University of Virginia Library

Reservations

At 7 p.m. on December 1st,
I waited patiently in line to get
a good seat to the 8:30
performance of "Jesus Christ,
Superstar." When the gates
opened, I rushed down the
steps towards the seats nearest
the stage, Just as I am about to
make my claim to a seat, a
young man informs me that
these seats are...reserved. Shyly
I back away, finding a seat to
the side of these eight rows of
"golden" chairs. But as these
"reserved" seats filled, my
anger grew. Who were these
people, anyway? A sign near
the rear of these chairs said
"University Union." But eight
rows? Why, the last Union
meeting I went to was attended
by less than ten or fifteen
people. Why all these reserved
seats, then?

According to the printing
on the tickets sold, there are
"no reserved seats."
Technically then, and legally
speaking, this was flagrant
misrepresentation. The prime
seats for the show had been
reserved! However, the main
gripe is not that they were just
reserved, but who they were
reserved for. If it had been the
ushers, fine. They have to
stand facing the crushing
masses of ticket holders for
thirty or forty minutes, and are
unable to procure good seats
for themselves. But from the
looks of the crowd sitting in
the reserved section, I wonder
whether all of them were even
University students. I know all
of them weren't from the
Union and, even if they were, I
doubt seriously that all of
these people worked diligently
to bring "Superstar" here.
However, if they did work to
bring the performance here,
then I say "Bravo," and let
them find their own seats in
that case also.

It's not that I'm against
reserved seating. In some cases
I would think it an excellent
alternative to the chaos at
University Hall. But I don't
believe that a discriminatory
policy of seating should exist
as it did at "Superstar." Elitism
is not, and should not be
condoned at Mr. Jefferson's
University.