Love that StudCo

There is a place, right here in Charlottesville, where a community of trust exists, where citizens have complete self-governance and everyone is involved in the governing process.

Unfortunately, that place is the Lawn. And 99 percent of students don't live there.

The rest of us live in a university whose bureaucracy and initiatives seem, at best, tangential. No matter how many times we are told that changing constitution bylaw 428 section A is absolutely essential to the school's continued operation, most of us don't believe it. Getting the bursar to remove a registration block is essential. Changing constitutional bylaw 428A doesn't even make a dent in our collective indifference curve.

Why should it? Who has the time or energy to fight the dense mask of committees and red tape that separate student council representatives from actual students? After all, most politicos gave up the charade long ago, right? Sensing eventual defeat, they isolated themselves in rooms without toilets and began to communicate only with each other (and selected groups of hangers-on who live in reasonable proximity).

But strangely enough, lately I've been rethinking these notions. I've found that contrary to popular belief, politicos are usually involved, intelligent, well-intentioned people. After talking to a few, I even found myself listening to what they have to say.

Recently, my new-found friends laid out UVA 101 before me, a glorious vision of our communal future. First years taking a good hard look at their own ignorance. Students learning that Thomas Jefferson wasn't always a good person. People of all races dancing hand in hand, sharing a Coke and a smile. The vision was interrupted only now and then by the blank, lifeless faces of First Year Focus or Grounds for Discussion. Most people were able to shake it off and move on.

However, I realized that the evil spectre of these failures still haunts our beloved but troubled Student Council. In spite of successes like Mosaic House, Clemons Library, and the ethnic and women's concerns committee, the council has been unable to shake the widely held perception of the student body (including, previously, me) that they have no positive effect on student life. Yes, that misconception is largely the fault of the students; on the whole we make little effort to obtain information beyond the front page of the CD (although a good argument could be made that since the demise of the UJ,the CD is the only source of StudCo. information). But hang it, people should be aware of these limitations by now. If Student Council wants us to know what they have accomplished, they have to make an effort to publicize it, and so far their attempts to free the university everyman from their misconceptions have fallen far short of the mark.

I have always wished nothing but success for Student Council; here are students who are willing to take responsibility for the crap that nobody else will. I am sad, however, that I only recently found out that the Student Council is often successful, and that any complaints about their lack of relevance are almost always wrong. So will the Student Council please tell that to the student body?

Kate Zimmerman

Viewpoint consists of the majority opinion of the managing board of The Declaration and is written by the executive editor on a weekly basis.