University of Virginia Library

University Growth Focuses On 'Academic Centers'

By Brian Siegal

—ed.

Coeducation, increased
enrollment, and larger, better
physical facilities will all play a
part in the forming of the
University for future years.

Based on Thomas
Jefferson's principles, his
architecture, and his dreams,
the University continues to
change with the times,
retaining many of the age-old
traditions in the process.

In this year of the
Sesquicentennial celebration,
many accomplishments have
been achieved. The new
Chemistry Building was
dedicated and Wilson Hall was
opened to the students.
Parietal rules are in the process
of change and coeducation is in
the near future for the College.
More students are coming to
the University and higher
academic standards are
becoming mandatory.

Since the first class of 68
first-year men, the University
has grown in the last 150 years
to include an enrollment of
more than 9,000. In studies
made by the Committee on the
Future of the University, this
institution is destined to
accommodate as many as
18,000 students by the year
1980.

To cope with this increase,
the University's plan for
physical growth focuses on the
creation of five academic
"centers" by the grouping of
new buildings and assigning
new functions to the present
structures. The fine arts center
will branch from the School of
Architecture while the
humanities and social science
center will retain as its hub
Cabell Hall. It will eventually
expand southward across
Jefferson Park Avenue. The
western sector of the Grounds
will encompass the science and
engineering disciplines. The
graduate professional center
will soon move from their
present sites to a new complex
northwest of the University
Hall structures. The School of
Law and the Graduate School
of Business Administration are
both included in the
graduate-professional center.

The facilities these schools
presently use will be
incorporated into the
humanities area to provide
classrooms for the increased
enrollment of the future.

Other structures to be built
are the 2.3 million dollar
School of Education building
and the 1.9 million dollar
mechanical engineering
building.

To be opened during the
Sesquicentennial year is the
School of Architecture
classroom building and library
which is the first phase of the
Fine Arts Center. These
buildings under construction
and the ones to be started
shortly are being financed
through the issuance of higher
education bonds approved by
Virginia voters in November.

Student achievement at the
University continues to
become more impressive year
after year. Already the average
first-year man is coming to the
University with better than a
1200 score on the College
Board Examinations. More
than 27 per cent of the College
students now win places on the
Dean's List.

Last year, ten students were
selected Woodrow Wilson
Fellows and three, the highest
in the nation, were awarded
Danforth Fellowships. This
year, three Danforth
Fellowships were awarded
again to University students.

Thirteen students were
selected National Science
Foundation Fellows, and one
student was honored with the
prestigious. Churchill
Scholarship for study at
Cambridge. Two University
students were chosen Rhodes
Scholars.

In striving for a better
University in the future,
greater numbers of prestigious
educators and researchers are
continually being sought to
come to the University. Along
with a growing student body is
a growing faculty.

Many of the University
professors are being selected
for grants and honors due to
accomplishments in their
particular fields. Edgar F.
Shannon, President of the
University, has been selected to
receive a special grant under a
new program of the Danforth
Foundation. He will spend
several weeks traveling and in
independent study abroad
following the University's
Sesquicentennial events.

Fredson Bowers, former
chairman of the English
department and an authority
on bibliographical history and
method and a specialist in
Shakespeare studies, has been
made the new president of the
South Atlantic Modern
Language Association.

Besides such changes as
growth and facilities, the
University is also changing in
its structure. Increasing student
concern with University
procedures and rules has led to
the appointment of students to
37 administrative committees.
Increased student involvement
is becoming more imminent
each day. The student council
has just recently recommended
to President Shannon that a
member of Student Council be
appointed to the Committee
on the Future of the
University. As of now, there is
a student on the committee?
however, he is not a
representative of the student
body nor is he responsible to
any student body for the
stands he takes in the
committee, according to
student council representative
Kevin Mannix.

The activity and criticisms
of the newly formed Coalition
has had a profound effect upon
the thinking of students and
administrators alike in the
future directions of the
University.

The Coalition has
illuminated many of the
problems of our University and
the effect upon the University
community they have now,
and will have in future years.
The Transition Program which
they advocate has been
acknowledged for its
advantages. Only the lack of
funds prevents its inauguration.
When the money becomes
available, many states residents
will benefit from this program
which is sure to play an
important part in the future
academic community.

Following much debate and
argument, the Board of
Visitors of the University has
paved the way for the future
admission of women to the
College. Reaching their
conclusion under strong
pressures from both sides, the
Board of Visitors made a great
decision. The influx of females
into the College is sure to alter
the pattern of University life;
just how, it is not known.

The decision was reached
after the President's
Committee on the Admission
of Women to the College,
under the chairmanship of T.
Braxton Woody, strongly
recommended that women be
admitted to the College rather
than to a nearby coordinate
college. The "overwhelming
evidence of the desirability and
effectiveness of a plan which is
essentially coeducational as
opposed to coordinate" is
important according to the
report.

Coeducation of the
University will be phased into
the projected growth in an
orderly and carefully planned
fashion. According to the
report on the Feasibility and
Means of the Admission of
Women to the College: "The
ultimate goal should be a ratio
of men to women which
preserves the traditions of the
University and which provides
the optimum educational
experience for the students
within this framework."

The committee on
coeducation said the number
of qualified male applicants
admitted should not be
curtailed due to the admission
of women. They also proposed
that the long term ratio of
out-of-state students be
maintained. During the
transition period, however, it
would be necessary to give
preference to Virginia or even
local residents.

Wives of students, and wives
and daughters of faculty
members will be admitted to
the College in the academic
year beginning next
September. The admission of
women on a larger scale will
begin the following academic
year, with the number of
women increasing in the next
few years until the desired
proportion of female students
is enrolled at the University. In
this way, it is hoped that the
introduction of women
students into the College will
cause a minimum number of
problems.

Another important aspect
of University life is the athletic
department and its effect upon
the University community ad
the outside world. It is
impossible to determine the
proficiency of future teams;
however, the future will
definitely see great
improvements in the physical
structures. With University Hall
still like new, a field house and
a new swimming complex are
planned for the near future.
Likewise, a new track for the
track team is on the way. A
little farther off will be a new
baseball field and a study is
underway as to the feasibility
of a new football stadium.

The future is destined to
bring to Charlottesville a much
larger, better equipped
university. What it turns out to
be like will depend upon what
is done hereafter.