University of Virginia Library

Unhealthy Trend

No matter how excellent the faculty And
the facilities of a university might be, the key
element for excellence is the quality of its
students. There must be potential in the seed
that an institution of higher learning seeks to
bring to fruition. Potential for excellence is
not enough to create a "quality" student
body. There must be diversity.

The University has long prided itself in the
cosmopolitan nature of its student body. The
Admissions Office has traditionally fashioned
a first-year class with almost half of the
entering students from states other than
Virginia. We are disturbed that 64% of the
Class of 1974 are Virginians.

Although the average scores for the
first-year class on the College Board scholastic
aptitude test declined by a few points this
year, there are other academic guideposts for
the Admissions Office to use in selecting a
class of academically qualified students. We
are confident that the incoming class will live
up to the high hopes of representatives of the
Admissions Office. We do believe, however,
that a good geographical scattering of
students is one element which generally
improves the educational experience at the
University.

A diverse student body gives each
individual student much more exposure to
different types of people with a wide range of
ideas And viewpoints. The interchange of
thoughts takes place not only in the
classroom, but also in our living quarters And
social gatherings. Psychologists tell us that we
begin to learn more about ourselves through
our experiences with people whose
backgrounds And perspective radically differ.

This learning experience can be
demonstrated rather clearly by the refreshing
influx of black students into the University
community. The friendships on a social level
And the academic learning process in the
classroom involving black And white students
who may have never really known or half-way
understood a person of another race are good
examples of the material flowering of
diversity. Women undergraduates And more
students from lower socio-economic classes
have added more diversity And, indeed, reality
to Virginia. The significant group of
out-of-state students gives the University
another chunk of healthy diversity.

It has been only in recent years that the
University has moved away from such a
homogeneous student body with the
exception of geographical distribution to one
with a variety of students, rather than all
middle to upper class whites with much the
same outlooks And interests. We have
applauded the University's move toward
diversity, And we feel that the geographical
distribution is in that spirit.

Defenders of the eleven per cent increase
of Virginians in the first-year class state that
the University's first And major responsibility
is to the people of the state of Virginia. We
agree that the University is, of course,
obligated to the state, but not so financially
as some people would believe. The University
receives only about a third of its funds from
allocations by this state's government. The
rapid increase of enrollment here has not
brought financial support commensurate to
growing numbers of students. The
University's true obligation to the state is to
provide as excellent an education to the
Virginians who come to Charlottesville in a
way which will most greatly benefit the state.

The policy of admitting almost half the
class from out of Virginia has improved the
education of those students from Virginia,
just as the admission of women And blacks
have improved the education of the native
Virginians. Some legislators have long cried
that there are too many students in the
University from other states, notably During
Colgate Darden's term as President, but
diversity has prevailed.

We hope that this percentage increase of
Virginians into the University is only the
result of the first years of true recruitment of
black students And women. As recruiting
practices out of state become more
productive in these new areas, we expect a
return to an approximate 50-50 native-out of
state percentage. To not do so would be no
less than an idiotic mistake.