University of Virginia Library

Carnival Atmosphere

Unfortunately Council decided
to turn Monday's march and
gathering on the Lawn into a
carnival type affair, with a premium
placed on getting stoned, getting
laid or otherwise having a good
time. There is obviously nothing
wrong with any of these activities,
but if the chief complaint was that
the administration was offering the
students no opportunity for a
hearing on expansion, then why
wasn't any time spent Monday
night with discussions about
possible future action?

The conclusion seems inevitable
that the gathering would have been
a more impressive response to the
problem if some time, were it
merely one hour, was devoted to
concrete considerations of the
myriad problems of growth,
possible solutions and various
of effecting those goals. There
would still have been plenty of time
for the "Woodstock" type
activities.

Given the character of recent
administration pronouncements,
including President Shannon's
ill-advised attempt to nip
"University Tuesday" in the bud,
and the outrageous statement by an
unnamed administration official
that the crowd on Monday
numbered no more than 500, one
should not expect great things to
come from Pavilion VIII in
response to the student protest.

In fact, one can build a strong
case for the proposition that T.
Marshall Hahn, esteemed President
of VPI and Mills Godwin former
governor of Virginia, are now
employed as consultants to
President Shannon. As most
students know, neither has been
generally recognized as all too
receptive to student suggestions,
irrespective of their mildness and
propriety. It has been reported also
that administration officials who
expressed sympathy with the
student position on this issue were
effectively shut out of discussions
on the matter.

All of this is most unfortunate,
especially when President Shannon
is fond of publicly expressing his
strong support for the right of
dissent. Given his predilections as
gleaned from his efforts to have the
planned activities called off at the
last minute, it would be extremely
surprising to learn that any change
has occurred in administration
policy as a result of the march. In
fact, given the character of
administration activity with regard
to expansion in the past year or so
it is difficult to think of anything
that might result in a different
attitude. The commitment to
expansion appears to be immutable.

If the likelihood of favorable
administration response is so slight
what then are the alternatives
available to the students and others
concerned with the welfare of the
University and the apparent
unwillingness of those in control to
realize that reasonable men and
women can differ on the
desirability of rapid expansion?