University of Virginia Library

Calm Intervention

While all this was happening,
Dean of Students, Robert Canevari
arrived hoping to settle the matter
through calm, rational discussion.
That was no easy task, for the black
students, supported by many
whites sitting in the student section
to their immediate left appeared to
have no intentions of leaving
without obtaining assurances that
the flag would not reappear.

Eventually cooler heads
prevailed, the flag was placed under
the seats and the black students
returned to their seats.

There are numerous facets of
the incident which deserve
comment. It is interesting first to
note the important role that
individuals brought the flag into the
stadium. The actions of a sole usher
nearly precipitated a much more
volatile situation. A hasty or
irrational decision by one of the
policemen or one of the blacks
could have resulted in some
fisticuffs or unwarranted arrests.
For that matter, so could have
something done by the people
surrounding the area or by Dean
Canevari.

More important though than
that type of analysis are the

implications to be drawn.
Unfortunately, it is all to easy to sit
back, now that black students are
entering the University in larger
numbers and assume that the
University has done all that it need
do. By University here I refer to all
of us, from the President to the
Admissions Office to the faculty
and to the students, even to the
community of Charlottesville at
large.

It is easy also to rely on
superficial changes, although they
can be important, especially in a
symbolic sense. For example, for
the greater part of the University's
history blacks (when they were
here), women, and students of a
liberal political persuasion were
excluded from the many honorary
societies on the grounds, because
they were black, female, or liberal.
In recent years this has begun to
change, although with a great deal
less alacrity than is desired.