University of Virginia Library

Blasts Heretic

I realize that the Heretic can
only be writing in an effort to
stir up interest, there can be no
other excuse; but I feel there are
a number of points in his article
of February 22 which desperately
need clarifying.

First of all, he claims that the
University is not a good university,
but that it is a good state university.
Are we to believe that
the word "state" makes the University
of Virginia any less of a
university? His authority on the
low standards of state universities
is a "Northern prep school acquaintance."
I know a northern
prep school graduate who says,
"....your University of Virginia is
to be heartily commended on maintaining
such a high degree of academic
excellence and yet not neglecting
honor and gentility, whose
true value can best be appreciated
from the context of an environment
in which they are not known.
For all our nose thumbing, our
Ivy boast only of a surfeit
of corrupt brick and mortar."

The Heretic calls the University
second-rate, but his criteria for this
judgement are not clear. He says
we did not score high on a two-year-old
rating of colleges, but he
does not explain how high one
must score to be considered a
first-rate school. He uses such
scientific and discriminating ratings
in his observations as "laughable,"
which, one must assume,
is just a smirk above "pitiable."
And what award could he expect
the CD might win, a marble
bust of Horace Greely, perhaps?
The point is that these ratings are
arbitrary, giving no valid indication
as to where the University
actually stands in comparison to
other schools.

The Heretic bases his criticism
of the library budget on some
secret information that he is unable
or unwilling to divulge. And
is the library such a disgrace?

Finally, I find myself in agreement
with the Heretic on one point.
The CD is lacking in "...exciting,
important or even accurate
journalism," if the Heretic's article
is at all representative. The article
is headed by a quote from Mr.
Jefferson that is either a misprint
or wrenched out of context, setting
the mood for the undefined mass
of gobbledegook which follows.