University of Virginia Library

Fourth Year Gift Proposals

—Ed.

Research Fund

By Kim Hopper

When learning was moved into
the educational system, something
vital was lost. Somewhere in the
process, much of the excitement
and simple joy of real learning were
forgotten. We are beginning to
rediscover these missing elements.
The undergraduate research fund is
a chance for students to act on that
find.

And we really need it — there's
simply nothing else to fall back
upon. No dean or department can
support such research. We have
contacted several University groups
for donations; three have promised
to give it consideration. Our fund
now stands at $580, with some of
that already allocated. We hope to
tap outside resources for funds, but
two problems raised most
foundations support specific
projects, not floating funds, and we
cannot approach them without
some evidence of tangible monetary
support from the people we
represent.

Higher education is changing
pace faster than its resources.
Individual initiative and imagination
outdistance the allowances made
for them. The dream worlds of
students share little space with the
lecture halls. In the past, projects
designed in such dream worlds were
aborted for lack of funds. We can
change this.

The evidence is clear: The
Experimental University continues
to bloom; freshmen seminars are
filled and turn away many;
seminars designed for sophomores
are populated by seniors. Most
telling of all is the explosive growth
of the undergraduate research
seminar (LAS 22): in four years it
has expanded from 2 to 200
students.

* * * *

The fund is open to any
undergraduate. All he need do is
present his request for financial
assistance along with a brief
description of his project, to the
joint faculty-student committee
handling allocations. Each request
will be judged exclusively on its
own merit.

We have a chance to take an old
fantasy — the inexhaustible drive to
learn and translate it into a
workable reality. Given the
leviathan the University's projected
growth is sure to make this place,
we can't afford to miss the chance.

Library

By Monty Harris

It is impossible for the
professors to keep pace with the
advancing state of science unless
the necessary materials are
furnished them, and none have
been received here since the year
1824. For a period, we may retain a
respectable footing, but unless we
can obtain new materials, the
period must arise when our
capability of communicating
instruction will fall below the
existing state of knowledge. —from
a letter of Professor Robley
Dunglison, January, 1829.

One-hundred and forty-two
years after Professor Dunglison's
warning, the University finds itself
in a similar state of crisis — sliding
downward and backward. During
the current session, Alderman
Library has fallen from 26th to
29th in the nation in total volumes.
In volumes added, we now rank
45th; in staff, 43d; in total budget,
50th.

As a facility, Alderman Library,
erected in 1937, is almost obsolete
today. With a target date of 1974,
our projected undergraduate library
presently ranks 14th in priority for
planning money; to date, no
detailed plans for this project have
been made.

The problem in all these areas, is
a lack of money, 2nd the primary
responsibility lies with Richmond.
Unfortunately, the present attitude
in Richmond, as we all know, is
hostility to the University.

Surely this donation, if well
publicized, can have a great impact
on the citizens of the state, who
have been quite eager this year for
any information about "the
students"' Such a gift, even though
a drop in the bucket, would in the
bucket, would dramatize the
legislature's irresponsibility in this
area and help to repair our image
throughout the state. "Last year
you told us to return to our
books," we can say. "But this year
we have found that there are not
enough books."

But the political aspect aside, a
gift that contributes to the critical
needs of the Library will give more
to the total University than the
other proposed gifts. For the
overwhelming majority of students,
academic life will continue to be
centered around the Library. Such
a gift will benefit all the students,
not just a comparative few.

Though a relatively small sum,
the money could develop one of
our inadequate collections, or help
to start the core collection for the
future undergraduate library offers
us the chance to say that the
University's facilities are
inadequate, that students want to
perpetuate quality education-and
perhaps most importantly, that we
care.

Bayly Museum

By Jim Basl

What, you may ask, is Bayly
Museum? Well, the art museum, a
gift of Evelyn May Bayly-Tiffany,
was opened to the University
community in 1942. When the
Urban Planning department, moved
into the Bayly Building, it was
decided that the skylights that
supplied the interior lighting should
be covered with slate.

Now, with the completion of
the New Architecture Building,
Bayly can again become an Art
Museum. In plans to restore the
museum, the Art Department hopes
to unslate the skylights so that the
displayed works could be enjoyed
in the vitality of natural light. But,
the funds for such a project cannot
be secured from the state.

* * * *

The Graduating Class Gift funds
could be a considerable portion of
those required for the project, and
would serve to demonstrate student
interest in the Museum.
Furthermore, this gift might be an
incentive for private donors to
contribute the remaining necessary
funds.

With this gift, we would fill that
visual arts void that has existed in
the University's cultural program.
Bayly Museum would serve not
only to display the University's
collection but also to exhibit the
works of faculty members and
other Virginians. We would create a
cultural center which would
transcend the ivy of the University
and extend itself to the people of
the entire state.

Now is the time for us to
prepare for the needs of the future
and expand our cultural experience.
As the 1942 University Catalogue
said: "The rapidly growing interest
throughout the South in the fine
arts renders the Museum of Fine
Arts particularly significant, not as
a passive and pointless possession,
but as an active and potent force in
the broader educational aims of the
University.