University of Virginia Library

Preface

I WAS BORN AT THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, THE SON OF A
professor, and attended the institution for four years, so my
biases in its favor may be taken for granted. Yet I have striven
to be objective in the present work and to record both the
good and the bad in the story of my alma mater. There is, in
truth, some of both, although the good predominates.

Tremendous progress has been made in recent decades in
elevating the university's intellectual level, raising its standards
for entrance and graduation, and bringing in faculty of great
distinction. In these respects the University of Virginia has
been virtually transformed.

Alumni of the institution have incurred a certain amount of
raillery because of their penchant, especially in past years, for
referring to "the university." Graduates of rival centers of
learning have been wont to show their amusement by writing
pointedly of "THE university," or "the university." The inference
has been drawn that those who spend their student days
at Charlottesville are a supercilious lot, looking down their
noses at lesser breeds.

This is hardly fair. The expression "the university" seems to
have had its origin in the fact that when the institution was
founded by Thomas Jefferson in the early nineteenth century,
it was, in fact, the only center of higher education in the country
worthy to be called a university. Timothy Dwight, president
of Yale College, observed in 1816 that America had no
universities, only colleges and seminaries. Thus it will be seen

that early references to "the university" were made in recognition
of the fact that it was then in a class by itself. The phrase
caught on, and unfortunately is still used occasionally when it
is no longer appropriate, except in the immediate vicinity of
the University of Virginia. The expression is heard less and
less nowadays.

The institution's reputation for excessive carousing is undoubtedly
widespread. An effort has been made in these
pages to show that impressions as to the supposed bacchanalian
revels at Charlottesville are based on highly colored and
often inaccurate reports. Intemperate and uncouth behavior
occurs there from time to time, and with too great frequency,
but where is one to find a large university of which this cannot
be said?

One of the unusual aspects of life at the University of Virginia
is the prevailing practice of addressing professors as
"Mr." rather than "Dr."—except those who hold medical degrees.
The origins of this custom are obscure. It could conceivably
have some relation to the frequent references around
the university over the years to "Mr. Jefferson," a mode of address
consistent with the master of Monticello's much-stressed
belief in democracy and his democratic ways, in contrast to the
more aristocratically inclined Hamiltonians. A group of
prominent University of Virginia professors signed a petition
in the 1920s, or perhaps somewhat earlier, requesting that
they be addressed as "Mr.," although they were all Ph.D.'s. The
use of "Mr." is not uncommon today at Harvard. The custom
there goes back to the seventeenth century, when the laws of
the colony reserved the title of "Mr." to the "upper classes." As
more and more faculty arrive in Charlottesville from institutions
where "Dr." is the almost universal mode of address,
"Mr." becomes less and less in vogue.

Although I have quoted many times in the following pages
from the Cavalier Daily, it should be said that this student publication
has frequently been held in low esteem by both faculty
and undergraduates. Its statements cannot be accepted unreservedly
as representative of student opinion. The paper has
had able and responsible editors, but too often it has been
erratic and even pernicious and reprehensible in its viewpoint.

My indebtedness to Philip Alexander Bruce and his monumental
five-volume centennial history of the university is

great. In writing my chapter on the institution's first century,
I have relied heavily on Bruce. The rest of my history deals
with the period 1919-74—the years that followed the era addressed
by him. It should be emphasized that my account ends
with 1974, the year of Edgar Shannon's retirement from the
presidency. Hence any events that took place thereafter, or
any trends that developed, could not be mentioned.

I am grateful for the cooperation and assistance of many persons.
First among them is President Frank L. Hereford, Jr.,
whose invitation to prepare this work was eagerly accepted
and whose aid has been readily forthcoming at all times. He
has read and criticized the entire manuscript. Others who
have done likewise are Charles E. Moran, Jr., whose vast
knowledge as the university's History Officer was invaluable,
and Francis L. Berkeley, Jr., whose encyclopedic grasp of the
institution's story and traditions was extremely helpful. Alexander
G. Gilliam, Jr., assistant to President Hereford, and William
H. Fishback, Jr., director of university relations, have
given me the benefit of their valuable insights. Mr. Fishback
also has aided me greatly with the illustrations. An incomplete
list of others who have read portions of the manuscript includes
Edgar F. Shannon, Jr., John L. Snook, Jr., J. Harvie
Wilkinson, Jr., Shearer D. Bowman, Gilbert J. Sullivan, Eugene
F. Corrigan, William L. Zimmer III, the Reverend Gordon
Peerman, Raymond C. Bice, O. Allan Gianniny, Jr., Joseph
L. Vaughan, Vincent Shea, Edward R. Slaughter, and
Evan J. Male.

The staff of the University of Virginia Library, notably that
of the Manuscripts and Archives Reading Room, has been especially
helpful and cooperative, particularly Edmund Berkeley,
Jr., Gregory A. Johnson, Michael F. Plunkett, Douglas W.
Tanner, and Helen Troy. Director of Libraries Ray W. Frantz,
Jr., has placed me greatly in his debt, as have Carolyn M. Beckham,
Margaret M. O'Bryant, and Lucille B. Richards.

Among those to whom I owe thanks for assistance beyond
the call of duty are B. F. D. Runk, Dr. Byrd S. Leavell, Dr.
Harry J. Warthen, Jr., J. Harvie Wilkinson III, Edgar F. Shannon,
Jr., Donald Macdonald, Dr. G. Slaughter Fitz-Hugh,
Robert L. Baxter, John H. Barringer, Clifton McCleskey,
Frank Talbott, Jr., C. Waller Barrett, and James W. Kinard.

I also am most grateful to Frank W. Rogers, Dr. Russell V.
Bowers, John M. Bowers, Dr. duPont Guerry III, Dr. Beverly
C. Smith, Dr. Wilhelm Moll, Dr. Kenneth R. Crispell, Joseph
H. McConnell, Jack R. Hunter, Robert I. Boswell, William B.
O'Neal, Staige D. Blackford, Jr., Edwin L. Dooley, Jr., William
A. Booth, Bernard P. Chamberlain, Hardy C. Dillard, Eleanor
Shannon, James H. Bash, Richard M. Brandt, Evelyn D. Wyllie,
William M. E. Rachal, Irby B. Cauthen, Jr., Colgate W.
Darden, Jr., F. Palmer Weber, Eunice Davis, Frances Farmer,
John J. Owen, W. Bedford Moore, Lucille Reynolds, James I.
Robertson, Jr., Langbourne M. Williams, Jr., David Carliner,
Weldon Cooper, Emerson G. Spies, Thomas M. Carruthers,
Tipton R. Snavely, Lewis M. Hammond, John M. Jennings,
Frank W. Finger, Henry L. Kinnier, Jean Holliday, Francis G.
Lankford, Jr., Robert J. Harris, Robert T. Canevari, D. Alan
Williams, William A. Forrest, Jr., Lawrence Lewis, Jr., D.
French Slaughter, Jr., Dr. Hunter H. McGuire, Jr., T. Munford
Boyd, Edward Younger, Patrick Partridge, Doyle Smith,
John N. Richardson, Jr., Jeanette Ern, and William T. Thomas.

It goes without saying that none of the abovementioned individuals
shares any responsibility for the book's shortcomings.

The photographs for the jacket and endpapers were kindly
supplied by Mr. Joseph C. Farber.

I am greatly indebted in writing chapter 10 to Shearer Davis
Bowman, '71, a member of the Honor Committee and a brilliant
student, who wrote two highly significant and informative
papers: "The University of Virginia Honor System since
September of 1955—A Critical Study," senior thesis in the university's
Department of History (1971), and "Honor and Consensus
in the 1960s: The University of Virginia Honor System,"
graduate study seminar paper, Department of History,
University of California at Berkeley (1975), which concludes
with the 1970-71 academic year. Bowman is the only person
to write a history of the system who had been a member of the
Honor Committee and hence had access to the committee's
files and records. Another useful study is that of Thomas Taylor,
done for a university liberal arts seminar at the 1962-63
session and entitled "The History of the Honor System of the
University of Virginia from 1900-1956." It will be seen that
Taylor carries the account down to the middle fifties; Bowman

picks up the story at that point and brings it through the year
1971. Students of the Honor System will find these papers
invaluable.

Walker Cowen, director of the University Press of Virginia,
has been totally cooperative, understanding, and helpful at all
times. Gerald Trett, my editor at the Press, has been a sure
guide, and has placed me everlastingly in his debt. Joan Baxter
did a professional job of typing the manuscript. My wife,
Douglas, has been my "best friend and severest critic" in reading
the manuscript and pointing out factual and stylistic
errors.