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

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 i 1) A V s i: E T By This Gateway Am) Seek The Way of Honor The Light of Truth The Will To Work For Men You ore here to enrich the world and you impoverish yourself if your forget the errand . . . For here we are not afruid to follow the truth wherever it may lead nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to comhat it . . . E. A. Alderman; Woodrow Wilson; Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson considered the founding of the 1 diversity of Virginia one of the three outstanding accomplishments of a life of high achievement. Knvisioning education as the bulwark of national defense, Mr. Jefferson placed the future hopes of his country in The 1 Diversify. His “academic village” in the foothills of the Mine Kidge Mountains was to he a community of student self-government. high academic standards, and unusual freedom of thought and curriculum. Originally founded in 1816 |»v Madison, Mod-roe, and other prominent subscribers. Mr. Jefferson's I’niversily was first called Central College. When the Virginia Ceneral Assembly met in 1817 to consider a site for a stale university. Jefferson offered the facilities of Central College, and in 1819 it became officially the I Diversity of Virginia. The struggling I Diversity was under the constant surveillance of Jefferson. He designed buildings, obtained excellent professors, and selected the curriculum. Academic standards were so rigid that over half of the student body “flunked out during the first year. The Jeffersonian system of self-government seems to have been beyond the capacities of the early students. A reversal to a policy of rigid discipline administered by the faculty was no more successful. Ilioting was a common pastime which eventually resulted in the deliberate shooting of a professor. Only with tin establishment of the Honor System in 1842 did the students regain self-government and self-respect. Since its early days. The I Diversity has experienced the inevitable changes produced by wars and the growth of a complex society. The establishment of Delta Kappa Kpsilon in 1852 began a long line of fraternities. Marbles and uuoils gave way to football and baseball. The academic system has been broadened by the establishment of Schools of Law, Medicine. Kngiiiccring. Craduute Studies, Kduealion. Architecture, and Business Administration, and Mr. Jefferson's original academic village is surrounded today by buildings attesting to a century of expansion. Yet with the alterations of time much of the past remains. The classic beauty of the Lawn still suggests peace and elevated thought. I he Honor System endures, as do the tradition of individual liberty and the ideal of pursuing truth without fear of censor. The lengthening shadow of the “Sage of Monlicello still lingers over his I Diversity. t