University of Virginia Library

Sheer Increase

Or is Mr. Shannon's logic
that a sheer increase in
numbers will improve the
faculty in quality, because the
bums he has on tenure now are
pretty lousy, but he won't
make that mistake again? Will
the wonderful new professors
offset the incompetent old
ones? Will the University attain
the magical 73.7 per cent
faculty quality quantity?

And the argument that
increased enrollment of women
(and, by implication, of blacks)
means that total enrollment
must grow, to avoid offending
the legislature, is a strange and
hypocritical one to make at
this time. For years it was
intimated that the University
had to go slowly on minority
and female admissions to avoid
offending the wealthy,
conservative but devoted
alumni who contribute to its
crucial endowment fund. And
now the administration is
apparently ready to ignore
their feelings about the
changed character of the
University because a crucial
source of funds is at stake. Did
they suddenly become less
important once the sex and
color lines were broken? Was
the pressure on the legislature
formerly too insignificant to
override their wishes when it
only came from a few
disgruntled bitches and uppity
niggers? I guess that's what Mr.
Shannon thinks; he admits that
we have already turned away
qualified women but "if we did
this with both men and
women" he fears we would be
in trouble with the state. So,
are the alumni and other
contributors who care about
the future of the University
unworthy elitists now, though
wise counselors in the past? Or,
more likely, does the
administration hope to placate
them with propaganda that
conceals the true situation—the
deterioration of the academic
community that has already
begun—while depicting the
protesting students as mere
villainous agitators?

And what about the strange
coincidence that women and
black students are the most
severely affected by the
University-created housing
shortage in Charlottesville?