Jacob Smith '23
Professor Liason Editor
We have just held Law-School-wide elections over who will lead the Student Bar Association, or SBA. But what does SBA do? Well, SBA does basically four things. It runs events, represents students, recognizes student organizations, and provides information to the student body.
Planning Events
Here is SBA’s greatest power: the ability to spend lots of money on bringing students together. Say what you will about SBA, it plans an impressive array of events. There’s all the Bar Reviews. There’s Barrister’s and Fauxfield. There’s the Spies Garden social events, and Feb Club, and special events for 3Ls, and the list goes on. Outgoing president Juhi Desai ’23 estimated that if you count everything that someone from SBA is involved with, SBA has a hand in fifty to sixty events per year.
That’s a big responsibility, and one that our incoming and outgoing presidents have taken seriously. When asked about her proudest accomplishments as president, Desai was quick to point to Mental Health Week, as well as an event about the Jackson, Mississippi water crisis that SBA co-sponsored and the Law Weekly covered.[1] Incoming president Tommy Cerja ’24 has given events a lot of thought, too. Along with bigger venues, better DJs, and cheaper tickets, Cerja would like to co-sponsor more events with student organizations, with the idea of basically letting them throw a party on SBA’s dime. He also intends to arrange a big fall competition that he described as the equivalent of bringing Darden Cup to the Law School.
Representing Students
Now we get to SBA’s most solemn function: SBA as the student body’s voice. For example, the SBA president nominates students to provide representation on faculty committees dealing with items such as curriculum, public service, and new faculty hiring. The SBA president also meets with Dean Sarah Davies ’91 every week, and less frequently with Law School Dean Risa Goluboff, providing an opportunity to ask questions or pass along concerns on behalf of other students.
More formally, SBA can officially take a position on a topic. SBA’s bylaws provide for resolutions, defined as “statement[s] of the sentiment of the Student Body.”[2] According to the bylaws, SBA can pass a resolution in one go with a three-fourths vote, or by a more involved three-step process that requires two majority votes at separate meetings, with email notice to the student body in between those meetings.[3] SBA has not passed any resolutions recently, although, in November, SBA did apparently endorse another organization’s letter without going through the formal resolution process.[4] However, Cerja wants to give SBA a more active role in speaking out on behalf of the student body. He told me he hopes to shift SBA away from its traditional ideological neutrality and put out more statements.
Recognizing Student Organizations
SBA also has a role in recognizing new student organizations. While the SBA constitution says nothing about that power, it has long been accepted practice that SBA screens new student organizations before their applications reach Student Affairs.[5] Recognition is important for student clubs because it lets them access resources such as Law School Foundation funding and room reservations. SBA’s approval process isn’t especially rigorous: Desai said, “Generally, we’re going to vote it up.” However, SBA officials get the chance to ask questions about the proposed organization, hoping to verify that it has a viable future at the Law School.
It could have been otherwise. The UVA Student Council requires Main Grounds groups to have hosted at least three meetings (not including interest meetings and social gatherings) and to have at least ten committed members before they will be approved.[6] And at some law schools, I’m told the SBA’s power extends to approving club budgets.
Providing Information
The final function SBA performs is simply providing information. This is most visible in SBA’s Monday Mail newsletter. But SBA also has an outline bank and other resources on its website.[7] Less obviously, students can contact their SBA president and other representatives with questions. Like your local state senator, SBA people may be more informed about how the Law School runs and what’s going on behind the scenes, so it can be worth pulling one of them aside.
So What?
Having learned about SBA’s functions, you may be wondering what this means for you. Well, one takeaway is thankfulness. SBA does a lot to represent you behind the scenes—they give you free outlines, and, if nothing else, they are a very competent party-planning crew. But should topics other than gratitude cross your mind, why don’t you let your representatives know how they can better serve you? Cerja plans to give affinity groups better representation on the Diversity Advisory Committee, and to set up an anonymous Google Form for event feedback so that the disaffected don’t have to resort to Reddit tirades. But the most straightforward path of communication hasn’t gone away either: Simply reach out to your president, or another elected official, such as your class senator. During Desai’s term, students would typically contact her multiple times a week on a variety of topics—including everything from airing grievances to asking about how to reserve a room. You’re only an email away.
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js3hp@virginia.edu
[1] For coverage, see Ethan Brown, Professor, Activist, and Student Leader Investigate Jackson, MS Water Crisis (Nov. 9, 2022), https://www.lawweekly.org/front-page/2022/11/9/professor-activist-and-student-leader-investigate-jackson-ms-water-crisis.
[2] SBA Bylaws, Art. IV, Sec. 1 (last amended July 15, 2020).
[3] Id. at Section 2.
[4] See SBA Minutes, Nov. 29, 2022, available at https://www.uvasba.com/general-5-4.
[5] This function is covered extensively by the SBA Bylaws, Art. X.
[6] See UVA Student Council, Applying for CIO Status, https://www.uvastudco.com/org-rec (last visited March 12, 2023).
[7] See https://www.uvasba.com/. SBA also has a Twitter account, @UVASBA, but it has been silent since 2020.