University of Virginia Library

In your Rah, Rah editorial of
Tuesday, Nov. 15, you had an
Orwellian nightmare about the possible
results of some fraternities
erecting posters for Openings
Weekend. I readily admit that I
didn't read any of the posters
which were objected to, and I
have no doubt that some of them
might have been in poor taste.
However, I am more concerned
with the attitudes reflected by
your editorial.

Although recalling nightmares is
always unpleasant, I willingly risk
that in the hope that it might be
good therapy to show that what
caused the bad dream was The
Cavalier Daily's own neurosis.
Your visage of ruin was that these
posters would somehow destroy the
character of the University of Virginia's
Weekends so that they
would resemble those held at the
University of Florida and the University
of Maryland. After the
weekend, that mainstay of the
University, was seen to be in
danger of crumbling, we can understand
how in your fear you could
begin to imagine that the entire
fabric of the University might
necessarily fall into ruin. Something
about your idea of the fabric
of the University is indicated by
your fear that students might
begin to wear white socks. Worse
than that, fraternities might be
called frats and someone might see
the nonsense in the sacredness
of such terms as "the Grounds"
and "first-year men."

I think your nightmare is the
result of your own infantile concepts
about the purposes of an
institution of higher learning. No
such evidence of the smug, anti intellectual
mentality of far too
many undergraduates could come
from a few posters. Your editorial
has filled that gap.