University of Virginia Library

History Expert

A former lecturer in modern
history at the University of Glasgow,
Mr. Wright is an authority on
18th century American history.
Speaking of his return to the
University, he said, "I find reality
far outstripping the legend." Mr.
Wright referred to the initial importation
of professors to the
University from England at the
direction of Thomas Jefferson as
"the first but perhaps not the last
brain drain from England."

Mr. Wright spoke of the many
problems of the universities and
students. "The student increasingly
finds himself an anonymous being
in an autonomous system. He sees
his role more and more not in the
library or in the laboratory but in
the streets."

The British legislator said that
"student unrest is the result of a
tying together of a large number of
impressionable and highly educated
young people." He said that the
"cause of the turmoil is their search
for their own identities."