To quote a wonderful campaign from UVA Athletics, “We Are One.”
We are Student Council. Committees, Representatives, or CIO assistants, we are all one. This is an important concept to understand when coming into Student Council from the student community.
Students entering Student Council are introduced to a small world: their own little committee, or little group of student leaders. Many don’t even know that their best friends are on Student Council, just different committees. This needs to change.
Student Council needs to build a consistent image, which perpetuates the effectiveness of all of our initiatives and resolutions. You are not Joe Shmo from Legislative Affairs, that’s thinking way too small. You are Mister Joseph Shmo, from the University of Virginia Student Council. Student Council has made this possible, and by simply attributing it as such, you are perpetuating Student Council’s identity in the minds of the UVA and Charlottesville community. Environmental Sustainability was one of StudCo’s most active committees this past year, with over a dozen initiatives. An unfortunate side effect was that students credit “Environmental Sustainability” without connecting this back to Student Council. all it takes is one little change, from “sponsored by StudCo EnviroSustainability Committee” to “Sponsored by Student Council.”
Take a case study: Jen Rao told me that UPC (http://www.student.virginia.edu/upc/) went through the same issues that we are right now. UPC has a bajillion committees, like StudCo, but besides Cinematheque and PKG Concerts, you only hear about things “brought to you by UPC.” And that’s what is effective. The hard truth is, kids, that the real world does not care about which committee you come from. Just like I, as a student, do not care whether a UPC event is sponsored by the Arts & Enrichment Committee or the Comedy Committee. I just know that it is UPC and that’s enough.
So, my friends at StudCo, ask yourself this question: “Is knowing it is from Student Council enough?”
To this, I answer yes. Student Council is enough. It is a single entity, and this is it.
Welcome to Student Council: we are one.
