozada for his third term as rules and ethics chair. Lozada explained at the meeting that the Rules and Ethics Board interprets the Council’s Constitution and bylaws, with its chair serving as the Council’s parliamentarian and arbiter of internal disputes. While it is typically a seven-person committee, Lozada has been the only individual serving on the Board since he began his term as chair in November.
Darden student Mariah McVey raised a community concern regarding the efficacy of graduate student participation in the Council. She noted that graduate students typically have different concerns than undergraduate students and are less involved in issues surrounding Central Grounds, which mainly houses the University’s undergraduate academic buildings.
“I don’t know [if graduate] students frankly are really that optimized to weigh in on things that happen on [Central] Grounds,” McVey said. “I'm just wondering if … it [makes] sense to have some kind of committee for [graduate] students just because I think a lot of us are adults with slightly different concerns.”
McVey also asked members of the Executive Board whether there is a graduate student committee on the Council.
In response, Saehee Pérez, vice president for administration and fourth-year College student, explained that there is a Graduate Affairs Committee within the cabinet. The Graduate Affairs Committee works closely with the graduate representatives and functions as the main avenue for policy-making on graduate student issues. Pérez said the director position is currently vacant in this committee because there were no applications for the position, but she noted that general member applications for the committee are open. The director will be chosen from the pool of general member applicants, according to Pérez.
McVey continued to raise concerns about graduate student representation, expressing doubt that there are graduate students interested in applying to serve as the agency’s director. Pérez suggested using the Data Science Committee — a separate committee under the direction of the Director of Data Science who collects data on the Council’s policy initiatives. She said that currently, this committee mainly surveys issues within Central Grounds but that a possibility to address Mcvey’s graduate student representation concern could be to expand these surveys. McVey and Pérez agreed to continue the conversation privately after the meeting.
Harper Tran, vice president for organizations and fourth-year Batten student, also announced changes to how the Board of Audit and Management will conduct Contracted Independent Organization budget audits. CIOs are student organizations recognized by the Council, which entitles the organization to receive funding allocations from the Student Activities Fee.
As part of the budget audits, BAM typically reviews the spending of 80 to 100 percent of CIOs to ensure that allocated Student Activities Fee funds are used for the purposes for which the CIO stated in their applications.
Going forward, BAM will audit and review only 15 to 20 percent of CIO fund allocations. Tran said the change will allow BAM to dedicate more time to reviewing CIO budget appeals and provide greater support to the Council internally.
Tran also announced that CIO registration applications for the fall semester opened Wednesday.
Michael Mitchell, Council president and fourth-year Commerce student, announced that the University Police Department recently added Narcan — a medicine that reverses opioid overdoses — to all automated external defibrillator boxes. Mitchell said he plans to partner with UPD and University Fraternity and Sorority Life to promote Narcan training to students, though he did not have specific details regarding this initiative Tuesday.
Kayla Kim, fourth-year Data Science representative, raised concerns about a pothole on Jefferson Park Avenue near Student Health and Wellness that puts walkers at risk of tripping and falling in. Kim is pursuing a temporary fix, such as placing a traffic cone near the pothole, while looking into University resources to have it filled.
Mitchell noted that there is also the Security and General Safety Committee within the University’s Department of Safety and Security. This Committee, who Mitchell said is chaired by Tim Longo, associate vice president for safety and security and chief of police, takes “night tours” around Grounds to “assess physical safety conditions” like lighting, crosswalks and pathways. Mitchell said he would flag Longo’s committee to see if they could be of assistance in fixing the pothole.
The Council will reconvene Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. for its regularly scheduled general body meeting.
Lucia Gambacini is a senior writer on the news desk covering Student Council and other issues pertaining to student life and government. She is a third-year from Richmond, Va. studying Political & Social Thought in the College.
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