General Marketing for StudCo: simpler is better
By Dan Morrison
During my three years at UVA, whenever someone has tried to explain to me how Student
Council works it’s been long and difficult. We’ve never had an elevator speech that works
outside of the basic, “Your voice is our vision.” For those marketing council its key we have
quick and effective marketing.
The Elevator Speech
We need to explain what Council does in every capacity but still be simple and understandable.
I’ve broken this down into a very quick elevator speech that can be delivered in both large
presentations and face-to-face settings. These facets should be at the core of our marketing to
new students so they fully understand Council.
What does Student Council do? We give students the tools they need to be and do what they
want at UVA. We do this in three ways
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We work on behalf of students
We work alongside students
We support and equip students
Each section corresponds to a major function of Council. We work on behalf of students
through SpeakUpUVA and the Representative Body taking in and acting on concerns. We work
alongside students by having students join Student Council committees to undertake relevant
projects. We support and equip students through the Appropriations process by funding student
groups to undertake efforts Council cannot.
That’s it.
Below I have broken down the sections more granularly so we can fine tune marketing for each
individual point.
On Behalf: The Representative Structure
We work on behalf of Students by filtering concerns into the Representative Body of Student
Council. The constitution calls for Representatives to, among other things, do three things
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Represent the issues facing their respective schools
Respond to needs presented by the student body
Serve on one of Student Council’s standing committees
In the coming year we are going to do this through SpeakUpUVA. When Joe Wahoo has a
problem, he signs onto SpeakUpUVA.com and submits a problem- within 48 hours a
Representative who sits on the related committee will contact him. If the problem is about
concessions at athletic events it goes to the Rep who sits on the Athletic Affairs Committee. If
the problem is about lighting in First-Year living areas it goes to the Rep who sits on the Safety
and Wellness Committee. The Rep works with StudCo’s resources to solve the issue.
Alongside: The Committee Structure and the Council we all know and love
Let’s say Joe Wahoo doesn’t want to send a request to Student Council to get something done:
let’s assume he wants to join the organization to make UVA a better place. He applies for the
committees we offer.
When people describe Student Council, this is normally what they describe. Council has a budget
of about $70,000 to $100,000 that we allocate to the 11 Presidential Committees and we use it to
implement needed initiatives around grounds. The committees are
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Academic Affairs Committee
Athletic Affairs Committee
Buildings & Grounds Committee
Community Affairs Committee
Diversity Initiatives Committee
Environmental Sustainability Committee
Legislative Affairs Committee
Public Service Committee
Safety & Wellness Committee
Student Arts Committee
Student Life Committee
We also have Ad-Hoc committees for special needs and two special committees: Marketing &
Communications and the Technology Committee. All these committees work on initiatives they
deem important to the student experience at UVA.
Support and Equip: The VPO and Appropriations
Let’s say Joe Wahoo has something big. He wants to build a community, start a movement, or
investigate a passion of his. He can create a student group and get started on such a project. This
is where the appropriations process and CIO consultants come into play.
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Appropriations: Student Council is charged with the duty of allocating the Student
Activities Fee (SAF). When you cut out permanent expenditures, salaries, etc the Vice
President and his/her team doles out $600,000 to CIO’s.
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CIO Consultants: The CIO consultants advise student groups on best practices and
opportunities that exist for student groups. This could include additional funding, cosponsorship opportunities, and advising on specialty issues like environmental
sustainability or diversity.
We have over 800 student groups at UVA (some more active than others). Each got started
because someone somewhere wanted to improve the quality of life of his or her fellow students.
Student Council helps make this happen.