University of Virginia Library

Letters To The Editor

Not Just The Hoary Headed

The March 10 Cavalier Daily
editorial treating alleged inequities
suffered by first and second year
students in the college betrays a
lamentable ignorance of what a
university is or should be. Though
many of us slip at times and use the
word "business" in referring to
institutions of higher learning, we
must bear in mind that the word
does not aptly describe a university.
The simplistic rent-a-car analogy
you chose to illustrate your point is
unfortunate and would ordinarily
evoke from me merely disdain and
impatience, but some of the other
statements in your editorial are so
misleading that they assault one's
reason and display a frightening
narrowness of vision.

To state that departments would
tacitly admit the intellectual inferiority
of senior faculty members
by defending the teaching role of
graduate students makes for murky
logic in an already tendentious
article. The comparison of the
graduate student/teacher to a pickup
truck is infelicitous if not simply
insulting.

What you apparently fall to
grasp is that teaching is far more
than the dishing out of facts, and
wisdom is not simply a by-product
of age or, necessarily, of experience.
The graduate student can
offer insights, convey attitudes, and
give perspectives in ways that a man
twice his age might not be able to.
By the same token, the fruits of the
senior faculty member's experience
in life and learning are invaluable
and cannot be duplicated by a
much younger teacher.

Such diversity of age, experience,
and attitude among faculty
and students helps to bear out the
claim made in the University
Record: "The University is not
merely a training institution; it is a
way of life." Let us remember that
this way of life is not the province
only of the hoary-headed and the
callow.

William L. Boletta
Assistant Professor of German

Ed.

We write, as students members
of the Young Republican Federation
of Virginia, to express our
dismay over the keynote address
delivered to that organization's
annual convention last weekend at
Natural Bridge by Richard
Obenshain, recent candidate for
state Attorney-Genera. The tone of
the speech went against all that we
believe the Republican Party, under
the leadership of Linwood Holton,
has worked for in this state in
recent years.

Specifically, we took offense at
Mr. Obenshain's references to
Robert E. Lee and Stonewall
Jackson as exemplary of Virginia's
past greatness. In these two figures,
he drew the convention's attention
to symbols of everything which the
South has to regret and which our
country is now trying to overcome.
In this way, he glorified the very
opponents of the Republican
Party's founder, Abraham Lincoln.

At best, Mr. Obenshain demonstrated
a lack of rapport with the
very people he is identified with,
the Young Republicans of Virginia.
At worst, he reflected the attitude
which has denied the Republican
Party to form a broad and viable
coalition of social groups and
interest.

The YRFV was unable to attract
a single black student or young
adult as a delegate to its most
recent convention. The only fortunate
aspect of the unhappy incident,
from the view of the party,
was that no black was present to
hear the inconsiderate remarks
which were intended to keynote
the assembly. Had there been such
a representative, he would have had
no choice but to walk out, as we
did.

It is not sufficient for the
Republican Party to speak of, as
Mr. Obenshain did, "a new dawn
for Virginia." It will be judged not
by its rhetoric, but by its action.

With the campaigning for
College elections in progress, I
would like to express my support
for Arnold Goldin, Independent
candidate for the office of Secretary.
I believe that one point
deserves to be mentioned in Mr.
Goldin's behalf, for the benefit of
those who will not have the
opportunity to speak with him
during the campaign: an unequivocal
determination and interest in
the office. Without the advantage
of a party backing, Mr. Goldin has
taken the initiative to conduct a
campaign in which he represents
neither a political party nor a group
idea, but his own genuine concern
for the office of Secretary of the
College. He has become aware of
the duties of this post, and I feel
sure that the energetic attitude
which has characterized his campaign
can bring about needed
innovations in the policies of the
Bad Check Committee, as well as
untiring service in the responsibilities
connected with the Honor
Committee. For these reasons, I
encourage each student to carefully
consider Mr. Goldin's candidacy for
Secretary.