University of Virginia Library

'Soulless Mind' Damages U. Va.

Does that make expansion a
little more palatable, less
offensive to the white male
alumni? I hope no one in the
administration is counting on
it.

But even if the money rolls
in and the faculty is improved,
will the students necessarily
receive a better education in an
expanded University? No! How
can they, when the conditions
encouraging faculty-student
familiarity are gone? How can
they, without stimulation from
their fellows, when the
out-of-state and other students
of the highest quality have
departed? How can they, when
their experience of college
becomes drab and unpleasant,
filled with the innumerable
frustrations, confusions, and
conflicts engendered by
overcrowding? Does David
Shannon think a university can
turn out educated human
beings by skillful
mass-production methods, the
way Parris Island turns out
marines?

And here is the crux of my
argument. If the students at an
expanded University do not
receive as good an education as
they might at a smaller one, is
it not a fraud on them and the
state to admit them? If
Virginia can not live up to its
reputation, will they not be
cruelly deluded in their
demand for admission? Oh, if
they did come, they could very
likely "graduate from here
with respectable records", as
Mr. Shannon so inelegantly
puts it in the narrow-gauge
language which is the surest
indication of a soulless
bureaucratic mind. But why
should they? To please some
personnel department run by
bureaucrats whose idea of
education and qualifications is
as narrow as Mr. Shannon's?
Does the state have any
business subsidizing such a
useless and degrading process?

Yes, all qualified Virginia
students deserve an education
as good as that which the
University is capable of
providing. But they can not all
get it here on the Grounds at
the same time. If all are here,
all will suffer. It has started to
happen already. And any
administrator who claims
otherwise is either a fool, a
self-serving opportunist, or a
liar.

I do not know David
Shannon, nor the formidable
problems he must face in his
work every day. But from the
remarks attributed to him in
the Cavalier Daily I can only
conclude that he is a stupid,
venal man who has absolutely
no idea of the purposes and
ideals of a university. He is not
an educator; he is a
commodities speculator who
thinks education is a fungible
good, like pork bellies, which
can be bought and sold at will,
and whose quality can be
measured by a label as
"Government Inspected Meat".
The Board of Visitors should
fire him immediately before he
does more damage to the
honor of the University.