University of Virginia Library

Letters To The Editor

Old Indian Proverb: 'No Basket, No Litter'

I am sending you the
enclosed with the hope that
you will be able to print it in
your paper next week. It may
call the attention of the
Administration to a present
problem on the Grounds. It
may even spur them to do
something about it.

First Gentleman: "What is that
monument planted on the
greensward in front of
Alderman Library?"

Second Gentleman: "It looks
neither educational nor
Jeffersonian. It has the
appearance of a small urinal."

First Gentleman: "What, in
front of Alderman Library?"

Second Gentlemen: "The
French do it." (Closer) "But,
no, you may put your fears to
rest. It is, in fact, a wastepaper
basket shaped to resemble a
small rotunda and protected by
a wooden fence, the whole
impaled on a lead pipe."

First Gentleman: "I am
relieved. I thought for a
moment it was something in
bad taste. What a magnificent
site for a wastepaper basket.
No one can pass by without
noticing it."

Second Gentleman: "Indeed!
Look, there under the
spreading chestnut tree is
another one, and to the left
another, and over there
another."

First Gentleman: "I imagine
that these are part of the plan
for the future of the
University. By 1984, in spite of
one hundred thousand
students, a person walking on
the grounds will never be more
than two feet from a
wastepaper basket."

Second Gentleman:
"Ingenious! By littering the
grounds with litter receptacles
the Administration will have
solved the litter problem."

It was reliably reported that
one night some weeks later a
band of men, dressed as Indians
and shouting, "no baskets, no
litter," seized all the little
rotundas and threw them into
Lake Albemarle.

Majorettes?

I would like to write of the
deplorable state of affairs of
the Virginia cheerleaders. Our
cheerleaders seem to serve no
other purpose than decoration
at the Virginia Athletic
events. Cheering is virtually
crowd led, and cheerleaders are
cheer-followers.

Although I don't question
their ability, I feel they are an
institution that drastically
needs change. We have a
pep band, why not have
dancing cheerleaders? The girls
seem to have worked up a
beginning on this, but I guess
the men of the squad still feel
this is too "State U-ish" for
Virginia. This seems to be an
unfortunate vestige of the past.

I have tried out for
cheerleader before, and I found
that, upon attempting an
innovation on a cheer we were
taught, one of the male
cheerleaders said that this
particular cheer was tradition.
That it couldn't be changed.
Funny, but women
cheerleaders were only added
to this university in fall of
1970. A three year tradition?

Again, I don't mean to be
critical of ability. I just think
that the cheerleaders at the
present time are worthless as
far as the students go. Why not
try a little innovation?

Shannon

In agreeing with the
general feeling of the
University community that the
loss of Edgar Shannon as
President will be great, I think
that his distinguished
achievements here tend to
overshadow the more
significant reason why his
departure signals an irreparable
loss.

Having spent 7 years here
with occasional involvements
working with Mr. Shannon, I
have observed that beyond the
qualities of academic standing
and tactful management
commonly found in most