University of Virginia Library

Letters To The Editor

Increased Security Manpower Needed
To Patrol Grounds, A 'Nightmarish Hell'

As alarming as the Monday
night rape case is, I find the
attitude of Security Director
W. Wade Bromwell still more
alarming. His self-satisfied,
do-nothing viewpoint threatens
the safety of every coed
walking the grounds after
sunset.

How can he state that the
University is adequately
patrolled when, according to
Police Chief Rea Houchens,
there was a patrolman in the
immediate vicinity of the crime
who did not see or hear
anything? This fact alone is
evidence that if more
manpower is not needed, then
a set of eyes and ears should be
issued to every patrolman.

Dean of Students Robert
Canevari expressed surprise
that the incident occurred at
such an early hour. Surprise!
Crime does not occur only
after midnight. The fact is that
as soon as darkness falls the
only safe thing to do is to stay
home. He also expressed regret
that the unfortunate victim did
not call the escort service.
What chance would one man
stand against four?

Mr. Bromwell seems more
interested in enforcing parking
regulations than in preventing
violent assault on University
coeds, as is evidenced by the
ever-present policemen writing
out tickets during daylight
hours. I fall to see the same
sort of dedication in action at
night.

As director of the security
department, I would think that
his job would include both,
and I would hope that sparing
coeds the shattering experience
of forcible rape would have
priority over the issuing of
parking citations. I suggest that
Mr. Bromwell ask the victim of
Monday's crime what she
thinks of his security measures.

In the meantime, I feel that
Mr. Bromwell's failure to assign
additional night-time patrols
helps to make the Grounds an
inviting spot for criminals –
and a nightmarish hell for their
victims.

New Members

The brothers of Omega Psi
Phi wish to announce that the
following men were accepted
into its pledge group, the
lampados club: Willie Barley,
William S. Cooper, Jr., Alton
D. Gillis, Michael D. Hall,
Thomas R. Haynes, Emanuel
C. Holmes, George K. Martin,
Charles R. Nicholson, Jr.,
Edward J. Saunders, and
Bernard L. Stackhouse.

Founded at Howard
University in 1911 around the
cardinal principles of
Manhood, Scholarship,
Perseverance, and Uplift, the
Fraternity has grown from one
chapter in 1911, to 360
chapters located throughout
the United States today.

We are nearing the end of
our colonization period at
U.Va. and expect to receive
our charter in the near future.
Throughout this period the
Fraternity has received the
cooperation and aid of the IFC
and the Administration and at
this time we wish to express
our appreciation to all those
who helped in any way in our
drive to found a chapter at the
University of Virginia.

'Root Of Evil'

In your editorial, "Fair
Pay," you assert that the CD is
primarily a business and only
incidentally an extracurricular
activity (which I dispute, but
which I shall assume for the
purposes of my argument). In
good conscience, I cannot
allow your extension of this
logic when your urge that
certain student government
officers be salaried (and I do
not care what "most other
major universities" do).

First of all, one major
sickness of this university is
that in too many respects,
students must yield to dollars
in the administration's
priorities. Students are treated
like the numbers they use for
identification, like insensitive
rats in a maze, and they are
thought to enjoy being
manipulated by some
administrators who look ahead
no farther than the pyramid on
the backside of a one-dollar bill
in much of their
decision-making.

Far be it for me to sound
like some student radical;
however, even a cursory
examination of such disgraces
as the basketball ticket
distribution schemes, the Food
Services blight which has so
properly and belatedly been
exposed by the CD, and the
arbitrary/inconsistent parking
rules will plainly show that
students' extracurricular
welfare takes a back seat to the
production of revenue.

Willfully short-sighted
construction projects, such as
the already-known-to-be
inadequate culinary and
parking facilities planned for
the new law and graduate
business complex, demonstrate
the desire of some
administrators (forced by
Richmond legislators
thrice-removed from reality) to
pinch pennies in the short run
at the expense of everybody's
welfare in the short and long
runs.

Just as dollar decisions
often lead to mediocrity on the
upper bureaucratic level, I am
convinced that replacing the
service motivation with
monetary compensation (in
excess of personal expenses)
would produce an unhealthy
environment on the level of
student-run activities as well.
For example, when Madison
Hall volunteers put forth many
hours helping the needy in the
Charlottesville area, they
certainly are serving the
community "beyond the call
of duty", and yet it would not
be presumptuous to say they
expect and receive no salary
for these services other than,
perhaps, appreciative clients,
and above all the satisfaction
derived from service for its
own sake.

I submit the same holds
true for all student-run
activities which do not
consider themselves
"businesses." If the quality of
the students elected to student
government is high, it is
because these people have a
desire to serve their colleagues
and learn about politics in its
broader sense.

Contrary to another
assertion in your editorial, a
salary at the end of the
political rainbow of student
elections, popularity contests
as they necessarily are, could
very easily attract
less-than-dedicated hacks to
the soapbox, as is too often the
case out in the Real World.

Yes, I'm afraid money is
the root of much evil. But let's
not try to introduce
insensitive, "Midas mediocrity"
from the roof down into the
foundations of this university,
which should unashamedly be
an ivory tower, a proving
ground for trials and errors in
the pervasive Jeffersonian
spirit.

We all have lifetimes before
us in which we may hunt the
Buck; if some of us cannot
wait, then let them pay the
Madison Hall volunteers et. al.
first, whether they want to be
paid or not. Eventually, they'll
want it.

Believer

Is the Cavalier Daily in such
need of material to fill its pages
that it will print such offensive
matter as the letter written by
Mr. Paul Evans (Tue., March
13)? The letter clearly showed
the bias and ignorance of Mr.
Evans.

Certainly, Mr. Evan's own
unbelief in the Christian
religion did not warrant his
rude attack on the religion.
Furthermore, his statements
were not factual. There is
nothing in the teaching of
Christ that could support his
accusation that Christianity is
"socially repressive and
humanly degrading."

As for myself, I, as a
Christian believer, have a deep
feeling of joy, contentment
and peace of mind that is
completely satisfying.

If you find love,
compassion and understanding
repressive and degrading, the
fault is with you, Mr. Evans,
not Christianity.

Squish

In the early spring 1967,
Tim Hagwood and I found
ourselves in the Glass Hat, as a
reprieve from study. Tim
purchased a cup of coffee and
we seated ourselves near the
main door and talked for a
while. The conversation
quickly converged on the
quality, rather the lack of,
which the coffee attempted to
manifest. For some reason,
Tim started stuffing napkins
into the remainder of his
coffee, and then proceeded to
play with the inundated ball
of napkin. This naturally led
to a discourse on sports at the
University, and soon an
inspiration struck Squish.