University of Virginia Library

Ampleness

photo by Charley Sands

Professor Charles Whitebread's address
Tuesday night — "The Legacy of Thomas
Jefferson" — passed miserably unnoticed by
most members of the community. Had the
speech been no more than the usual fare of
lofty rhetoric and rear-view imagery, which
has come to characterize traditional occasions
like Founder's Day, we could have
understood how so many people found
reasons not to attend. But under the
circumstances, because the substance of the
talk seemed to hit hard at real issues facing an
expanding University, there was no excuse for
the small turnout. Those who attended could
console themselves with the fact that what
Mr. Whitebread said was vital to the present
and the future of the University. It was
spoken in a way which reinforced our guess
that Mr. Whitebread is not a man to mince
words. In short, it was a speech which proved
a pleasure to hear and warranted a packed
house. Instead, the early celebrants of Easters
Weekend doubtless went their own ways,
while one could only guess what the faculty
and administration found to occupy their
time.

Very briefly, Mr. Whitebread identified
four major areas of concern today. First,
architectural planning, in which Mr.
Jefferson's early designs for the Grounds were
cited as a living ideal — a model for further
development. Next, excellence in teaching,
Mr. Whitebread noted, depends on the
recruitment of faculty capable of both
teaching and research, with lesser reliance on
the false dichotomy of publish or perish,
which is counterproductive.

As for research facilities, Alderman
Library was termed inadequate for a "growing
community of serious, active scholars." Mr.
Whitebread spoke of the critical need for
re-evaluation of residential living patterns. Mr.
Jefferson's notion of a University where
students are housed and fed on the Grounds
falls into sharp contrast with the current
trend to "a commuter, high-rise state
university." In seeking to change the present
direction of things, Mr. Whitebread urged a
return to Thomas Jefferson's design for a
residential college (or colleges) by which we
might avert the disastrous educational
blunders of the early twentieth century — the
ill-thought movement which brought into
being those sprawling diploma mills of the
Midwest.

Mr. Jefferson's ideas on the importance of
publicly funded education, too, received
attention. Emphasis was placed on avoiding
parochialism. We must take the best
Virginians, Mr. Whitebread said, and the best
applicants from other states, if we are to
fulfill the spirit of the founder's original
scheme.

Space does not permit adequate attention
to all the points Mr. Whitebread raised. One
item, however, drew particularly strong
support from the audience, and as the speaker
noted, carries with it the advantage of
immediate feasibility. After urging that all
automobile traffic be banned from the
Grounds starting next September, as was done
earlier at other universities like Princeton, Mr.
Whitebread specifically mentioned the matter
of the Greek amphitheatre. Unused for
dramatic productions for 15 years, this
building now serves as a storage shed, while
the area adjoining it has been devoted to
space for parking cars. At most, the lot can
accommodate 30 or 40 vehicles, yet the
limited advantage therein hardly justifies the
atrocious misuse of a beautiful location.
Reasons for the abandonment of the structure
are unclear; President Shannon, indeed, has
explained that airplane traffic above the site
produces so much noise as to be disruptive of
any event taking place there. However, we
find to sight of several dozen cars packed into
the orchestra pit far more disruptive than any
noise from above.

Insofar as the area has never been paved
it is covered with a layer of gravel which
could be replaced with grass — restoration
would be relatively simple. Already, the Film
Production Union has viewed plans to present
nighttime films this Spring in the
amphitheatre, assuming approval is secured. A
solution seems so obvious, and yet we can
only marvel that the abuse of this facility has
passed so long without remedy. Now is the
time for action, not tomorrow, and not next
year.