University of Virginia Library

Pre–Game Show With Scott Stadium's Alumni

By DAVID FOSTER

Tailgating is theoretically a
dangerous sport...but so are a
lot of other things a
full-fledged. Wahoo will try at
least once. So, with tape
recorder in hand, date in the
other, and an idle flask of Jim
Crow mildewing in the lapel, I
set out to disturb a few
pre-game picnics outside Scott
Stadium this past Saturday, in
hopes of garnering a few
quotable couplets from the
grads of yesteryear.

And all Alumni apparently
agreed on one thing: "It has
changed quite a bit." John
Simms, however, representing
the class of '62, didn't seem to
object to all the idiosyncrasies
of the New U. In his
phraseology, "I like co-eds,
period. It livens things up."

Enrollment was somewhat a
different subject. "You can get
too large," claims Mr. Simms.
"It's not bad now, but I think
if they continue, then there's a
certain amount of
identification they're going to
lose."

Lower out-of-state quotas, on
the other hand, he could
understand, even being from

West Virginia himself: "No, I
don't think it will hurt the
school. Most state schools do
this. If you keep the in-state
students here, the brain power
will stay in the state."

Bill Rhine, who took his Ph.d.
in nuclear engineering from the
University in 1969, concurred.
"I think that's a good idea. I
don't think you ought to
exclude the out-of-staters or
make them pay too big an
economic penalty, but I don't
see why you can't give in-state
students a little bit of
preference."

"I think the people that come
here, whether they're from
Virginia or not, are going to be
pretty much the same type of
people. I don't think there's
any particular ratio that's good
or bad, but the school
shouldn't take so many
out-of-state people that the
in-state can't go."

What about the overall
enrollment? Is 12,000 a little
exuberant?

"I don't think that that
particular level of enrollment is
going to hurt it, but if it gets
too much more...I do think
there's a definite limit."

CD/Bob Humphrey

UVa Alumni:

In Playboy's Words, "The Professionals"

"If it gets to about 18,000, it
will in fact be too many."

Did the admission of women
perhaps aggravate the
situation? "No comment." I
left before his wife could.

The final gentleman,
gloriously bedecked in blue
and orange, found no subject
on which he wouldn't
comment. "You've got the
right man now!" he exclaimed,
eying the tape recorder.

"I'm Rock Weir, coach of the
Alumni."

And I'm James Reston,
sportswriter for the Times.

"No, really, here's my watch
to prove it!" And so he was.
My next mistake was letting
him find out I was from The
Cavalier Daily, somehow
responsible for the Alumni's
performance in last spring's
Alumni-Varsity affair.

"I tell you, we need your help
when it comes to that Alumni
game. We took a bath last year
on that game, you know. We
had 500 students that bought
tickets to that game last year.
That's pitiful."

Co-eds he held in similar
esteem.

"I never really figured it
would come. We were unique,
we were different. And we had
enough girls' schools around
that we didn't need the girls."

Limited percentages of
out-of-state students, however,
would certainly hurt the
University's academics.

"I still think the high schools
in Virginia have a long way to
go in preparing kids for
college," he pointed out. "I
don't think we're getting the
academic standards we should
out of the state of Virginia."

Suppose the General
Assembly deems more and
more in-staters "qualified"
(sic)?

"That's ambiguous. They're
qualified for these community
colleges I think, but I don't
think they're qualified for
places like Virginia."

The evolution-and/or-degeneration
of the Honor System was
another innovation Mr. Weir
questioned.

"The Alumni's always been
for the Honor System," he
said. "I think we'll fight it to
the end if they try to get rid of
it, because if you haven't got
any honor in school, where are
you going to have any honor?"

He continued, "I think our
basic problem is not the
students: I don't think the
professors are behind it. We're
getting professors in here
that don't know our traditions,
our way of teaching, and they
don't even teach the Honor
System. I know students that
have taken exams, and never
even had it explained to them,
what the Honor System really
is.

"The Honor System's what
made this University," he
exclaimed,

(I dared not interrupt...)

"and I know it's changed
some, but in the days when we
were here you never had to
lock anything up."

"There're still some
traditions. You know–and it's
funny–we went through some
rough periods a few years ago,
and you can see it begin to
swing back now."

"We always said, at Virginia
we were different."

It's difficult, of course, to
find 20,000 "different" people.
"If they get up to the
18-20,000 they're talking
about, I don't know where
we're going to put them. We
haven't got the facilities."

His suggestion?

"Back to 4,000!"

With which he offered me a
Michelob, with which ends the
quotable portion of this
interview. To the Old U....