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More
visions of the University's future
Last
month, we asked the U.Va. community the following question: What
is your vision, your wildest dream for the University of Virginia
in the next century, the new millennium? Here are a few more of
the responses we received.
I
hope that the University will be more encouraging of human diversity
in the years ahead. As a lesbian faculty member, I especially
hope that the University will become a more welcoming place for
lesbian, gay and bisexual faculty, staff and students. Steps in
this direction could be taken by providing more formal coursework
relevant to sexual orientation, establishing a center for the
study of issues related to sexual orientation, providing benefits
to families of lesbian and gay faculty and staff that are equal
to those now enjoyed by the families of other employees, and in
many other ways. If an environment can be created that better
acknowledges our common humanity, even while exploring differences
between us, the University and all of us who work and study here
will benefit.
Charlotte
Patterson
Psychology professor
My
dreams for U.Va. include the establishment of a Master of Fine
Arts program in visual arts, a 2,000-seat concert hall, and to
house these, architecture that is free of Palladian references,
but that is motivated by a love of form-space poetics. My dream
for U.Va. is the realization of the idea that unity is achieved
through diversity.
John Wallace-Smith
Property accounting specialist
Quietly billions upon billions of dollars will be raised, but
nobody will talk about it. It won't be on page one or page 20.
It will be thought vulgar, a faux pas, and a violation of rectitude,
of corporate strategy, of Judeo-Christian-Mammonist ethics, to
plop one's name on or in a building. In Virginia, savoir-faire
briefly emerges. ("In a building" has in mind mainly
the recent desecration of window sills and cornice in Old Cabell
Hall lobby.)
Charles
Vandersee
Associate professor of English
My wildest dream is for the establishment of "The Thomas
Jefferson Graduate School of Politics as Public Service.² If there
were an abundance of persons truly qualified for political office
across the whole spectrum of political positions, for the parties
to encourage, support, and endorse, then triumph of the unqualified
-- while not barred -- would be rare. Gilbert S. Bahn
Member of the University's Cornerstone Society
Moorpark, Calif.
I would like to see The University of Virginia abandon its (semi)
professional athletics program.
Homer C. Waits
A friend of the University
Columbia, Va.
In
the 20th century the University took large steps to overcome embedded
traditions of racial and gender inequality. Early in this new
century, a further democratization will take place, as thousands
of University employees demand the dignity and equality that is
their birthright. An $8 living wage is but the first step.
We
must build a powerful, democratic, multi-racial set of trade unions
in order to banish the fear and insure the welfare of all those
who now endure the condescension, insecurity, and low wages of
University work. Housekeepers, cafeteria workers, and secretaries
need a loud, clear, collective voice, but so too do librarians,
nurses, medical technicians, and graduate teaching assistants.
The faculty, always attentive to the moral dimension of their
vocation, will undoubtedly support this new birth of freedom and
citizenship. As for those in the upper reaches of U.Va. administration,
many will find their services unneeded. Like the steel mill straw
boss, the plantation overseer, and the Jim Crow sheriff, their
jobs will vanish.
Nelson Lichtenstein
History professor
Labor Action Group
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