University of Virginia Library

Dead Silence

"Last year I tried to elicit responses from
my students by taking some controversial
positions. Most of the time I got dead
silence. But things are improving pretty
rapidly," he said.

Mr. Orfield came out very enthusiastically
in favor of the student coalition: "I was
very surprised it would occur. When they
first started, I thought it would be a
temporary thing like what happened after
Martin Luther King was shot. It has
exceeded my expectations."

To conclude his remarks, Mr. Orfield said
that "the University administration and the
state government aren't recognizing some of
the problems and responsibilities that go
along with intellectual excellence."

To counter the impression that he was
storming out of the University because of
the student and administration apathy, he
also said that what he is doing is the "plight
of most associate professors, in fact all
teachers without tenure; to wander from
college to college until they find something
they like."

Miss Pratt, on the other hand, felt that
her leaving had nothing to do with the
problems of a usual Associate professor.
What she is doing, she said, has nothing to
do with either the organization of the
University, nor the department.