University of Virginia Library

Misleading Article

The story in the February 25,
1969, issue of The Cavalier Daily,
reporting that a student-faculty
committee, representing a
cross-section of the faculty, had
passed two resolutions supporting
the goals of the student coalition, is
misleading in two respects.

First, it is clear that the faculty
present did not, in fact, represent a
cross-section of the University. For
example, there was no
representative of the School of
Nursing, one of the two major areas
in which women have been
admitted to the University. Nor was
there any representative of the
faculty of the Graduate School of
Business, as well as others.
Furthermore, these individuals
cannot be said to represent their
respective schools or departments,
since they had no specific
authorization to do so.

Second, it seems clear that all of
the faculty members who attended
the meeting did so out of a sincere
and deep concern about the
problems facing the University.
However, they did so with an
implicit understanding that
attendance in no way suggested
blanket endorsement of the eleven
Student Coalition proposals.
Indeed, a number of the faculty
had to leave before the resolutions
were brought to a vote. Therefore,
it is inaccurate to assume either
that the faculty members present
represented anyone other than
themselves or that all of the faculty
members present represented
anyone other than themselves or
that all of the faculty listed as
attending the meeting supported
the resolutions in part or in toto.