University of Virginia Library

In The Beginning...

The Student Council's resolution
encouraging a boycott by all University
personnel of local coiffeurs who refuse to
serve any and all members of the University
community regardless of race, color, religion,
or natural origin is one of the boldest moves
we have ever seen the Council take. Without
doubt, it will prove one of the most
controversial of its actions to date, especially
among elements not within the University
although there is nothing especially
about the motion or about the th
behind it. What is it, then, about this
particular motion which distinguishes it from
others which spring from the same ideals?

That all-important distinction between this
and other equally noble and conscientious
actions of the Council is, in fact, simple, but it
is also very profound: for the first time the
Council is attempting to impose its own
thinking on elements of society outside the
University; in a broader sense, then, for the
first time an official body of the University is,
in the name of the University of Virginia,
taking positive and obtrusive action to try to
bring about social "reform" in the community
in which it is located.

It is true that past Council legislation has,
for example, prohibited University
organizations from spending University
money in discriminatory establishments, but
there was a readily discernible legal, is not
moral, basis for that with which no one could
quarrel. There is no such legal basis which
those who support the boycott can cite to
defend it in the face of opposition, and the
moral position underlying it is one with which
many people would readily quarrel.

Thus the Council has really "stuck its neck
out" — it has acted on sheer conviction to
ideals and principles which it considers
paramount — and it's about time someone
did. We heartily congratulate the Council for
this resolution. We endorse it and support it
with all our strength.

We are well aware, of course, that the
boycott may very well fail, from lack of
interest if not from idealogical differences
among those people who are expected to
carry it out. We must remind everyone,
however, that the Council's vote on the
motion was unanimous, which means it
cannot responsibly be ignored or overlooked.
When a body of individuals with as great a
variety of personalities and ideologies as the
current Council has is able to agree to a man
on something as controversial as this boycott,
that's something to take notice of. This is no
ordinary Council resolution, and it must not
be received as if it were.

Every student has a moral obligation at
to consider the matter carefully before
decides not to participate in the boycott;
every faculty member and administrator and
employee has the same moral obligation not
to ignore the boycott, whether or not he
ultimately decides to participate. It is
questionable, however, whether any faculty
member or administrator or employee could
legitimately be considered responsive to the
students if he ignored this unanimous
resolution of their chosen spokesmen.

It is essential that the boycott be an
obtrusive success if it is to achieve anything. It
is not until its ultimate goal of opening the
minds of some of those who would
discriminate against people because of their
color is achieved that there can be any hope
of any substantial change in the ridiculous
racial situation of the University and of the
community. With that in mind, all
"concerned, right-thinking people" are called
on now to see to it that the boycott is as
successful as possible.

One effective means for seeing to that was
suggested by Ralph Pitman, a fourth-year
man, in this letter:

Mr. Pittman's idea is an excellent one; his
thinking is illustrative of the thinking which
everyone must adopt if we are ever to
overcome the racism of which he speaks.

The University can and must minister to
the community around it as well as to that
within it. The Council's resolution is the first
evidence of such ministry we have seen. We
hope to see it expanded and strengthened by
the Council in the future as new areas of need
develop. The ultimate impetus will come,
however, when the University's administration
is willing to join in the ministry actively and
obtrusively — we wait impatiently for that
day. When it arrives, then no one can deny
that the University of Virginia has outdone
even its own drive for academic excellence in
that it will have achieved a rare level of moral
excellence.