University of Virginia Library

Birdwood Supplement

The Cavalier Daily is running in today's
issue a special insert section devoted to
Charles Vandersee's tentative proposals for
future development of residential colleges at
Birdwood. We encourage everyone who claims
an interest in residential colleges at the

University to read Mr. Vandersee's ideas
today or to save the section for future
examination. The report is not meant to set
forth any specific guidelines but to serve as a
starting point for further discussion.

Mr. Vandersee has specifically asked us to
invite reader response to his essay by means
of Letters to the Editor and Colloquium
articles. Also, if there are students, faculty
and other readers who hesitate at writing for
publication, he asks that they send their
responses and ideas directly to him at the
Office of the Dean, 401 Cabell Hall.
Everything is welcome, Mr. Vandersee
stressed, from elaborate critiques of the whole
scheme down to quibbles or suggestions
regarding any of the individual points.

Especially entertaining and edifying have
been two kinds of reaction to the earlier
distribution, according to Mr. Vandersee: the
"far-out responses jotted down by people
who have just this minute finished reading the
whole thing," and the "careful reflections of
people who have spent some time mulling
over various specific paragraphs and
forwarded their conclusions later on. It
seems to me," he added, "that whenever we
are talking about education and about
architecture there is a legitimate place for
both fierce passion and tranquil detachment.
I'll be delighted by both."

Certain kinds of readers may be
particularly valuable, Mr. Vandersee believes.
"I suppose I'm especially making a plea to
First -year students while they're vividly in the
middle of their dormitory year, and to
members of the University faculty who are
relatively new. The rest of us have already
made up our minds that certain things 'can't
be done,' and it would be really nice to hear
from people who aren't yet victims of this
Virginia virus."