University of Virginia Library

Letters To The Editor

which is reprehensible to the
student body?

2) Does the taking without
payment of a considerable quantity
of merchandise (as distinguished
from grateful acceptance of an
extra item delivered as a peace
offering by the machine) constitute
"stealing"?

3) Does the Committee feel that
the majority of the student body
makes no distinction as to honesty
between taking two cokes when a
machine dispenses two and filling a
paper bag from an "open"
machine?

4) In all seriousness, what am I
to tell friends and alumni who ask
if there is any force — or spirit —
left in the Honor System, even on
the Grounds?

Busch Lauded

Though not desiring to be labeled
a defender of the faith, I disagree
strongly with Mr. Wells' comments
on the performance of Thomas
Busch in "The Night Thoreau Spent
in Jail." I was also there Monday
night and feel Mr. Busch's presence
alone is well worth the price of a
ticket.

From his first line, a kindly
admonishment to his mother, to his
final departure from the jail, Mr.
Busch leaves you with a sense of
love for Thoreau. You not only feel
the man's kindness, his
individuality, but are assaulted by
his absolute, uncompromising
idealism.

Though Mr. Wells feels that
Busch has not injected enough
emotion into the man, I believe just
the opposite. The test of a fine
performance is its underlying traits.
What can the actor make you feel
just by the mood he creates? Does
he have to cry to make you sad?
Does he have to shout to make you
angry? No. Acting is more than just
proper line-readings. It is a way to
convey your message spiritually as
well as physically. Mr. Busch
fulfilled it, period.

Mr. Wells longs for Thoreau's
love of teaching. Yet I felt the
scene in which Thoreau and Miss
Ellen were together in the row boat
was one of great beauty, due
mainly to a quality which Busch
maintained throughout the evening:
sincerity. It is hard to come by in
amateur acting. In fact, I began to
believe that Mr. Busch was actually
enjoying himself.

I think Mr. Wells expected a
level of intensity that would have
ruined Thoreau's confrontations
with Ellen in the first half and
Emerson in the second. An actor
does not maintain levels. He builds
to peaks and climaxes. Mr. Wells
called these outstanding exceptions
to Busch's "flat performance."
Rather, they were moments when
Busch opened the door and let us
clearly see Thoreau's anguish.

Thoreau is an exhausting role to
undertake. All told, Mr. Busch was
off stage during the entire evening
for probably ninety seconds. He
carried the play and yet did not
belabor the point. For me, his
performance was a source of
inspiration.

A Step Back

Another hideous situation,
characterized by lack of foresight
and of concern, has arisen at the
University of Virginia. All
upperclass women who have
secured dorm rooms by lottery will
be housed in Mary Munford and
Roberta Gwalthney dorms next
year. Mary Manford is isolated not
only by its location but also by its
practice of no visitation in dorm
rooms. The girls get a genuine home
atmosphere through the residence
of a house mother, absent this year
only through an inability to fill the
position. These policies added to its
all-female, isolated status harbor an
undesirable stiffness characteristic
of a tenth-grade boarding school
atmosphere. Perhaps this is an
attempt to squelch the recently
exposed "bawdy house"
reputation, at least among the
upperclass women.

By allowing the backwardness of
this situation to thrive,
co-education will be thwarted, the
social development and maturation
gained by the present first year
class through this year's freedom
will regress, and the entire college
experience will be destroyed for
many people. Petitions are being
circulated and our feelings are being
presented, but our fate is entrusted
to a force out of the control of
those it governs.

Girl People

It's happening again. I'm
searching for my shell of cynicism
so I can lock myself up and
complain. Why have hope? It is
crushed every time.

The University is biologically
and psychologically real this year.
Girls living near me (in the
Alderman dorms) create a stable
atmosphere. Much healthier than
last year, when female existence
became an issue frequently doubted
in my mind. Only weekends kept
my faith, yet girls were still objects,
not people. And everyone is aware
of the drooling and staring that
went on in the Reserve Book Room
of the library when a non-male grad
student dared to appear.

But this year came a girl-People.
It is very enjoyable. So why not
keep it? If a girl can use a bathroom
with a urinal, a boy can live in Mary
Munford.

The arguments for upperclass
dorm coeducation (Munford and
Gwathmey included) are practical,
logical, and above all desired by a
near unanimity of the students. I
know it and almost everyone
reading this letter knows it.

But as I read the news, I want to
withdraw into cynicism. Please
don't let me this time. Let people
know how you feel—after all even
the Glass Hat and Contract
Cafeteria are doing what you never
expected.

Rugby Thanks

On behalf on the entire
University of Virginia Rugby Club,
I would like to thank all the
members of the University
community who attended the fight.
Special thanks is due the personnel
at University Hall, especially Mr.
Bus Male, who went far beyond
their contractual obligations in
aiding our efforts.

I am personally grateful to the
many rugby players who put in
long hours without compensation
to make this production possible.
And to the principles who fought a
beautiful fight.