University of Virginia Library

The Protest Reconsidered

"Students staging sit-ins to protest the
University of Virginia's growth run the risk
of, besides appearing to be inexcusably
snobbish, jeopardizing the quality of
education for which they profess concern."
So warns a recent editorial in the Norfolk
Virginian-Pilot, a paper traditionally regarded
as one of Virginia's more liberal dailies.

The piece continues, "How frustrating the
disruptions must be to President Edgar F.
Shannon, his staff, and trustees who have
been planning an orderly expansion, and,
indeed, conferring at every stage with student
representatives." The editorial cautions that
"the sight of youths bent on advancing
education by trying to bring it to a standstill
is not apt to prove persuasive with General
Assembly members, many of whom are prone
to seize any excuse to reduce appropriations
for higher education."

What, then, does prove persuasive with the
legislators of a state with the highest
per-capita income in the South, yet which
finds itself third from the bottom among
Southern states in the percentage of revenue
devoted to higher education? We don't know.
To follow the advice of the liberal
myth makers, one would be obliged to shut
up, return to business as usual, and await the
happy news that the salons in Richmond have
somehow managed to re-educate themselves
concerning the critical needs of the state's
schools.

If that sounds too much like Waiting for
Godot, take heart: the Virginia-Pilot would
have us know that things here aren't so bad
after all. "To learn what overcrowding can
be," the editorial writer says, "those
complaining at Charlottesville about their
library's shortage of carries, or study nooks,
should visit Old Dominion University where
there are no carrels and where the library is a
milling corral, so small that even a meager
supply of books overflows to storage areas
around the campus." Now doesn't that make
you feel selfish?

In truth, what the editorial seems to
conclude is that students at the University,
because it is best in the state, have no
legitimate complaint; and that in protesting
local problems-the only deficiencies with
which we can directly deal-we are
jeopardizing other institutions in Virginia.

Until the tightfisted officials in Richmond
show themselves capable of reasoned response
instead of blind reaction to an innocuous
festival-like "protest", one hopes the "snobs"
and the protesters will persist in the mortal
folly of demanding a better environment for a
better education.