University of Virginia Library

Grade Options

Faculty Responsiveness
Remains Uncertain

By Gordon Peetman
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

The decision of the heads of
departments of the College to give
students options in fulfilling course
requirements for the remainder of
the semester was momentous indeed.
The question now becomes
one of to what extent the individual
faculty members will respond
to the spirit of the options
proposal.

Experience Counts

Few would deny that the events
of the past week have been the
most educational happening on the
Grounds in a long while. The
University community, although
not of one mind by any means, has
been aroused from the doldrums of
academic tedium and has thrown
itself into the life stream of the
nation as never before.

If such instructive activity is to
continue, the faculty and students in
the coming days will have
to bend over backwards in trying to
see each other's viewpoint on
fulfilling academic requirements.
Personal prejudices must be put
aside, allowing individual conscience
to be expressed without
fear of reprisal. Suddenly assigned
papers and special consideration to
those students attending class are
no more obnoxious than Tommy
Steele's not too veiled threats
Monday night of applying pressure
to recalcitrant professors.

The department heads, in the
spirit of President Shannon's proposal
Sunday, have acted magnanimously
through the proposal of
options. It is the individual faculty
member who now bears the onus of
responsibility for keeping alive that
spirit. The University will remain
open in the true sense of the word
only if the individual professor
allows the student the greatest
possible latitude in choosing an
option. Repressive tactics based on
personal grievances are surely out
of keeping with the spirit and
intent of President Shannon's proposal.

Responsibility

The student, however, must also
assume a full measure of responsibility.
Intimidation of faculty members
will only serve to destroy the
bonds created between faculty and
students during the past week. The
progressive trends initiated recently
would certainly be the first to
suffer in of faculty student
confrontation.

The events of the next few days
may strengthen immeasurably
faculty student relationships; on
the other hand, unreasoned action
by either group could produce
tensions that would only begin t
mount with the opening of school
next year.