University of Virginia Library

Letters To The Editor

Major Juggles

Add to the list of the great
strategists of time, the name of
Major Juggles.

His axioms are few, his tactics
year; yet even these go undetected,
for herein lies his greatness. It lies
in the confusion he leaves, in the
scattered remnants of rebellions
behind, in the dissipated and torn
masses beneath, him.

Charged to quell the mutinous
mass, he plotted, and schemed, and
fully executed a masterful plan.
"First," says he, "go where you
wanna go, move where you wanna
move when ever you might please."

"Don't let the mass collect,"
says he, "don't let them pack
crowd fever is dangerous you
know."

"If you can," says he, "march
them by, one by one, piercing them
personally by."

"Take charge at once, don't
hesitate. Insist the whistle was you,
that they are in your fetch."

"If you lack natural leadership,
never fear," says he, "compensate
- bluster, demand, intimidate."

"Divide, if you can, if you want
to succeed, vertically, horizontally;
if all together in one slice, then all
the better."

"Beat to the punch," says he,
"if you fear what they might raise
- raise your own."

"Hard line first time, next time
long time comin'."

"Nothing agreed, nothing compromised,
nothing done," says he,
"means success."

"Carry with you a Christmas
tree, a cross, a little child, or a
repute too far to reach."

"Be smug," says he, "in your
prowess, confident in your smile.
Be absurd if you want, for appearances
only count."

In sum, Major Juggles is a
shrewd man. With deft interception
and calculated moves, he
controls, and moves - you: Major
Juggles.

"What to do?" say you. "Tis
simple," Publicize, Proselytize, Propagandize
- Disband, Regroup,
Reorganize - Refute, Recall, Confront
Again. The past abolished, the
future clean, go over his head, if
that can be seen. Counterattack,
move about, encircle and "fire"
him. Drive a wedge down his forces,
coup support away from his clan.
Tax, then write it out, week by
week, let it be known what you're
at. If you can't muster the numbers
you need, go outside, get one with
the style you need. Ostracize, be
obstinate, obstinate as only the
obstinate can understand. Coin a
phrase, a catchy phrase, a phrase of
force, and a phrase of scorn.

Today at eight is the time to
meet, to collect, to synthesize, to
decide - unless, of course, it is
your choice, to opt for Major
Juggles.

Monday afternoon the self styled
"committee" to reconsider
the proposed location of the new
Law School died under the combined
persuasions of administration,
faculty and fellow law
students. It was a painless passing -
sudden and thorough. None of us
really expected to attain (the
chairman was hard pressed even to
explain) our goal: to ask for the last
time before ground is broken why
the Law School ought to move to
the extreme northwest corner of
the Duke tract if alternatives closer
to the central Grounds exist. No
one wanted to give the impression
that the new building, somewhere,
wasn't desired, or that old skeletons
had to be paraded just for our
peremptory satisfaction. As it
turned out (at the meeting) no one
even wanted to discuss reasons
against the move when the effort
began to appear futile. But one of
those reasons deserves at least
passing mention.

The Law School's reputation
out-of-state rests, I think, on
something more than the salaries
commanded by its graduates. This
University has always been attractive
to students and faculty alike
because of a pervasive atmosphere
of hospitality, capped by the Honor
System, which distinguishes us
from other institutions of the more
cut-throat variety. Though the
undergraduates take much pride,
rightfully, in the Honor System,
that Code is very much alive in the
Law School as well and law
students devote many more hours
than undergraduates towards the
operation of its machinery. Some
would argue that the Law School
preserves as much as shares these
better traditions of the University.
Most take them for granted.

These are qualitative considerations.
A law school doubled in size
in five years and removed two miles
from the Grounds offers all sorts of
quantitative advantages: more
literary space, more faculty offices,
more parking spaces, more air
conditioning, even a lake ... of
course these are needed! But the
leading traditions of the University,
already made fragile by apathy and
controversy, will probably not
survive the Law School's move into
isolation on Copeley Hill. The last
pretense of maintaining Mr. Jefferson's
community of disciplines
clustered around the Lawn will
have succumbed, in geography and
in spirit. There really isn't any
alternative, as Dean Paulsen and
Professor Allford so cheerfully
demonstrated Monday afternoon.