University of Virginia Students Abandon Jefferson’s Legacy

E arlier this month, the Cavalier Daily, the University of Virginia’s student newspaper, published a statement by its editorial board urging the university to bar former vice president Mike Pence from speaking at an upcoming Young Americans for Freedom event. While they claim to express the university’s values, their call for censorship betrays its founding ideals.

As I was deciding which college to attend, one thing that drew me to the University of Virginia was its preservation of many of its most distinctive features from its founding. Whether it was the peculiar lingo (“first year,” instead of “freshman; “grounds,” instead of “campus”), or the iconic red brick, neo-classical architecture of Thomas Jefferson’s “Academical Village,” these unique aspects made me believe that UVA had in many ways remained “Mr. Jefferson’s University,” even as the school had evolved into a major research institution.

Beyond these exterior qualities, I was also attracted by the university’s reputation for upholding free discourse in academic settings, in accordance with Jefferson’s belief that “error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.” This was especially important for me. As both a believing Catholic and conservative, I knew that my perspectives on certain matters would often be marginal, at best, at a modern university. I was heartened to see this emphasized at summer orientation, where then–Dean of Students Allen Groves made it clear to us newly admitted students that free expression was the most important element of UVA’s intellectual culture.

In the nearly three years I have been at UVA, I have seen many of its traditional aspects come under fire in the name of “anti-racism” and equity, especially after the racial ferment of the summer of 2020. Buildings have been renamed, statues removed, even the student-run Honor System has been stripped of its power. Most significantly, a substantial portion of the student body has prioritized adherence to progressive values such as diversity and inclusion over the university’s long-standing commitment to open debate.

Several incidents in the past year reveal a pattern of hostility towards any student who has refused to conform to the ever-changing doctrines of woke progressivism. One has been attacked on social media for speaking against the culture of self-censorship that she perceived at UVA. A medical student was forced to leave grounds for simply inquiring about the meaning of “microaggressions.” Another was nearly prevented from graduating for expressing her frustration at protesters in Charlottesville. The Cavalier Daily’s editorial is simply the latest salvo in the assault on the university’s legacy of free speech.

The article’s chief contention — that Pence’s beliefs are hateful and therefore violent and therefore impermissible — is not only logically incoherent, but also represents a dangerous way of thinking that has become all too common on college campuses across the country.

The authors do not condemn Pence for holding uniquely radical views. For his standard socially conservative positions on race, immigration, and the traditional family, he is said to “directly threaten the presence and lives of our community members.” He is explicitly compared to the white supremacists who marched in Charlottesville in 2017 for the crime of “taking a stand for America’s founding.” These statements imply that not only Pence but anyone who holds his positions on these matters is liable to be considered hateful and therefore worthy of censorship. The authors’ distinction between permissible “political beliefs” and the “so-called politics” of “transphobia, homophobia and racism” is an ill-disguised attempt to solidify the hegemony of progressive ideology. If put into practice, this would isolate a good portion of the student body from taking part in these debates. This would not only hurt conservative students, but would also prevent others from hearing differing opinions and potentially changing or widening their worldview. Intellectual impoverishment is the price of ideological purism.

While the university administration has recently capitulated to various progressive demands, it has continued to uphold freedom of speech, at least in its official statements, and declared its intention to allow the event to proceed as planned. Yet the student response remains disheartening. The flourishing of free discourse depends not only on the university’s official policies, but even more so on students possessing habits of mind that invite the expression of dissident opinions. This latest controversy indicates that many at the university no longer view the battle of ideas as a challenging, yet essential and invigorating pursuit. Instead, it has become an inconvenient disruption to the contentment they feel in their moral perfection.

In this regard, the authors of the Cavalier Daily editorial are correct in stating that the university is not simply taking a “neutral” stance in permitting Pence to speak. Rather, the university is clearly stating that students should thoughtfully consider what important figures in American politics have to say. University leaders are suggesting that, instead of mindlessly silencing all those we disagree with, we should critically examine their arguments for ourselves and challenge them in a coherent and respectful manner. In short, they are affirming an important part of the legacy of Thomas Jefferson.

What is at stake in this debate is not simply whether Pence will be permitted to speak, but whether UVA will remain true to its historical heritage. If students continue to view open debate as a threat to their personal safety, the university is destined to become a shell of its former self. It may retain the same style of architecture and unusual terminology, but it will lack the ideals that animated its founding and made it one of the foremost American institutions of higher learning.

Thomas Jefferson famously stated of his university: “This institution will be based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind, for here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead.” This is a hard saying for many current students, and seems to them to promise only insecurity and discomfort. But for those who value the traditions of both UVA and the American republic, these words must be an inspiration to boldly venture forth in the pursuit of truth.