University of Virginia Library

Deceit

Last week we wrote in favor of the
upcoming national war moratorium on October
15; in doing so we said that President
Shannon's responsibility to the University
bade him, "to consider seriously the idea of
cancelling classes" for the moratorium. Mr.
Shannon has done so. He obviously feels, as
do many members of the faculty, that to
cancel classes on the fifteenth would be an
infringement on the rights of those who do
not agree with the goals of the moratorium.
We disagree. It seems to us that the war is an
issue of such vital concern to all of us that the
University is burying its head in the sand if it
chooses to ignore it.

Mr. Shannon might have done as Dr.
Mason Gross of Rutgers did, asking that
October 15 be given- over at Rutgers to a
"critical examination of the basic issues facing
the nation" in order to "demonstrate the role
of the university as teacher, as guardians of
civilized values, and as the critical and moral
intelligence which compels the community to
consider its choice of action." It is highly
likely that Rutgers will have, as Dr. Gross
hoped, "a day of profound educational
experience for the whole community."

But Mr. Shannon chose to keep the
University out of petty issues like the war,
and there was probably a good bit of
justification in his decision not to cancel
classes. The President ignored, however, the
possibility of something between cancellation
and the present official non-recognition of the
moratorium. He might have stated that classes
were to be optional; that would have given
any student who supported the moratorium
some protection against academic sanctions
assessed by hawkish instructors.

Now that the President has spoken, there is
little possibility that he will change til mind.
We therefore call upon each member of the
community to act individually to make
October 15 a day of discussion and reflection
in the finest tradition of an academic
community. Those instructors who hold class
and those students who attend ought to
discuss the war that day. Instructors should
refrain from scheduling tests, quizzes or other
graded exercises that day in order that
students can fulfill the dictates of their
conscience without unnecessary harassment.

In a formal, official sense, Mr. Shannon's
decision means that the University has failed
to confront the challenge presented by the
moratorium; it has chosen to play by the
book, to play safe. But a University is
essentially people and what they are and do,
not what the administration says it is. And if
the people of the University, acting individually,
choose to make the moratorium what it
can be, the University's response to the
challenge will be even more meaningful than if
it had been decreed from Pavilion VIII.