University of Virginia Library

The Crackdown

This summer, students received a letter
from Vice President for Student Affairs D
Alan Williams outlining the University's
approach to the 'drug problem'. Basically, it
restated what the University has said
numerous times, e.g., do not bring drugs onto
the Grounds, because they are just as illegal
here as they are any place else.

What the University is trying to do is to
show the community that it is not coddling
criminals and encouraging drug peddling by
ignoring what some of the townsfolk
apparently feel is a serious threat of a major
drug problem emanating from the Grounds.
The difficulty is in finding any such serious
threat. The fact that marijuana has been
known to exist at the University, and that
some students do indeed experiment with
other chemicals, does not lead to the
conclusion that, if the Charlottesville
community has a drug problem, it is the fault
of the University.

Times have changed the drug situation
considerably. While marijuana is used by
millions, and accepted as a not-so-insidious
reality by millions more, the plain truth is
that what might have looked like sure road to
national heroin addiction to some a few years
ago is no longer a realistic assessment of the
impact of the so-called counter-culture.
Anyone visiting this university, for instance,
would surely notice the differences in
attitudes, appearances, and interests between
the entering class three or four years ago and
the one entering this fall.

We would be very much surprised to find
that the University is the source of the more
serious drug problem in Charlottesville's
secondary schools and on the streets. It is
more likely–in fact highly probable–that the
traffic in drugs, especially heroin, enters the
city from Washington or Roanoke or
Richmond, not from McCormick Road or the
Lawn.

A man's home is not his castle, especially if
he lives in University housing. The law does
indeed reach into the darkest corners of the
dreary dormitory. If you want to pass your
time with illegal drugs, do not be too smug
about how safe you are in your dorm.

If the local authorities really believe that
the University is the den of iniquity they
would like to think it is, they may soon be
planting narcotics agents as phony
roommates. Beware. Nevertheless, it is high
time they begin to snoop around where the
real problem is...and stop trying to make the
University their scapegoat for a serious
problem their community faces.