University of Virginia Library

Letters To The Editor

Jefferson Party Open To Moderates

I would like to reply to Robert
Ritter's letter in the October 29
issue of The Cavalier Daily. As a
member of the Student Study
Committee that created the Jefferson
Party, I feel Mr. Ritter does us
some injustice. Although the Committee
was called for by the
caucuses, the membership in the
Committee was open to anyone
with the interest to attend. I believe
that most of the members were not
directly concerned with the caucuses.
We were simply a group of
students who felt the parties in
existence, whether UP, VPP, Skull
and Keys, or Sceptre, did not
adequately represent the students
at the University.

As to Mr. Joel Gardner and
whether the JP is or will remain
"right of center," I think Mr. Ritter
is being somewhat presumptuous.
Consider first that Mr. Gardner is a
fourth-year student. This was no
accident - we restricted the President's
office to fourth-year students
so the office could not be
used to further a student's political
ambitions. In short we elected Jl
not so much for what he stands,
but rather for the good work he can
do for our party. As to whether the
Party is "right of center," depends
entirely on the membership, which
is open to all students at the
University. Personally, I consider
my views to be basically liberal. I
hope that other liberals will not feel
the JP is restricted to a conservative
viewpoint, for it certainly was not
created with that in mind. I further
hope that Mr. Ritter will try to find
out a little more about the JP and
not jump to conclusions before he
has looked further than he did.
Perhaps he may find the JP is not
incompatible with his own views.

Mr. Tom Gardner writes on
October 20th in The Myth of
Detachment that Mr. William Battle
is a war-mongering aristocrat. This
"sidetracked" me from the thrust
of his article and has been gnawing
at me ever since. This is an appeal
to Mr. Gardner to please explain in
more detail this statement, certainly
before November 4th. Especially
in light of the later statement in the
same article, "Though conclusions
drawn may legitimately and, in
cases, should, lead to emotional and
passionate protests, our research
and analysis must be totally dispassionate
and must rest on carefully
scrutinized facts."

Last night I had a dream. "The
Navy team became so grossed out
by Virginia's playing that all of the
Middles left the field and took to
the bench. Two quarters later, the
Wahoos managed to cross the goal
line, but not with the ball."