University of Virginia Library

Letters To The Editor:

SAC Reasoning Questioned, Protested

Scott is black, Scott was booed
by Virginia fans, therefore Scott
was by Virginia fans because
he was black. This seems to be the
reasoning behind the recent letter
submitted by the Student Athletic
Council.

There is a question in my mind
of exactly who makes up the S.A.C.
Obviously this organization missed
the freshman game with U.N.C. on
the evening of the alleged injustice
on the part of The University. As I
recall, the Virginia fans were
cheering a black North Carolina
player for his fine performance.

When are the big-mouthed organizations
which harp on the
bigotry at The University going to
start dealing with facts rather than
raping the truth? Can the S.A.C.
deny the fact that the display of
displeasure on the part of Virginia
fans (out of as it may have
been) was brought about by the
bad sportsmanship displayed by
Scott and not his color.

Let us go forward, but with our
eyes open.

Partisan Outburst

In reference to the statement
made by the SAC in yesterday's
paper regarding the booing of Charlie
Scott, I feel that they overlooked
several major points. Scott
was not for being a Negro, as
the SAC' statement implies, but
rather for his unsportsmanlike conduct
in starting a fight with John
Gidding. The highly partisan Virginia
fans naturally resented Scott's
actions, but the point is that they
would have any North Carolina
player who started a fight, be
he black or white. The SAC also
fails to mention that during the
first-year game, the only Negro
player on the North Carolina team
received more applause than did
any other player, black or white,
from Virginia or North Carolina. In
this instance, I believe that the SAC
is making a racial issue out of a
purely partisan outburst.

Thank-you

In an era in which student misbehavior
and anti-social activities
attract headlines "good" student
behavior is not "news" and therefore
seldom merits mention in our
newspapers. However unnewsworthy
"good" student behavior
may be, the courtesy and assistance
given me by three UVa Students on
Saturday night during the snowstorm
deserves a hardy "Thank
you!"

On Saturday night I had the
misfortune of getting stuck in the
snow on Afton Mountain. Three
University students came immediately
to my assistance. They got
down in the snow, removed a
damaged chain and physically
pushed me back into a cleared
traffic lane so that I could
to my home in Charlottesville without
further incident.

I sincerely regret that, in the
frustration of the moment, once I
got moving I failed to stop and
thank these young gentlemen for
their assistance. I know only that
they were University of Virginia
students, that they were driving a
late model Volkswagen, and that
they deserved a "thank you" which
I failed to give them.

I hope that you will print this
letter and that these young men
will somehow learn of my appreciation
and accept this public apology
for my thoughtlessness.

Will you say to them for me a
hearty "Thank you."

Tower Of Naivete

During the past several days we
have noted with mounting suspense
the bombastic swordplay concerned
with the quality of the architecture
in the newly-constructed James
Southhall Wilson Memorial Hall. Unfortunately,
for all the vicious
parries and thrusts, one point has
been entirely neglected. In today's
newspapers, bastions of Truth in
this troubled time of ours, we find
the more or less popular opinion
that the University is, to Mr. Jefferson's
growing discomfiture, an ivy-affixed
tower of naiveteé! James S.
Wilson Hall has arrived on the
scene, just in time, to forestall our
descent into this monastic life. It is
a remedy to this situation because
it gives an opportunity to observe,
right on the Grounds, an embodiment
of the crassness of American
Life. Just think! A place where the
Castleburger-munching student may
nonchalantly stroll, into
each tiny crevice and obscenity,
and gain by Osmosis the true Grit
of the American Way. But we must
remember: the James Wilson Hall is
merely a drop in the bucket; we
must go further, we must rub the
apathetic little student's face into
the stuff of which reality is made.
We look forward to the day when
the Rotunda, a symbol of all that is
unworldly, will be changed into a
McDonald's Hamburger Stand. Ah!
That magnificent pair of radiant
golden arches, raising their
respective heads above the proudly
onlooking face of Mr. University.
Then, and only then, will the graduating
Virginia gentleman be able to
trod, with head held high, down the
well-greased road of the future.

Lind The Noble

Thank god Virginia still nurtures
at least one student who endears
the noble precepts of old: the
ember of reactionism is safe within
the heart of Robin Lind. His call to
arms was a rhetorical masterpiece
that will surely impassion the hearts
of a student body that is blind to
its own doom. With an electrifying
conciseness Mr. Lind has delineated
the epic proportions of what is
truly a Virginian Tragedy.

Is Boys' Town, alone, safe from
the wicked that coeducation
must bring? Can we
allow the Admissions Office to
sneakingly double and redouble the
student population until Charlottesville
becomes a veritable Tokyo?
Are we going to let the riffraff
undermine our revered Honor Code
to the point where it becomes
necessary to install a turnstile in
the Alderman Library. Gentlemen
AWAKEN!!! It's still not too late
to preserve the noble traditions and
ideals that make this University so
dynamically unique. Let us pray
that when the Board of Visitors
puts coeducation to the vote on
February 15, that the lingering
spirit of Valentine's Day will not
evoke any imprudence in their decision.
And now that the location
of the infamous "Woody Report"
has been revealed, I implore all
students, faculty members and concerned
townies to read it meticulously,
and furthermore, to "become
more outraged at the impending
folly."

Lind Rebutted

In a recent letter a Mr. Lind
lambastes coeducation for all sorts
of supposed atrocities and tries, it
seems, to tie it in with problems
and what he considers to be problems
menacing the University. I
think he deserves an answer.

The most important part of this
coeducation issue is that it is illegal
to deny any qualified girl admittance
to the University just because
she is a girl. Any qualified girl who
is turned down can sue the U. for
admittance and probably get in.
With this in mind let us examine
Mr. Lind's biases.

His first exercise of logic seems
to be that the students of this
university want girls here for little
other reason than to bed down with
them. Now it is true that many
students have little else in mind but
a large majority undoubtedly wish
to be more associated with girls in
their day to day life on a friendship
basis. The chivalry he fears may "go
by the boards" may have long since
passed away, as witness the general
goings-on of any Big Weekend.

He makes a good point that
boy-girl relationships may put a
strain on the Honor System that is
not now present but it seems to me
that the strain has always been
there in the form of friendship
among students and that the fact
that no boy has ever turned in a girl
for an honor offense merely indicates
the dearth of girls here present.
The "unscrupulous male student"
can always find a way to
seduce a girl and would probably
have to go to great lengths and risk
to get her into bed via the Honor
System.

Mr. Lind feels that men that
want to go to an all-male school
should be able to do so and he is
right. The important thing to note
here is that it should NOT be a
state school. The University partly
is supported by taxes paid by citizens
of this state, men and women,
parents of boys AND girls, and if
these parents wish to see their
daughters go to a school they are
paying for they have every right to
see them get in if they are qualified
This IS a state university, regardless
of any other considerations:
Whether it will become a "State
U." depends on the feelings of
coming generations of students but
they have a unique tradition behind
them, which reduces the chances of
this ever occurring.

To close, Mr. Lind, we are not
becoming coed because everyone
else is but because it is morally and
legally the only thing we can do.