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

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MONTICELLO, THE HOME OF JEFFERSON Photo by Holsinger

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10 coRKs AND CU-RLS Vorxxvr The early literature concerning the University, embodied largely in legislative pro- ceedings and in letters, evidenced the bold lines upon which the plan for the new 'college was constructed, and voiced vague fears andjdoubts in regard to the Student freedom allowed to the em-ancipated young men who composed the Government student body. That lic-ense would precipitate utter ruin to the cor- poration and overthrow the discipline necessary for the pursuit of wisdom was freely predicted, and incidents of ill-restrained anarchy and disorder do, indeed, mark the annals of a revolutionary adjustment period. But each upheaval of boisterous conduct caused the strata upon which the new social system was built to settle more firmly into place, and the dawn of a new sense of autonomy and independence augured the not-distant 'day of a well-governed republic. An unwritten law began to make itself known, and a mutual understanding of proper conduct was soon manifested. Statutes soon became unnecessary, and the rules of order and behaviour are enforced by public opinion to this day. If a man is found guilty of an act of dishonesty or opprobrium by a student com- mittee, after being given an opportunity to be heard, he is ordered to leave the University quietly and without notoriety, or submit to a public trial. The judgment of the under- graduate tribunal is nearly always conclusive, and its jurisdiction has' been exclusive ex- cept forp a single instance in recent years when a conference of deans took matters into their own hands, on a principle 'contrary to the Weight of authority, and banished five students for creating a -disorder. ' Thebexception in this example of faculty aggression only goes to prove the rule. The students declare who are unht for association, and put their conclusions into opera- The Honor tion. Thisiis the executive and judicial department of the' Honor System. System, which was. founded at'V1rg1n1a. .Its code of ethics is a sealed book, the spirit of which exists in the air, but can not be resolved into a definition. As was said by Dean W. M. Lile, in an address several years ago, it is an ineffable subject, no more to be discussed than the virtue of our women, but none the less realized. lts word is the still small voice of a general conscience. It has always sufficed for the control of student affairs, and is jealously guarded. La-st year, Mr. Churchill Humphrey formulated a set of supplementary rules for adoption, but they were voted unnecessary. One of the articles called for the election of a sheriff and the creation of a court. The students decided that they did not want a sheriff or a court. l Spectators of a repose and security that rivals the contentment of sweet Auburn, loveliest village of the plain, before it became a deserted village, do not all realize that the present order was preceded by a parlous and turbulent condition in Life. student affairs. It was not to be expected that a scheme of such ' sweeping departure from the old accepted dogmas of government should take root in a day, or that a university where a martinet did not wield an iron rod should attract to it young men determined to follow in the paths of peace. Early Early Student

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,.,,.,, .J ,DUVL ,,- -. . WY -A ,. . .., . .. . .......,,...-.,.-.. -... 12 CORKS AND CURLS VOLXXVT narratives of fierce conflict are blazoned on a background of violence and mutiny. The professors, imported from abroad, lived in their pavilions, as now, and the students in their rooms on lawn or range. They attended lectures for long hours, and came back later to rail at the doctors, doors in the discordant din of the Hcalathumpian serenadef, They played the ganiesof cards in, vogue before poker was invented, and drank rum the while. Daggers were often drawn and the duel became the solace of insulted honor. Excitement was the staple article of diet. The rout of an itinerant circus illustrates their hair-trigger turbulence. A caravan of performers was exhibiting in Charlottesville, at that time sep- arated from the University by a mile of forest growth, and the entire student body had absented itself in town to takein the attraction. An encounter between a student and a circus hand stirred up bad blood that rose toward night into a hot torrent. The angered youths returned in haste to their rooms fo- ammunition, and rushed back through the woods in an Apache phalanx, with the roar of a lion quaerens quem clevorei. The -circus crowd fled to the hills, leaving its impedimenta behind, and only a few straggling charioteers and muscle-dancers were overtaken lnsubordination ran rife for many years, but whole- sale expulsions drove the survi r 'qi an application to their studies. The growing reform ushered in a better era, but the i putation of the distant past contributed to the University's name for fast life. Certainly, if it exists at the present day, that reputation is undeserved, and will soon altogether disappear. Ever since the war, and for a long time before, chivalry has negxatived the toleranceof unruly conduct. Gallantry has kept pace with the progress of order. , r Southern ,sentiment,,a wealthrofi tradition and patriotism bound with the ties of romance, was lately the object of deprecation by a distinguished authoress south of the Mason and Dixon line in an interview given, or alleged to have been given, with a reporter for a New York newspaper. In the role of a critic, she was made to say that the people of the Old Dominion are too much occupied with the vagaries of the golden past to understand fully the actualities of the living present. This imputation of ancestrai lustre is brought home strongly to the University of Virginia, but as for the danger of retro- gression because of early glories, that risk has been well taken care of by alumni, the most prominent proportionately of any university in the country. An article in a recent issue-of the Columbia QS. CQ State showed that the radial area of ten miles around the University had been the home of more famous men than have lived in any other district of equal size in the United States. From the time of Presidents Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, who were closely allied with the daily life of the University, the History of the nation has been -contributed to by natives of Albemarle. T newspaper article would make valuable reading on an- interesting topic. Every phase of he books referred to in the the S'-1bjCCt is adequately handled, and it would be idle to go over ground that has been Eglifsflviiizvlfllholcg if vplriecselnt reader can fbe made to understand .some of the 'University's i HVC Spent a ew years among its buildin s and t t - phere, that is all that can be desired. g In I S a mos I-s. ,L Eval . t. , W . .- .V .A g .1 ' r I Q,--L' ig '- -L---s ,4:.1L..:,L. t 1 .- . - ' . - - ' .V . - v - n-.............a-.-f..sa,r-L,g,..,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,.,,,,g,qr , , , 1 , M -- - M-4-M .....,.L....--vggree,---f... ..1--.....,,.,.,,,-L lrgl v . X