University of Virginia Library

Tower Of Naivete

During the past several days we
have noted with mounting suspense
the bombastic swordplay concerned
with the quality of the architecture
in the newly-constructed James
Southhall Wilson Memorial Hall. Unfortunately,
for all the vicious
parries and thrusts, one point has
been entirely neglected. In today's
newspapers, bastions of Truth in
this troubled time of ours, we find
the more or less popular opinion
that the University is, to Mr. Jefferson's
growing discomfiture, an ivy-affixed
tower of naiveteé! James S.
Wilson Hall has arrived on the
scene, just in time, to forestall our
descent into this monastic life. It is
a remedy to this situation because
it gives an opportunity to observe,
right on the Grounds, an embodiment
of the crassness of American
Life. Just think! A place where the
Castleburger-munching student may
nonchalantly stroll, into
each tiny crevice and obscenity,
and gain by Osmosis the true Grit
of the American Way. But we must
remember: the James Wilson Hall is
merely a drop in the bucket; we
must go further, we must rub the
apathetic little student's face into
the stuff of which reality is made.
We look forward to the day when
the Rotunda, a symbol of all that is
unworldly, will be changed into a
McDonald's Hamburger Stand. Ah!
That magnificent pair of radiant
golden arches, raising their
respective heads above the proudly
onlooking face of Mr. University.
Then, and only then, will the graduating
Virginia gentleman be able to
trod, with head held high, down the
well-greased road of the future.