University of Virginia Students Abandon Jefferson’s Legacy

Earlier 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.

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Ian Schwartz

Ian Schwartz is a third-year at the University of Virginia from Front Royal, Va.

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Earlier 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.