University of Virginia Library

Evaluation Invitation

At a meeting last spring the faculty of the
College voted to undertake an evaluation of
its curriculum; the evaluation was to be
carried out by a committee, including
substantial representation of "distinguished
younger scholars," which was to be assured of
"adequate funding...to permit consultation
with individuals from other institutions of the
highest quality."

The announcement of the members of that
committee at yesterday's faculty meeting
constitutes the beginning of one of the most
significant undertakings in the realm of
academics we have seen here for some time.
The potential of the committee and its study
is enormous, to the point that it could
conceivably redirect or start anew the whole
course of undergraduate liberal arts
at the University. In a time when so
many colleges are revitalizing and reorganizing
their undergraduate curricula in so many
"radical" ways - thereby illuminating a
widespread realization of the need for
re-evaluation of established programs, the
function of this committee, and its findings,
are particularly pertinent - in its hands is the
ability either to push the University right to
the forefront of American undergraduate
institutions, there to join Yale and other
"leaders" in introducing and trying out new
programs, or, on the other hand, to
send us rebounding back into the depths of
the various musty ruts from which we have
only lately poked our cautious head.

The committee's responsibility is huge,
both to present and future students and to the
future of the University. We hope its members
go about its work with an energy pursuant to
full awareness of the significance of their
duty. (Lest misconceptions arise here, let us
point out that the committee itself does not
have the power to institute anything new in
the realm of curricula; rather its
recommendations must be approved by the
faculty. Our impression, however, is that it is
very likely that the committee's
recommendations will be accepted.)

A large part of the responsibility for the
success of this undertaking lies with the
students. As those whose lives will be most
affected by the committee's findings, they
have a vested interest in its operations; they
further have a distinct responsibility to let it
know their feelings on the curriculum as it is
now and their hopes as to who might
become.

Four students have been appointed to the
committee to channel students' views into it;
among them are members of every class but
the entering one, so every student has
someone whom he can fairly consider his
interested "representative" on the committee.
Because of the obvious impossibility of every
concerned student's meeting with one of the
student representatives, however, one faculty
member of the committee has suggested that
students use The Cavalier Daily as a means to
express their opinions (i.e., in letters to the
editor, etc.). In doing so they could be
assured that their feelings would reach every
member of the committee in an undistorted
form, and, more important, they would open
the door to a very constructive running
dialogue between editors and readers or
readers and readers, all of which would be of
infinite value to the committee as a source of
helpful information for making its
recommendations. We welcome that dialogue.

The initiative for this study of the
curriculum has been taken by the faculty.
Now the students must do their part to make
sure that the effort is as successful as possible;
we hope the members of the committee will
be receptive to the students'
recommendations. Whether or not they are,
however, any student who fails to offer his
views or opinions, either through Messrs.
Lewis, Bean, Hawes, and Petrakos or through
The Cavalier Daily, will have no right to
complain if the committee's recommendations
and the curriculum which results therefrom
are not to his liking.