University of Virginia Library

Need Courage

There is among all of us
genuinely concerned with
education a broad consensus as to
traditional campus liberalism. Our
colleges and universities must ever
be preserved as citadels of free
inquiry. They must always foster
and encourage—and never
suppress—the freedom of both
faculty and students to express
divergent views, to protest injustice,
and to promote social change in
which they believe.

Yet this high purpose of the
university surely will be frustrated
and subverted if current trends
toward license, discord, and even
anarchy on the campus are not
checked. Reversing these trends will
require the highest level of courage
and statesmanship from college
administrators, faculties, and
trustees. There must be a
revitalizing of discipline, honor, and
intellectual integrity on the
campus, just as such a need exists
so urgently for society in general.

The line must be drawn sharply
and resolutely between those
willing to observe traditional
methods of peaceful assembly,
rational discussion, and orderly
procedures, and those who inspire
and lead the sit-ins, the lawless
demonstrations, and other forms of
coercion.