University of Virginia Library

Advantages

There are certainly advantages
to be gained by virtue of expansion.
There are many new and sometimes
not so new fields which should be
available here and are not. If they
are to be offered in the future, it
will be necessary to expand the
number of students studying at the
University. The alternative is to
decrease the number in other
existing programs, but whatever the
desirability of that course, the
political realities render it
impossible. Expansion will also
make possible the development of
non-academic activities that
currently cannot be offered because
there are insufficient numbers of
students to support the programs.

The justifiable fear of those who
oppose expansion and those who
argue for a slow, gradual, fully
planned growth is that the
character of the University, its
closeness and cohesiveness will
disappear within a few short years
if the size doubles. It is felt that the
University will become another and
only state university offering many
programs but almost in a
computerized, mechanical fashion.
Shades of the Big Ten.

If that happens, Virginia will
lose its drawing power for many
students, both in-state and out of
state. As an aside, if the growth is
halted, out of state students stand
to lose big, since it would certainly
be a corollary of halted growth that
the in-state ration be increased. The
caliber of the student attending
Virginia will fall, as we would then
not be competing with the Ivy
League schools and the other good
private universities, but with the
large state schools.