University of Virginia Library

Rosen Reply

May I address, through the
Cavalier Daily, those among the
University's student body who
think themselves "the simple
defenders of the spirit"; those who
would spill the "blood of patriots
and tyrants" in order to "refresh
the tree of liberty" in
Charlottesville; those who, while
hesitating to sound melodramatic,
nonetheless consider the policies of
the University's Administration
invalid. America is the most
traditionless nation the world has
known. Our country's historically
unparalleled achievements are for the
largest part due to the necessity —
arising from our lack of traditional
solutions — of choosing
appropriate paths through
application of observation and logic
in a free-wheeling style. The current
academic year promises to be a
rough, callous, violent one at many
American colleges and universities.
Before you, the rebellious and
militant students, sprinkle Virginia
with the pixie dust of anarchy, be
sure you have carried the
examination of what you propose
to its full logical fruition.

Progress, Gentlemen, is a
delicate beastie. It is much like a
love affair. Once the first advances
are made, they must be cherished
and held out proudly for all to see.
To leave them too soon in a rush to
bigger and better things, can only
result in a degradation of the thrust
that has been gained. Then the
affair will be over, leaving you with
at best a lost, rueful feeling, and at
worst a bitter irrationality. The
most important lesson is usually
not the first one learned: you must
consider the damage to be wrought
both if you succeed, and in case
you fail.

Also as in a love affair, whoever
moves to upset the balance is
morally responsible for all the
consequences which may obtain.
Clearly then, you must not only
ascertain that you believe in what
you are about, but as well that,
under the specific circumstances,
you are in the right. For instance,
any attempt to establish a new
democracy should have a majority
agreement among those to be
governed. Do the majority of
Virginia students support radical
politics? It is your responsibility to
find that out before you act, lest
you put yourselves in the position
of seriously wronging others.

You might say, "But someone
has to get the ball rolling." I can
but agree. Individual protest within
the rules is good and necessary,
provided it does not interfere with
those who like things the way they
are. That lest qualification is
important, for not only does it
protect the conservative and the
apathetic, but it also guards your
right to dissent.

The University's system has
evolved slowly. Time is an essential
ingredient, because countervailing
power — the key to democracy
— seems to have a considerable
inertia of rest. No program of social
updating, however carefully
conceived, can foresee the systemic
errors which inevitably will
develop. It may be — I believe this
to be the case — just as well that
our University is not overly
democratic. There are cases where
democracy is not the right
approach, especially when the
would-be leaders must operate from
within an experience vacuum. Mr.
Rosen's Prospectus For The
University included a passing
sarcastic remark concerning the
lack of democracy in Saudi Arabia.
That remark is an excellent
example of the kind of error of
judgement against which I would
caution you. Arabia, with its
absolute monarchy, is unique in the
Arab world for its stability. The
country is absorbing technology
and adapting to the modern world
at a rate estimated by an American
economist with the Arabian
American Oil Company to be the
highest in the world, when
sociological as well as economic
factors are considered. Most
important, the rate of growth
appears to be just that which the
people can absorb without
perpetual indigestion. Monarchy is
precisely what Arabia needs.

Certainly, there are many
improvements to be made at
Virginia; but we ought to consider
our current situation as a basis from
which to begin, not as a systematic
squashing of "the real us."
Gentlemen, I say we must not
permit the destruction of that
which has already been
accomplished here. Have rioters at
any one school produced anything
to compare with what they ruined
in their ill designed rites of nativity?
If progress comes slowly, never
mind. It is coming, there will be no
halting it. Petitions, reasoning, and
cool-headed debate, not
inflammatory writings or violence,
will carry the year for liberalism.
Patience and confidence are what
we students need, not this
unwieldy, unstable, fragmentary
and illegal "power."

Those who have paid to attend
the University as it is have a right to
undisrupted classes. Infractions of
that particular privilege should be
met with a Judiciary Council
recommendation for dismissal.