University of Virginia Library

I am in receipt of your circular
letter of July 6, 1970 reproducing
your letter to the alumni written
after your letter of May 15
censuring the rector and the
president of the university.

I am not aware of any survey
taken of the Alumni Association
and feel that it was presumptive on
your part to assume that the
majority is in support of your
stand.

I take strong exception to your
criticism of the president for what
you choose to call his "stand on
political issues." The war in
Vietnam has long since passed
beyond the realm of being a
political issue and is now a
fundamental moral and ethical
issue. Your errors are so egregious
in this matter that you would be
well advised to resign, I cannot but
feel that your action in censuring
the president was much more
political than his comments on the
war. Your use of the office of the
president of the Alumni
Association to take such a political
stand in opposition to the rising
spirit of indignation expressed by
the students and the faculty is far
more deserving of censure.

I am proud as an alumnus to
know that President Shannon, the
faculty and the student body have
the intellectual capacity and
integrity to make a clear distinction
between politics and fundamental
questions of morality and ethics.