University of Virginia Library

Letters To The Editor

Addled-Brained Leaders Perpetuate Inequities

Having read your editorials
of Wednesday, April 18, I find
that I can no longer sit by and
read the CD without looking
back to junior high school
when the analysis of events and
appreciation of their
significance was more astute
than anything you seem to be
able to throw together.
(Perhaps pre-junior high might
be more accurate because by
junior high the training of
young impressionables has
already progressed, or more
correctly regressed, to the
"yes, Massa" stage and the
"anything you say must be
correct and true because you
are Massa and therefore,
inherently good and truthful"
ethic has been amply applied.
You certainly have been
thoroughly trained.)

At any rate, there seem to
be some real problems here at
this university. The school's
ability to change, to be fair, to
meet the needs of those
associated with it, or in
anyway to put into practice
Jeffersonian ideals or even
ideas ceased in 1826. Since
that time there has been a
progressive and frequently
malignant atherosclerosis
disease pervading the grounds,
not just in administrative
circles, but within the student
population as well.

Your blindness is startling
as regards the events of
Founder's Day concerning the
eviction of student
organizations from duly
authorized space in Cabell Hall.
The fact that these displays
were sanctioned by student
council, that space had been
reserved, and that their
presence was listed in the
official Founder's Day program
leads one to believe that the
"misunderstanding" was
another in a long list of
calculated but poorly handled
"misunderstandings."

Why must the people at the
University put up with and be
admonished to forget this kind
of heavy-handed treatment?
Why is it also that so many
University police were right
there on the scene with their
addle-brained leader
threatening arrest of anyone
who failed to instantly comply
with the ridiculous order to
dismantle and leave? Why also
is this police force at the beck
and call of certain obviously
elderly individuals who
violently object to amplified
music "penetrating" their
privileged houses on the lawn,
while those elderly and not so
elderly persons living in the
vicinity of Rugby Road are
treated as chronic complainers
after being subjected to
firecrackers in the middle of
the night for weeks preceding
Easters weekend, more
firecrackers exploded during
the weekend (was there a permit
for that display?), unrestrained
amplified music (not on a
Saturday afternoon, but on
into the night), and on Sunday
having streets closed off to
traffic and the risk of being
muddied if not injured by the
drunks causing the noise in the
first place if one dared to
venture outside?

Why are these people told
both by the Charlottesville
police and the University
Security dept. that trusty John
law can not or will not do
anything about it because it's
just a lot of boys and girls and
beer just having a good time.
Why do the same
bubble-headed higher ups who
evict duly authorized groups
from Cabell Hall with
lightening speed take more
than four hours to do anything
on Rugby Road? (By the time
token effort was made, in a
palsy-walsey way, of course,
the mud fest had begun to
wane.)

I don't wish to malign the
Charlottesville police for their
part because it has been
perfectly obvious that the
University has blatantly
disregarded the whole city of
Charlottesville for a very long
time. From the point of view
of the police, a virtual hands
off of the University seems to
be appropriate in view of past
and present tensions.

The University community
and specifically the events of
Founder's Day and Easter's
weekend point up in terribly
obvious fashion the inequities
of our whole society, inequities
perpetuated with vehemence
by administrators, alumni,
members of the Board of
Visitors, and those being
groomed by the "system" to
take up these positions at a
later date, those who seem to
have an abiding faith in the
idea that the University is a
private club for the sons of the
white rich (or those who can
feign the syndrome) and the
daughters, too, if they in some
way ally themselves with
somebody's son.

All the rest are to be
regarded as inferior in qualities
necessary for full membership
and therefore must be
scrutinized for possible
infraction of the rules or
propensity to do something
connected with thought.

For these reasons, stop the
blasphemous use of the phrase
"Jeffersonian traditions" and
substitute "perversion of
Jeffersonian ideals for the
preservation of University
traditions" Just for starters,
read the Declaration of
Independence, carefully lest
you fail to grasp just where Mr.
Jefferson's head was at, so to
speak.

A Misunderstanding

Concerning the recent
Sports Illustrated article, I
would like to apologize to
those who were offended by
the reporter's misinterpretation
of a statement I made. The
statement was never meant to
be taken as an indication that
there is a "characteristic
disregard" for the Honor Code.

However I will say, without
any doubt, there are "some"
University students who do, in
fact, disregard the Honor Code.
Thefts in the dorms and
fraternities indicate such
disregard. We can attribute
some of the thefts to
non-University students but
certainly not all of them. It is
for this reason that I hid the
trophy.

Mistakes are made. I was at
fault for not clarifying myself
to the reporter and the
reporter interpreted the
statement as he understood it.
Unfortunately his
interpretation was incorrect.

I respect the honor code and
I'm quite certain the majority
of the University joins me with
such respect. But there are
those who do not. My
statement was directed at those
who do not respect the Honor Code,
not the entire University.

I hope those offended will
understand and accept my
apology.

Just Thirty Seconds

I am one of the many
students who have neither a car
nor access to the University
Transit System. Therefore, I
hitchhike to and from classes. I
would like to know why, in a
community safeguarded by
Uncle Tom's Honor Code,
students driving to classes pass
by other students (with an
armful of books or a knapsack)
thumbing along Emmet Street
or Rugby Road.

I realize, of course, how
dangerous picking up
hitchhikers can be. I have read
(and been the subject of) the
anti-hitching propaganda
published by Howard
Johnson's and the New Jersey
Turnpike ("last year, of the
7031 persons arrested, 489
were escaped convicts, 3024
were AWOL servicemen, 750
were escaped inmates of an
insane asylum, and the rest
were leftists students on their
way to the riots"). It also
makes sense that other
students pass by because I
could be carrying books as
camouflage and that once
inside the car I'll pull a knife
from between the pages of
Weisz and hijack the car to
Palmyra.

But seriously folks, there
are only two reasons students
pass by other students. One is
that they are in too much of a
hurry. The factor of time
should not even enter into
thought, however, since the
total time involved in stopping,
letting the thumber in, and