University of Virginia - Corks and Curls Yearbook (Charlottesville, VA)

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CORKS r ND CUMC OF NINETEEPQ HUPJDRECDPWQD THIRTY-FOUR professors, anything but conducive to the enjoyment of classes or health. Then, too, the authorities saw no reason for a vacation at Christmas and when the students went on home anyway, retaliated by directing the professors to stress those points in examinations which had been covered during the Christmas-time lectures-a move, which, as you may see, did not exactly germinate seeds of sweetness and light in the, new students. This situation continued until, in 1836, a fast-talking student got excused for absenting himself during Christmas by proving that two professors had gone off and that another had suspended lectures. This incident is, locally, of historic importance in that it is the first recorded instance of a student talking himself into an excuse for absences, a pastime in great vogue to-day. The root of the ill-feeling which prevailed between students and faculty for the first thirteen years, lay in the fact that Jefferson's contemporaries, like certain of his followers, seemed to misunderstand, most woefully, his ideas of freedom for the students. When one reads the regulations by which the unfortunates were bound, occasions for the student's rancor seem obvious. For one thing, they were forced upon their entrance to the University to hand overJ all of their money to the proctor. After fees had been deducted, that oHicial kept the remaining money and doled it out to the individuals whenever he considered them to need it. Another rule which was justifiably unpopular with the students was that which made them get out of bed every morning at five olclock. This was especially bad in- the winter, for the rooms were poorly heated and usually stayed cold until spring. Rules like these and actions of the Board such as that in relation to Christmas absences soon gave rise to open rebellions on the part of the students. An encourage- ment of these miniature revolutions was contributed by the military company. During the first session, every student was required to take military tactics and to drill with the student company. There was much discussion for a time of making the University a military college, but this died down and, in the second session, attendance at the military exercises was left entirely optional. In 1831, the faculty muddled things when they allowed the company to procure real guns from the state, and the next year made an even worse mistake by allowing a student to be put in charge instead of a member of the faculty. Almost immediately, the group got out of control. Every occasion was used as an excuse to fire off a few shots and scare townspeople out of their beds and professors out of their wits. In 1836, the military group stood in open difiance to the faculty and paid no attention to the demand that it disband and return the rifles to the state. A reign of terror persisted for some days until the professors, who had been forced to arm themselves for defense, appealed to the civil authorities. The effect of a grand jury E141

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? CORKS AND CLIFLS OF NINETEEPV HUPJDREEDFHQD THIRTY-FOUR Immediately after the Central College charter was granted, JeHerson went quietly ahead to plan for all of the things which would fit into his ideas of the state University, and in 1818 a commission was appointed by the legislature to investigate the planning and location of such an institution. The commission met in the same year at Rockfish Gap and launched, almost immediately, into a terrific squabble between representatives from various parts of the state, all of whom wanted the University for their own section. Jefferson, of course, was determined that it should be placed at Central College, and presented great numbers of maps and statistics to prove that Charlottesville was the actual population and geographic center of the state. Despite other claims, especially from representatives of Washington College in Lexington, Jefferson's plans were finally carried through and a formal sanction of the establishment of a University at Char- lottesville was given by the legislature in 1819. After obtaining the promise of financial aid. from the state, there remained the problem of the building of the University and the attracting of professors and students. lVIr. Jefferson, as first Rector of the Board of Visitors, lost no time in getting the work started. His original architectural plan was similar to that of the Lawn as it now stands, with the exception of the Rotunda, which was suggested to him by the prominent F renchman, Latrobe. Originally, too, the pavilions were designed to include classrooms and apartments for the bachelor professors; but Jefferson failed to take into account the fact that professors, like others, are subject to the human frailties, and when they got married, their wives wanted the entire pavilions. This, of course, necessitated using other space for classrooms. Construction was started almost immediately, but the difliculties of transporting the heavy materials and of procuring skilled workmen were very great. lVIen were imported from many nearby Eastern cities and two stonecutters were even brought from Italy. lVIuch of their time, however, was necessarily spent in waiting for the slow-moving wagons and drifting scows to bring in the building stuffs. F inally, after six years of feverish activity on the part of the Board of Visitors, punctuated by intermittent wranglings with the legislature over expenditures, the buildings were finished and the school was thrown open to students on the first of February, 1825. One hundred and twenty-three matriculated and, almost immediately, the majority of the one hundred and twenty-three began to criticise and act mopey. In the first place, the Board had made a bad mistake in determining upon the seasons in which to hold session. The February opening necessitated continuing into the hot summer months, which were, as the disgruntled students lost no time in informing their l131

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CORKS AND CLIBLS OF NINETEEPJI4UBHDRED ANETTFHRTY-FOUR and a military guard over the Rotunda quieted things down and a large number of the mutinous crew were expelled from the University. The facultyis troubles, however, were not yet ended. Just two years later, a number of the students engineered a riot in protest against a ruling refusing them permission to give a dance because of the drunkenness which had prevailed at the last one. Smaller uprisings, accompanied by vandalism and rowdiness, broke out during the next two years until, in 1840, the climax was reached when Professor John A. Davis, a not unpopular member of the faculty, in attempting to strip a mask from the face of a student rioter, was shot and fatally wounded. A few days afterward, he died. His murderer was apprehended, but later jumped his bail and escaped without punishment. The system of graduates and degrees which Jefferson designed was very com- plicated, and is diHicult in these times to understand. He had wished the University to be of the continental type, having more of the characteristics of a graduate than an undergraduate institution. Although he could not make it an entirely graduate in- stitution, he still believed that no one should receive a diploma except those who had graduated from more than one of the various Schools and had shown talent in research. Anyone who had passed the courses of a School was ofhcially designated as a graduate and the only degrees given were those in the doctrinate and vocational categories. Honorary degrees were banned. The main reason for this system seems to have been that Jefferson was determined to stress the elective side of the educational curriculum and to give no degrees which necessitated the taking of courses in which the applicant held no interest. This idea, left no room for the M. A., B. A., or B. S. concepts. JeHersonis system was changed by the faculty in 1831 when that body set about to re-define the various honors awarded by the University. Four categories were then established: The graduate, who was defined as one who had mastered the courses of any one school; the winner of a certificate of proficiency in some section of a school; the Doctor of NIedicine ; and the IVIaster of Arts, who was required to have mastered the fields of Chemistry, Ancient Languages, NIathematics, Natural Philosophy, and IVIoral Philosophy. The Master of Arts, as you can see, had to be quite a boy. In these days, we would consider him a genius or a fool, depending on our respective outlooks. The diversions of the students in the first years were, for the most part, completely unorganized. NIainly, they consisted of running around at night, blowing horns, and, like the students of the present, ringing the college bell. The faculty seems to have I151