The University slowly adjusted to peacetime operations at the close of the World War. By the fall of 1946 the academic schedule returned to its pre-War pace. But the school was unable to go back to business as usual. Though the dances, fraternities, and week-end trips returned R.O.T.C. remained a continued presence--a new part of the University scene which the students and institution were both able to accommodate. The University students had found a new seriousness in the War and the student life would never again be like carefree days it was in the twenties or, to a lesser extent the thirties. But as dramatic as these changes were, the post-war years posed new challenges which prevented the University from reviving its past. Foremost among these new impetuses for change was the influx of war veterans seeking an education under the G.I. Bill. These men, much like V-12ers, were not primarily interested in the Virginia tradition as they were in getting their degrees. Consequently, there was a continuation of the serious academic culture which emerged in the War, profoundly different social organization--many students were married, for example--and a dramatic increase in enrollment. The University community resisted and adapted, but ultimately ended the forties waxing nostalgic for days gone by.
The debate that had emerged at the close of the 1930s about the advisability of a larger student body materialized again after the War as the school had to expand to accommodate a huge influx of veterans. The veteran students differed from the traditional Virginia man in many ways. Veterans were older and had experienced warfare, but most significantly did not possess the institutional loyalty to the University of their non-Veteran peers--much like V-12ers during the War. The 1947-48 school year saw an all time high of 5,119 students enrolled of whom 3,848 were veterans: of these students, 2,781 were single and 1,067 were married. By the 1950-51 session the rush of veterans had lessened and enrollment dropped to approximately 4,250--500 less than the year before. Fears that the veteran driven expansion would force the University to accept the "second best" proved unfounded.
The growth of the student body strained the University's physical plant immensely. A major capital campaign was launched to raise 7.8 million dollars needed for new buildings, higher salaries, a University Press, a graduate business school, and to expand the medical school and the hospital, and to establish the Woodrow Wilson School of Foreign Affairs. A shortage of housing affected the students most obviously, especially married students. The University provided emergency housing for two dollars per week in temporary facilities until students were able to find a permanent residence. One hundred married students and their spouses found shelter in trailers.
Immediately after the War a rift existed between veteran and non-veteran students. Consistent with national trends, veteran students scored higher marks than their non-veteran counterparts. The Dean of Men, John E. Hocutt, explained this tendency saying, "(veterans) are older than non-veterans and are more mature in outlook and seriousness of purpose". Interestingly, the University warned incoming veterans that it would not offer a "diluted or easy course of instruction" for to do so "would be unfair to him". Of course this fear the veterans quickly assuaged, but they faced other difficulties as well. Veterans, particularly married veterans, additionally found themselves strapped for cash. Whether monthly allowances and pensions provided enough money to survive as a student provided a constant topic for debate. Such monetary problems were not typical for non-veteran students who had by the fall of 1947 pulled even with veterans in academic achievement. Dean of Counseling Finley happily explained the University's dissension from the national trend by declaring that Virginia's non-veteran students are "arriving...fresh from preparatory schools and ready to go to work without having to readjust themselves to classroom studies". Additionally, these students did not have the same monetary restraints as veterans as their education was not funded by limited government resources.
Still, there were some areas in which students of all backgrounds were able to find common ground. Memorial services for the University's 282 war dead were well attended and the U.S. Naval units at U.Va., the Alumni Association, and the class of 1945 collectively dedicated a memorial cross and candlesticks for the chapel. So while veteran and non-veteran students had dramatically different demographic backgrounds and experiences they showed remarkable unity in their support of the just completed War. Also, many students wanted to find guarantees that the peace recently won would last. Students and faculty involved in the newly established Woodrow Wilson School of Foreign Affairs founded the International Affairs Association in 1947 "as a professional organization in the field of foreign affairs". There was also interest in the world government movement, a grassroots push to strengthen the United Nations and ultimately lead to one global administration. The International Relations Club, founded before the War, was expanded to include undergraduate as well as graduate students. In less serious pursuits the diverse student population found common interests as well.
During the War the traditional social outlets for students were severely curtailed. Easter's week dances were dramatically scaled back. Many fraternities lost their membership base and became housing facilities for V-12ers. And perhaps most traumatic of all, weekend jaunts to Virginia's women's colleges were curtailed by low funds and gas rationing. After the war many of these restrictions found release. Veterans, it is well known, returned from the War anxious to pursue the fairer sex and the classic Virginia man had no difficulty in relating. The formals regained their prominence, with the R.O.T.C. formal as a new member of the fold. The social life of the University students reemerged from its wartime slumber with newfound frankness as the yearbook dedicated several pages to sex. The Jefferson Society's publication "The Virginia Spectator" routinely published dating guides to aid the Virginia man in planning a date at one of the nearby women's colleges. Some of these guides went so far as to detail, albeit in a humorous manner, the best tactics for, euphemistically speaking, "getting" a girl. Such methods recommended were digging a large pit and trapping her in it, though in true gentlemanly style, warning not to "force hard liquor on the girl". Male students were clearly enjoying their privilege; such articles can be seen as a forerunner to anti-female student sentiment prevalent in the 1950s.
Within this rejuvenated and altered context Corks and Curls looked back at the War introducing the 1946 edition saying,
As with most reactions to change at the University, this introduction stresses the eternal return of the essence of Virginia--indeed the adversity strengthens this essence as only possible in a state of the Confederacy. However, this reported essence of Virginia was not surviving without the affirmative action of its allies. Cloaked behind such a romantic vision of civilian clothes returning to the lawn and ranges is a Board of Visitors resolution in 1949 to reserve these living spaces for in-state students. During the War these rooms had been assigned on the basis of R.O.T.C. rank. As the focal point of the University, the lawn became the battleground for the traditional Virginia man to display his resilience and fortitude in the face of a changing and expanding student body. Although this resolution never was implemented, it was not long before a proposal was made to award these rooms "on (the basis of) scholarship and leadership". Such a system allowed traditional students to congratulate their champions as well as acknowledge R.O.T.C. achievements.
Actions motivated by nostalgia were not limited to the BOV. Students too were caught up in collective romanticization of the past. For example, "The Cavalier Daily" ran articles about the University in the first and second World Wars, the "Dawn Patrol", and acceleration. Corks and Curls in 1950 in looking forward to the University of the future declared "those characteristics of the University should remain which in the past have helped to mold so many `Gentlemen of the University of Virginia'." Such actions helped to shore up the reestablishment of normalized University life after the war, but more importantly they were most profound just as the University wound itself up for yet another war effort. It seemed that just as the University had returned to business as usual, with veteran students fading in prominence, the country was at war again and the University was as unsure of its future as ever.