University of Virginia Library

Decentralization

However, if the administration's
plan for decentralization has not
yet calcified, then at what purpose
are they striving? If residential
colleges are indeed to be built at
the Birdwood tract then it would
seem that a busing service be
inevitable. And if a busing service
be inevitable is that why a
commuter college be satisfactory?

What solutions could we
students offer? It is we after all who
must endure the problem. Is it
sensible to suggest that perhaps the
University may be returned to a
residential college concept? Is is
reasonable to suggest that perhaps
the majority of students might be
housed in University controlled
housing by 1980? Is it possible?

You're damn right it's possible?
This University has the potential in
this field as in almost every other,
not just to lead but to excel.

Students like armies travel on
their stomachs. To this end, and
with the knowledge in mind that
congenial radial discourses serve
well the cause of higher education,
Jefferson took considerable care to
look after the "dieting of the
students". Residential colleges are
based on common dormitory and
dining facilities which enable
students to develop as a
homogeneous and communal group
in the constant and diverse
company of their peers. We can
reestablish such a sense here at the
University.

The first task is to halt all
expansion in enrollment
immediately. The next is to solicit
funds from the State (or elsewhere)
for the construction of residential
colleges on the Birdwood tract to
accommodate students and faculty
already enrolled at the University in
the same manner in which the
original grounds were designed to
house both teacher and pupil. The
present dormitories must be
drastically reorganized with
coeducational dormitories
throughout all four years of
residence-not just for first year
students: central dining facilities
must be installed-we will not settle
for the debilitating compromise of
'Hassle' and 'Glass Rat'; and
suitable-faculty quarters must be
designed as integral parts of the
whole.