- Dec 2017
-
engagements2017-18.as.virginia.edu engagements2017-18.as.virginia.edu
-
The human character is susceptible of other incitements to correct conduct, more worthy of employ, and of better effect. Pride of character, laudable ambition, & moral dispositions are innate correctives of the indiscretions of that lively age; and when strengthened by habitual appeal & exercise, have a happier effect on future character, than the degrading motive of fear; hardening them to disgrace, to corporal punishments, and servile humiliations, cannot be the best process for producing erect character.
These lines stood out to me because it adds a philosophical element to the visions and motives of Jefferson and the board in general. This notion of self-growth and character development and its motives are applicable to any era of students at UVA showing that even though some of the notions that were supported by Jefferson then are socially unacceptable now, this notion is timeless.
-
that it should consist of distinct houses or pavilions, arranged at proper distances on each side of a lawn of a proper breadth, & of indefinite extent in one direction at least,
Here is a discussion of the Academical Village where we see the lawn would be "of indefinite extent in one direction at least". UVA architectural historian Richard Guy Wilson says that there was a notable degree of uncomfortableness with the open layout and "there were multiple attempts to close it off: proposed huts for statues of Jefferson, buildings, chapels, even a triumphal arch commemorating Confederate soldiers". The last reason is unfortunate, but is in accordance with the principles of the board and society at the time, like the motives for the selection of the location of Charlottesville. http://uvamagazine.org/articles/the_vision_for_the_village
-
- Oct 2017
-
engagements2017-18.as.virginia.edu engagements2017-18.as.virginia.edu
-
President & Directors of the Literary fund
Seeing the discussion of the President and Directors of the Literary fund, that leads me to note the absence of any discussion about the president of the university itself. Jefferson didn't want a president; "Jefferson's dream was of self-governing scholars". American higher education adopted the "Oxbridge" model which included a chancellor (president) who "exercised administrative authority", but the Rockfish Gap Report clearly did not mention the office of the president. Ernie Gates from the UVA Magazine states, "classes began in 1825 under the system Jefferson preferred: the chairman of the faculty—elected each year by the Board of Visitors—performed as chief administrator. Student discipline was to be entrusted to the character of the students themselves". Much like the opposition to a founding on religious basis and later implementation of religious studies at the university, the resistance to having a president was trumped by the university's first president in 1904, Edwin A. Alderman. http://uvamagazine.org/articles/exactly_what_he_didnt_want_exactly_what_uva_needed
-
- Sep 2017
-
engagements2017-18.as.virginia.edu engagements2017-18.as.virginia.edu
-
within the powers of a single professor.
Thinking about the amount of professors and what they were designated to teach, we are led to ask, who are these professors? How do they become to be professors at the University of Virginia? Francis W. Gilmer was given the responsibility of hiring the first faculty of the university. UVA Magazine provides names of the first faculty of UVA, showing that Jefferson insisted "'to receive no one who is not of the first order of science in his line...Our first step is to send a special agent to the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Edinburgh to make the selection for us and the person appointed for this office is … Mr. Francis Walker Gilmer—the best educated subject we have raised since the Revolution'”. Clearly, Jefferson believed that what he was looking for was mostly overseas, which also raised some controversy.<br> http://uvamagazine.org/articles/1825_old_school
-