University of Virginia Library

Letters To The Editor

Progressing Backwards

When Ghana builds a soccer
stadium instead of roads, or
when El Salvador buys arms
instead of food we usually
ascribe the cause for these
choices to a certain
"immaturity" or even
"irrationality" which we more
"mature" and more "rational"
Americans find common in
so-called "developing
countries." When the U.Va.
engages in programs of
comparably dubious value, we
more generously ascribe the
motives to "tradition."

I should like, in this light,
to congratulate whichever of
the powers-that-be that decides
on the spending priorities of
this University for once again
adhering to its long-since
established pattern of spending
on prestige, "cosmetic"
projects money that would
seem to be of much more
benefit to the general
university community if it
were spend elsewhere.

What I would like the
students and the administrators
to consider is this: are the new
brick side-walks such as are
being laid from the Rotunda
toward the Medical School
"traditional" or "irrational?"
We, that is, the U.Va., "have
not the funds" for graders,
teaching assistants or
fellowships, but we do for
replacing extant, functional
concrete sidewalks with brick
ones.

No one cares to spend the
time or energy to replace the
long-since broken or missing
ceiling tiles in basement Cabell
Hall, or to even get the clocks
in the building to show the
same (much less the correct)
time. We have these splendidly
traditional, Jeffersonian brick
side-walks on the lawn, while
from the front of the Rotunda
to the corner by Brooks
Museum, and from the
Graduate Business School to
Newcomb Hall we have
traditional, Jeffersonian mud.

We have brick steps on the
lawn, while from Wilson Hall
to Jefferson Park Avenue we
have old railroad ties (or some
such thing). Bulbs in the
traditional, Jeffersonian
gardens on the ranges produce
blooms, while those in many
classrooms and offices produce
no light, and calls (if the
phones work) to B&G produce
no new bulbs. (I suppose we
are to either resort to
traditional, Jeffersonian
candles, or curse the
traditional, Jeffersonian
darkness).

On the Lawn, B&G erects
wires, ropes, etc., to keep the
students and their packs of
urinating, defecating, and
copulating dogs off the grass,
while elsewhere grass plots are
reduced to mud holes by the
vehicles of that same
grass-protecting organization.
Bicycle lanes are created, only
to be painted over again in a
few months time.

Nobody seems to plan
ahead – at least no coherently.
But I guess that follows a noble
Jeffersonian tradition as well.
(Remember how the Sage of
Monticello had to bore a hole
in the floor of his foyer to let
the "Sunday" cannonball of
his renowned clock drop
through to the cellar?) Do we
plan better backward toward
an idealized image of the U.'s
past than we do forward to the
way the U. should be – or even
to the way the U. could be?

Perhaps "rationality" is too
much to expect from those
who value brick side-walks for
show more highly than cement
ones for use, and esteem Food
Service's "right" to make a
profit (or is it a surplus?) above
the students' right to food
without being "soaked" for his
money, nor the burgers being
"soaked" all day in their own
"juices."

Perhaps we are not afraid to
"...tolerate any error...", but is
reason still free to combat that
error? If the combat has been
fought in the bowels of the
bureaucracy, – I'd judge
reason to have thrown in the
towel.

Give And Take

Since Mr. Jefferson never
dreamed that the city of
Charlottesville would ever grow
to "his University," he would
probably turn over in his grave
if he realized that it had grown
to and beyond.

He never dreamed the times
to be such as they are –
automobiles dashing madly
about his beloved spot and
students cavorting in mud
baths. We have both, and so we
have to solve the problems. In
a kindred spirit, may I make
two suggestions?

The first is that the
University set aside Mad Bowl
for the Easter weekend mud
battle, and leave Rugby Road
free and clear to the taxpayers
who support U.Va. and the
maintenance of Charlottesville
city streets. (I had a nephew in
school here years ago who
resided in a fraternity on Carr's
Hill, and he took the position
that Carr's Hill belonged to
U.Va. and to the students, and
they did not relish
towns-people using Carr's Hill
Drive.) This, in itself is not
realistic.

There has to be a little give
and take in every situation, and
so my second suggestion is that
we all try to abide by the signal
lights at Rugby and University
Way. That intersection, even
with new lights, is enough to
test the strongest of us all. In
all fairness to the pedestrian,
he gets less time to walk than
the automobile driver.

Somehow, this can be
worked out for the betterment
of all and hopefully make each
of us more tolerant toward the
other. Above all, we can and
must live together and respect
each other for all concerned.